“For the last few hours when I check on them…”

Why are you leaving them unattended? They should be supervised 24/7 for the cementing phase. If that’s what this is. What else have you done to bond them? How many sessions, length of sessions, techniques etc?

It sounds like Cocoa has been spraying pee, which is a dominance/marking behaviour, and not a sign that they are bonded.

Agreed with Sarah, you need to be with them all the time while you’re bonding. How long have you been doing the process for?

In some cases I think it’s better that we aren’t next to the bunnies when they are bonding but are still near enough to hear the sounds of fighting. If the bunnies feel that we are nervous this will make them nervous and more likely to fight. The term for this style of bonding is called Ninja Bonding.

Posted By Harley&Thumper on 6/05/2018 6:31 AM

In some cases I think it’s better that we aren’t next to the bunnies when they are bonding but are still near enough to hear the sounds of fighting. If the bunnies feel that we are nervous this will make them nervous and more likely to fight. The term for this style of bonding is called Ninja Bonding.

I think this method can work but we don’t know what Cocoa has done to get to this point. Also, her rabbits are outside and if she’s leaving them and staying inside, that’s not recommended. She still has to be within close proximity to them.

I would say do another consistent 24 hours, since there seems to be something occurring. Observe from a far perhaps. Maybe your presence last time made one or both more tame, but if you’re a bit out of the way, they’ll show their true colors.

Never bonded rabbits before, but that seems like a good next step. You want more than just one good 24hr monitoring day to make sure the relationship is stable.

It’s great that you’ve been at the for two months and that a 24hr session was successful though! I know some people bond for even longer before getting there.

If one started spraying pee then they are not bonded properly so yes you need to supervise them again.

Can you describe the entire process you did? Did you rush anything at all? I know we sound like broken records, but bonding really can’t be rushed. It’ll lead to issues down the road and you’ll have to likely rebond them. So you might as well do it right the first time. Some bunnies can take even longer than 2 months to bond, some have taken a whole year to bond. So rushing is not the best.

What was the longest you had them together before you tried this overnight session?

I think it’s a good sign that they can be together for so long but I personally wouldn’t call them bonded if there is still strong dominance displays (the spraying)

I agree, but you’re definitely going in the right direction! I know it can feel endless, but keep up the good work!

Stay with them another 24 that way you know they are truly well and good. Cemmenting is usually for 24-48 hours, but because of the previous spraying, stay for the full 48: