Hello everyone! I’m hoping someone could give us some advice as we’ve started bonding our rabbits and are having a tough time. We’ve had my rabbit Oliver for 3 years and he is very sweet. He does have one aggressive behavior where he sometimes will lunge and growl at you when you walk away from petting him…but other than that he is very sweet and well behaved. The female Lyra we got when she was a baby but didn’t start bonding them until recently after she has been spayed and had time to heal. (Oliver is also neutered) She definitely has a lot of energy and is so friendly and sweet.

When we first started to bond them we did the bathtub method since this is the most neutral in the house. Prior to this we had done pre bonding work like switching out towels with each other scents and also letting them be around each other in their cages so they could get used to each other. When we went to the bathtub, Oliver was very tense and stressed and he was starting the majority of the fights. Lyra has more energy so she would move quickly and I think it would freak him out to where he got aggressive? He would growl and lunge at her, and if it wasn’t stopped they would try to chase each other. We did a couple of bathtub sessions and found that Oliver was just so tense and stressed that it may not be a good location so moved to a different room in a small pen. We would put 2 litter boxes and double sets of food to keep them entertained but the same still occurred where Oliver was crouched in the corner of the pen angry and stressed.

More recently and after doing even more research we tried to take a big step back and put them in 2 very small pens right next to each other so they can see each other very well but cannot touch each other. We did that for about 2 weeks. They both seemed comfortable as they would both eat hay next to each other, hop around and even flop over and completely relax. Only a couple of times did Oliver growl at her. Just recently we made it so the cages are touching. Lyra is very confortable as always…it seems no matter how aggressive he gets with her she is still in a good mood and even binkying. However, when Oliver and Lyra touch noses in the pens he tries to scratch her and we hear a growl.

Whenever he gets aggressive or growls we spray him with water and yell “no”. We have also tried stressing them in a small box and ran the vacuum around them, but not much luck. Does anyone have any advice? The strangest thing is that outside bonding time they will be super nice to each other. Lyra will be in her cage while he is out playing (and visa versa). He will come right up to her cage and touch her nose – no aggressive behavior. Then he will proceed to eat hay out of her hay feeder through her cage bars. I know bonding can take a while but it seems we have been at this for a while and are getting the same results. Please help!