Hi there, welcome! First let me say you may not get too many responses yet as the forum is still under construction, but I will do my best to give some advice here. 🙂

Second, take a deep breath! It will be ok! 🙂

I would just go under the assumption that she is spayed. You haven’t mentioned anything that would make me think otherwise (like false nesting, poor litter box habits, territorial behavior, etc.). Humping is very normal in bonding (even between neutered/spayed same sex pairs), but if it becomes very excessive once they are bonded you might reconsider the spay issue. But I think I would just assume you were told correctly, because so far his humping sounds par for the course.

Your first week actually sounds very positive to me. Not fighting is good, and her retreating or allowing the humping is also good. Humping in bonding is a way of exerting dominance. So when he is sure she is not going to challenge him, the humping should reduce. If she is very fearful, you can pet her to calm her down.

But, it is very important to be patient and calm and allow the process to work. You mentioned you swapped litter boxes, you might consider doing full side swaps. Ideally you swap sides every day or two until the buns don’t seem to react at all to the swaps. For example, the first few days you swap they might both run around thumping and marking. But after a few more days they won’t seem to mind at all. You might also see their behaviors start to sync up, they might start to lay next to each other and eat at the same time.

If you think Nora is very fearful of him it might be good to go back to pre-bonding side swaps for a little while till she gets more used to him.

You can also help the bunnies build trust during the bonding sessions by petting them both when they approach each other so they think the other is grooming them. This helps everyone (including you!) stay calm and start to build positive associations. Eventually you have to ease off the petting, but I have had good success using this technique when early in the bonding process.

Don’t worry about Nora losing trust in you. Just give her extra love when you can, but she will forgive you when the bonding process is over. 🙂  Try not to set a firm timeline for when they need to be bonded. In my experience that only makes things more stressful for everyone and can actually slow the process down.

Feel free to keep updating this thread if you’d like to get more advice or just simply keep track of progress. 🙂

For this “pre-bonding” time, I like to actually switch which bun is in which cage/pen, rather than just litter boxes. Try to arrange things so their hay is near each other, so when they are eating hay they are able to see and smell each other. I also like to feed them near each other (on opposite sides of the fence). Eating is a social activity in rabbits, so it can help them start to associate each other with good things. 🙂

I’m not sure I completely understand your set up, though. Do be very sure they cannot nip each other through the kennel or fence bars. I like to use a second x-pen and make a buffer between areas. NIC cube grids are also great for making temporary fencing for these types of purposes. I think you and they might be happier if you have two cages/kennels side by side so they are near each other when they aren’t getting exercise time. Ideally they could have exercise time at the same time (in a room divided with fencing), but if that’s not feasible don’t stress about it.

Bonding is kind of a tough-love thing. You want to make sure the buns are eating, pooping, and not TOO stressed, but it’s OK for them to be kind of annoyed at you for a while. My guy Bun Jovi took to digging ALL of the bedding out of his litter box and pushing it all they way across the room while I was bonding him recently! And so many thumps!

That sounds like a great set up. 🙂 Glad to hear they are doing better!

You can try petting her to calm her down, or if Theo responds to her and backs off, I would let it play out. If she grunts and he then backs off, she will learn to trust him. If he approaches and starts trying to mount and she is acting scared, you can try repositioning him so they are smooshed together side by side and then petting them both. I’m thinking since you’ve had Nora longer and she trusts you this might be the thing I would try first.

Stressing might help, as long as it doesn’t stress Nora more than Theo.

Some people also like to have a large bonding area with lots of hiding boxes (very open ones with at least two exits, and at least 2 of them) when one bunny is shy. This allows the rabbits to interact more on their own terms and take breaks from each other (but some rabbits get territorial over boxes so it’s a trial and error sort of thing).

This is great! Congratulations! I’ll let someone else respond on next steps. I just wanted to congratulate you 🙂

That’s wonderful! Way to go!

About how long are they spending together in this new space? I like to make sure the positive progress is “cemented” before moving forward, meaning you see the same behaviors repeated a few dates in a row. If they are able to spend 4-6 hours together with no aggression then you are prob ready to do longer sessions or go for the overnight. I think I usually wait till they’ve done a few full days or very long sessions together with no issues then the overnight.  I would just keep the set-up the same as you have it now regarding the boxes and food dishes etc.

Be prepared to not sleep much! Sometimes things can be going great during the day, but things get feisty at night. If it seems like they get more and more aggressive throughout the course of the night you might have moved to the overnight too soon. But if it’s just a tiff here and there or some mounting then just keep going.

This sounds strikingly similar to what I went through with my most recent two, where they would be awesome for hours and then squabbles would pop up, after being together for a day. In my case, I solved it by moving the marathoning to an entirely new, super neutral spot (my friend’s garage, lol). Is there another area of your home you could try? Or a friend that you would feel safe bonding at their place? I know with covid it’s more complicated.

In some cases, I think even the bathroom is not quite neutral as buns can likely still smell that they are near to their home turf.

Also, what happens when you don’t intervene with her squeaking and their squabbling? At this point you might try waiting a second longer to see if they resolve things without you (use your judgement on this though).

It does sound like they are close… the grooming and snuggles are a great sign. You will just want to see the drama from Nora calm down. The mounting may not go away, but it shouldn’t cause drama when they are bonded. Some pairs do mount, but in a bonded pair it won’t lead to one bun freaking out or a squabble. (My Bun Jovi tries to mount Myra daily… she just runs away and he chases her honking for a minute or so, then they go back to cuddling).

You’re welcome! The porch seems like a good option. I would just keep letting them interact. I bet you are right in that he is mounting because she hasn’t groomed him back yet. I think with timid rabbits especially they really have to trust the other bun before submitting to groom them. Often things will finally just click, rather than having slow steady progress, so keep at it and they will get there!

Someone at the shelther I volunteer at always says that “rabbits don’t speak rabbit”, because it can take them a while to communicate with each other! She compares them to 14 year olds at a school dance: they want to be together but are too afraid of each other! LOL

That’s great! As long as you can keep supervising I would just keep them together with monitoring. Before leaving them unsupervised you should feel very confident that they are bonded. So a good amount of positive behaviors (grooming, cuddles, sharing litter box, etc.), and no negatives (they don’t flinch or get nervous when the other comes near, no scuffling, etc). Trust your gut, you will know! If it seems like they stagnate or get more distant, try restricting their space a bit (not to tiny, but just small enough that they can’t stake claim to different areas).

Not all pairs cuddle constantly, but mine tend to spend most of the day sleeping together.