Hi there,

Sorry you are having a tough go of it. Thanks for all the background, but I’m not sure of the timeline. How long did you allow Snowball to settle in before starting pre-bonding, and how long have you been working on pre-bonding? Also, how long has Snowball been spayed?

For pre-bonding pen set-up, I usually like around 4-6 inches between the fences. 6 inches is usually enough to make sure they can’t reach each other through the fence (assuming it’s a typical x-pen or cube grid). If the mesh is smaller, you can go a bit closer. Sometimes I’ve had to put a block or something between so they can’t push them closer together.

All of that said, sometimes it helps to start with a visual barrier between the pens, like a towel hanging up. Then they get used to the scents first, and you can slowly reduce how much fence is blocked.

It does sound like you’ve made progress though, even though it can be slow. So more simply more time may be the answer, even though it’s not a super satisfying one.  Will she accept pets from you, or is she still too afraid? If she will, one thing you can do is to pet Thor to get his scent on your hands, and then pet her. This mingles scents and makes the bunny think the other rabbit is grooming them (on some level). Other things people have tried (but I haven’t done personally) is to put a stuffy/surrogate in with Thor, get his scent all over it, and then put it with Snowball. She can take any aggressions out on the stuffy and sometimes this seems to help, because the stuffy doesn’t fight back.

Remember they did have a good first date, so I doubt they completely hate each other. Interactions near a bunnies home turf can be very different from interactions in a 100% neutral space. She is in a new home, so may feel extra territorial trying to defend her lovely new home.

Ok gotcha, so that is a pretty good amount of time for pre-bonding, but some bunnies do take a long time to settle in. I think since they are running the fence, restricting the area where they can actually see each other might help.

Have you tried any actual sessions since their first date?

I don’t want to go against what the rescue told you, but I don’t think it would be a terrible idea to try a short date in VERY neutral territory, just to see where they are at. If it goes very badly, then you know to do more pre-bonding and/or try a different type of session (like a stress session or a different space).

It might be nice to try. You could start with a gate and see if their behavior is different than in their normal pens. If things look calm you can remove the gate.

That all sounds very good and normal!

I will add that I usually don’t include a litter box in bonding sessions until they are practically bonded. Sometimes they can get territorial over them, and you usually don’t really need one until the sessions get longer anyway. But that said it doesn’t sound like it caused a lot of problems, so that’s great!

With head mounting, I will usually try to spin the mounting rabbit around so they are in the correct orientation (regular mounting should be allowed, it’s head mounting that you want to limit). If the mounted rabbit tries to move away, you can prevent them from chasing.

It sounds like you are making progress! They don’t sound bonded yet, but grooming and some cuddling is great. You’ll want to see all the aggression go away though. A little chase or nip is ok, but bonded pairs don’t usually growl or regularly pull fur.

I would go for some long sessions before 24/7, unless you have several days where you can supervise them constantly. I usually like to do several 4-6 hour sessions before going for overnight or 24/7.  If you notice things tend to improve over the course of the longer sessions, then they are prob ready for 24/7 or overnight sessions. There is lots of variability in how people do these final phases, so you can figure out what works for your schedule and go from there. 🙂  A lot of people will do long sessions during the week (basically as long as you can manage), and then start marathoning on Friday night, so you have the full weekend to supervise.

I look forward to more updates as I’m going through a very similar experience. My 4 year old male Lupin had a date with a 6 month old female Luna at a rescue. His dating experience started off bad with a previous bunny that immediately bit his butt and pulled hair out. He was a little traumatized after that, but Luna was the only bunny who fell in love with him and he seemed to be comfortable around. First day at home was crazy as Luna was very relaxed, but Lupin wasn’t happy with a visitor in his territory. The second night was better as they spent some time in Luna’s enclosure and rested side by side. Neither of them have groomed each other, but both have had stand offs waiting for the other to make a move. Third night was the worst as they chased each other and some hair was pulled out. Both of them keep going for their butts and neither of them appreciate it. I’m hoping things get better. Both of them have been fixed, but Luna’s was more recent in April.

@SeparateWay , not sure of your full plan, but be sure that you are working with your bunnies in neutral territory. If they are interacting in your first bun’s “turf”, fights are a lot more likely and it can be much harder to bond properly. It’s also very important to prevent fighting.

If you would like to post some more detailed info on what you’ve been doing with them so far, we are happy to help! Feel free to can start a new thread and fill out the “bonding template” to give us some background.

Each pair of bunnies can kind of go at their own pace, so there isn’t a firm rule that things should be great at 24 hours. You should see things generally improving though. If you aren’t (so every night they are fighting a bit), it can help to change up the space (either new, neutral location), make the space bigger, or make the space smaller.

The fact that they are doing well during the day (cuddling and grooming) is a very good sign, so I’m interested to see how things go tonight.

I wouldn’t worry about the urine stains, buns can often spray during bonding sessions, or one accidentally laid in some pee.

That’s great!