First question – are they both neutered? I have been told that while bonding bunnies of the same gender is possible, it’s more difficult than the M/F pairings. I am having the same issue with my spayed females.

Hi there! It’s pretty normal for there to be tension when buns meet near their main areas, even when through a barrier. (Imagine a person you maybe passed on the street once just showing up in your house, you might be upset too! ).

Just so I have a better sense of the timeline and their set up, could you fill out the “bonding template”? There’s a pinned post, you can copy the template and paste it in your reply here. It’s really helpful for us to make sure we don’t tell you things you already know!

Based off what you’ve said here though, I think they would really benefit from what’s known as “pre-bonding”. This means having the buns live side by side in different pens, and you swap who’s in which pen every day or two. At first you will likely see more of the same behaviors you’re seeing now, but then over time it will calm down a lot. The idea is to wait to do face-to-face sessions until they calm down in the pre-bonding phase. In my experience this usually takes about a week or two! Then continue the side swaps once you start sessions in neutral territory. 🙂

Thanks for filling out the template! So yes it is very early days for you.

Yes so for pre-bonding, you could set up the cage in Winston’s room. He will be unhappy about this at first! To prevent nipping through the cage bars, you will want to either set up a second pen around the cage to create a buffer zone, so there is a double wall with 4-6″ of space between.

Or you can get these other panels (https://binkybunny.com/forums/topic/nose-guards/) or 1/4″ wire mesh hardware cloth and line the pen or cage wall with that so they can’t nip through.

Rather than swapping between one bun in the cage and one free-roaming, it may be better to have them in side-by-side pens, and then they similar amounts of free-roam time. You can either divide the space and let them roam at the same time (as long as the barrier is double walled or covered with a nose guard), or you can alternate free-roam time, so one bun gets morning exercise and the other gets’ afternoon, etc.

This situation is nice because the buns get equivalent treatment, and they spend more time near each other, with their food, litter box, etc. all close to the other bun. It also removes the sense of urgency that might come from having a bun in a cage for too long.

I think you could do this type of set-up in either your room or the bonus room.

I think given how scared Oreo is and how recent all of this is, I would first figure out how you want to set up the pens and get that set up. Then let Oreo get settled in that set-up for at least a week without side swaps or anything.

Once he starts seeming more relaxed, then you can start the side swaps.

Another thing you can do at first when you set up their side by side pens to make it a more gradual transition is to hang a towel or blanket over the border wall, so they can’t see each other. They will still be able to smell and hear each other though, and you can slowly allow more and more visual access as they calm down.

Yikes!

Definitely make sure all barriers are reinforced. Bunnies in this situation will often jump very high and work very hard to “get at” each other.

Can you try hanging up a towel over the gate to make a visual barrier?

Sounds like progress to me! Eating together is great. You should start seeing more and more relaxed behavior over time! Sometimes it seems like a switch is flipped and they just accept the situation and stop freaking out. 🙂

Ahh bummer! Steps forward and back are pretty par for the course with bonding. I have never had any luck with small space bonding. My idea on this is that when an animal is frightened, their options are typically “fight or flight”. In a small space, they have no room to flee, so fighting happens quickly in many cases.

In addition to doing another week of cage-swaps, I recommend finding a location that is very large (like at least 2 x-pens ideally), VERY neutral (not in your home if possible), and slightly stressful (maybe there are some unfamiliar sounds happening). A pen set up at friend’s house is ideal for this.

Put the buns in the pen, set a short time goal (like 30 seconds or a minute), and then end the date, even if they haven’t interacted yet. Then repeat that for a few days.

Another possibility is to try some stressing, but if they fought immediately in the box you would need to be careful and ready to break up fighting. I’ve had really good luck with car rides when buns just want to fight immediately (the pair in my avatar was like that). I had someone else drive, get the car running and ready. Put both buns in a plastic bin and get in the car immediately, drive around for 10-15 min. You sit in the backseat with the buns, with gloves on to break up any fighting (if there is any). If they don’t fight in the car, then repeat the car rides for a few days. If they fight, then stressing is not likely to be a good tool for them.