Sorry to hear you had a set back, it’s does sound like they are doing okay but they may not be fully bonded yet, sometimes it can a take a little time in this phase for them to become properly comfortable and trust eachother but what you have suggested sounds to me like they are still going in the right direction. Bonding can often feel a little like two steps forward one step back. Also sometimes nervous bunnies seem like they are being nervous by running away but actually in bunny speak this may be her telling him that she doesn’t want to groom him right now, and that’s probably where he then gets agitated and chases, he is saying groom me, groom me so I know I’m top bun and she’s saying yes sometimes but I’m setting my boundaries and want to groom you on my terms – this behaviour happened with my most recent pair, an eager to be dominant boy and a nervous but stubborn girl setting boundaries.
I would usually still supervise in this phase if the chasing and avoiding is happening daily simply to avoid a set back from an unsupervised chase escalating.
If that is the case and you are not able to supervise 24/7 for days at a time, what worked well for me was to keep them together as normal whenever I was around and as much as possible, but when I was at work I would place a pen grate between their enclosure to seperate them so a chase could not break out unsupervised and potentially hinder the trust. Sharing a fence allowed them contact and to flop next to eachother, at this stage I would think fence sharing is fine for most pairs unless you start to see increased aggression – this worked well for the 3 pairs that I bonded. It helps to give the buns a break from chasing which I found improved their trust and got them over the final hurdle and after just a short while they were able to go 48 hours together without chasing and settled into their bonds. You can also do this when you need to sleep if you are unable to sleep close to them but don’t fully trust them yet. Keeping hay next to the fence for each of them allows them to enjoy eating together too. It might take a little longer than if they are together constantly but for me it gave me peace of mind and kept their stress down which I believe had positive impact.
