I have used the 24/7 method before and have had good luck with it, but I tend to prefer large spaces. Personally I have never had luck with small spaces, and it seems like sometimes buns have issues moving to larger spaces when they are bonded initially in small one. Also I’ve bonded I think 5 or 6 pairs now, and the only bond I’ve ever had fail used the small space method… so there’s that.

Being in a small space is very stressful (16 x 16 very small tiny), and many rabbit welfare organizations recommend against it these days (even though I know some bloggers and youtubers recommend it).

Many people still use the method so I won’t say you should or shouldn’t do it, because I know it works for lots of people. But, if you find it isn’t working out for you (they are just trying to fight constantly), just know that you can move to a larger space and may have much better success. My theory is that when an animal is afraid, their instinct is fight or flight. If they have no where to flee, they fight. I’ve personally found that by giving animals space to move around a bit more, things are less likely to escalate to fighting and they interact more calmly. Small spaces work on the principal of “flooding”, which basically means you overwhelm the animal to the point that they give up.

In general, for either space you use, be sure to keep an eye on the buns eating and pooping and overall stress level to make sure they don’t go into stasis. You’ll want to have a helper so you can have someone supervise them if you need to use the toilet, eat, etc. It’s OK to separate them for a minute if you need to step away (esp with a small space, you need to supervise very closely).

I like to use the largest space possible, even as big as two x-pens linked up. You might see some chasing, but the idea with a large area is that one rabbit may chase, and the other runs away and has space to get away. Eventually the rabbit that’s chasing realizes the other rabbit isn’t going to turn to fight them and they eventually calm down. So you may not be able to prevent one bun getting territorial, but they will have space to sort things out without it turning into a full blown fight.  Lots of people will just use 1 x-pen if that’s what they have available.

I usually start with just a pen with nothing in it, with some pee pads on the ground (you can layer these so it’s easy to peel away the dirty ones over the course of the session). As the session progresses (in a long session) I will add a pile of hay in the center. I usually feed wet greens for water, because bowls will get knocked over early on. You could attach a water bottle to the pen wall if you have one as well.

If you have a large space, you can also experiment with hides and tunnels (make sure all are new and have at least 2 exits so no bun gets cornered). In the past I’ve just used boxes opened on both ends and turned on their side.  Sometimes these can help break up chasing, but sometimes one bun will get more territorial over them, so it may take some experimenting.

Once you get hours into marathoning, I like to get the buns some new things to chew (some new twigs or palm plates, fresh hay, etc), especially during times of day when they are active and might be getting bored.

I think the most general rule for bonding is that if things are going well, keep doing that thing, but if not, try something else (so larger or smaller space, stress or less stress, food or no food, etc.).