Are they bonded?

[Rnabanks]

Hey there guys!

We recently added a little lionhead doe named Cookie to our little family. We have a 9 month old neutered male named Cashew. Cash has been really excited with the new addition since we got her almost 4 weeks ago. We waited about two weeks before introducing them in a neutral territory, up until then their cages were side by side.

During the first few sessions there weren’t any huge signs of aggression. Cashew was buzzing around her and trying to mount her, however she’s fast and nimble so she’d just hop away if he tried to. A few times he reverse mounted her and thats when we’d seperate them and after he’d calm down a bit we’d let them continue their bunny date. After the second and third neutral territory bonding session Cookie has groomed Cashew when he’s asked her to a few times and only for a short while. However Cashew will not return the favor, countless times Cookie will cuddle up and present her head and he’ll sniff a bit and try to get into position to mount her.

We’ve recently upgraded them into the common play area…aka our living room. Again, no aggression…they seem to be playing around. Jumping, some binkying, a little flopping over next to eachother. No grooming yet though….

I guess my question is…are they ready to be moved in together? What do you think our next move should be? Continue to give them joint play time until mutual grooming happens?

I’m considering putting some banana onto Cookie’s mane because Cashew LOVES his banana treats…

Thanks in advance!

[Jorin]

My female bunny Luna and her first bond mate Artemis never really did a lot of mutual grooming, nor did they snuggle together all the time like others I see. They would both come running for pets and then they’d cuddle but not every day.They were mates for around 9 months when he suddenly went to the Rainbow Bridge. I was surprised at how sad she was! They were def. bonded but did not do much of the grooming.

[Author]

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