Bonding 2 female - is this behaviour normal?

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This topic has 4sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by Honhon.

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- 01/03/2018 at 1:27 PM
  Honhon
  Participant
  2 posts
  Hi new to this forum. We bought 2 rabbits (mochi and bunbun) back in September and November and have both been spayed. We have followed the advice online by putting both cages close by so they can get used to each other and now on the stage of bringing both into a neutral area. Its day 2 of doing this and bunbun is completely calm and runs around occasionally going up to mochi and sniffing her but then running off.
  
  Mochi on the other hand is frozen in one place throughout all of this and does not move when bunbun runs to her and sniffs her out. I tried to see online about this behaviour and couldnt find anything is this normal? Or is there something i should be doing when this happens? The good thing is they arent fighting however i do sometimes hear a grunt from mochi and she thumps the floor.
  
  Thank you in advance everyone!
- 01/03/2018 at 3:08 PM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  Mochi seems to be scared of Bunbun, especially if she’s thumping. Did you do any prebonding? Besides having the cages close by, did you swap out litter boxes and items between the cages or swap them between the cages? This helps get them used to each other’s scent.
- 01/03/2018 at 3:19 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  This is a fair sign. Mochi is likely stressed, but there is no aggression so the interaction is positive. You can try to help them out by petting them both a for a few minutes during sessions
  
  The grunt and thump is how rabbits say “Im not happy”. But again, no aggression so it still should be taken positively.
- 01/03/2018 at 3:20 PM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  I think it CAN be a normal reaction if the bun is particularly sensitive to stress. When I tried bonding, Quincy would often sit still most of the time at first. Hopefully she will come out of her shell in time. It sounds like you just have two buns with different personalities.
- 01/04/2018 at 3:00 AM
  Honhon
  Participant
  2 posts
  Thank you for your help. Yes during the prebonding we swapped out toys and blankets but I’ll try swapping the litter trays as well.
  
  Hopefully she’ll snap out of it and come out of her shell, she’s usually very confident which is why I was worried!
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