Color me clueless!

[luvmyhunybuny]

I have worked on my fair share of bunny bonds, but my current pair is confusing the crap out of me! I have taken them on plenty of car rides and then neutral time. I recently posted about them doing fine in neutral then figting in their shared area. So, I lengthened the time in neutral. They were together for 48 hours with only one small nipping chasing incident in the very beginning (my female is always the one to chase and nip my male in the rear end). I put them back in their area and everything was great for 5 hours, then a fight broke out (again my female starting it). Oh and they were both grooming each other in neutral area. They are now back in neutral time where I get this (below). What the heck gives?!

 

[RabbitPam]

Other FLs and Members are more of the bonding experts here, but my understanding is that the process is more like 2 steps forward, 1 back, and your two sound like they are behaving that way. In other words, you bonding work IS progressing as it should, especially with grooming and snuggling (cute pix), but they are not really “finished” bonding. It takes time and patience, especially toward the end when you can start to be sure the bond is made. Even then, a little change, like a vet visit, can set them back.
But they aren’t set back all the way. Just a bit. So, I would say keep up the car rides, try a laundry basket on a vibrating dryer if you have one and put them both in that. It simulates car ride motion and they snuggle in the tight basket together. (Supervised by you of course.) Generally, you sound like you’re doing the right things, just need to do it for a bit longer. Hang in there. Perhaps someone else has another helpful tip. Be sure to read through some of the posts in the forum for similar bonds and other tips.

[tanlover14]

As you sound like you’ve done this before — this may be a mute observation but thought I’d make sure anyways. Did the shared area used to be just ONE of their areas? Perhaps the girl and that’s why she’s fighting with him? If so, have you made sure to take every precaution to thoroughly clean the area and possibly move some things around so it doesn’t look or smell the same to her?

[luvmyhunybuny]

It is actually a shared area (divided by an xpen). She has been starting the fights on his side of the room. I just don’t get it. He will hop up behind her and she spins around with her ears back ready to pounce, though most times she won’t. She will see it is him and then go nose to nose with him. She acts like she is nervous or scared around him, but does not display this behavior in neutral territory. In fact, they get along so well that they have been hanging out in the bathroom since last night (and 2 days prior to that they hung out in my laundry room) with out any incidents. The bathroom is right next to my bedroom, so I can hear them if a fight breaks out, but so far they have been perfect in there.

[Stickerbunny]

Have you tried taking out all but bare minimums of stuff from the shared area, in case something in it is setting her off? My female can’t have hidey tunnels/boxes for example and requires a litterbox up one level from the other two to avoid fighting. If you take stuff out and they are ok then add stuff slowly might help if the room is “setup” for long term living. Rabbits get odd when they have others around “their” stuff.

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