first time bonder EDIT *pictures now!*

[cin]

Hi all,

I’m new to the forum but I come here all the time. I’m posting because I’m worried that I’ve made a horrible mistake and I’m not sure how to rectify it. This past weekend my current bun (3 year old mini lop) and I made a trip to a shelter so he could pick his new mate. We tried 4 different girls – and he seemed to get along best with a 3 year old English spot. She began grooming him immediately for at least 20 minutes and he seemed to enjoy it. My boy has full run of our bunny proofed apartment – he loves being in both the living room and bedroom. The bedroom is where his pen is set up with everything he needs and enjoys sleeping under our bed. Since he is never really caged I was at first confused about where to safely keep her. I decided to just block off the corner of our bedroom with large boxes as sort of a temporary “cage”. I’ve made sure that she cant get out and he cant get in. 

I started the bunny dates on Sunday and so far they’ve since been on 3 bunny dates. I’m using our bath tub since its the only neutral territory in the house – and the dates themselves usually go great. There is usually lots of grooming and they eat in front of each other. There is even laying up against one another. The only trouble we are having so far is that our lop is being very persistent about mounting, and as soon as she tries this the girl will run right away. She has tried to mount him back a few times but he usually just runs away too. 

Anyway, here is where my big mistake comes into play. While my lop was occupied in the living room with my fiance’, I was spending some time with the new bunny in the bedroom – petting her/trying to get her to feel more comfortable with me (she’s VERY timid). I had been noticing that she wasn’t really moving around much and was being a bit lethargic so I made an opening in her enclosure  to see if she would get up and investigate – and she did. She really seemed to love hopping around the bedroom and was being curious to check out every corner. A few minutes later – my lop unexpectedly came in the room and instead of picking her up I decided to see what would happen. He decided that she was standing to close to his pen, and he quickly ran toward her in what I believe was an attempt to bite her (I heard the teeth). He didn’t get very far though as I was sitting directly next to her and was able to stop it by putting my hand in front of him and gave him a stern NO. So instead of biting her he ran underneath the bed and she quickly ran back into her area where I put the divider back into place. 

While nothing serious happened, I’m worried that I may have ruined their next bonding session. Should I perhaps wait a few days to put them into the bath tub for their next date? Or would it be ok to just continue the daily bonding sessions like I’ve been doing? Or should I take them for a car ride? I hope I’m just worrying to much and this is just a minor set back – I’m just so upset at myself because the bond was going so well. Hopefully I’m worrying for nothing – but would love some opinions on where to go from here. 

[Sarita]

I don’t think it’s going to be a problem – I say just keep doing what you are doing and see how it goes.

[tanlover14]

I think you’re just worrying over nothing — since it WASNT a neutral territory that can always induce a scuffle in which case I’d say back to the best neutral territory and doing some more bonding there before moving on.

You can also help your other bun get used to the others scent in his area by putting a towel in each buns enclosure/area and then flip-flopping it to the others area after 24 hours (long enough for them to mess around with it and get their scent on it). This way he gets used to her scent being around him and “his” area. This usually helps with territorial type aggravation with them. And if he gets aggressive about it then he’s able to just take it out on the towel (which is the source) and not the other bunny.

Let us know how the continued bonding sessions go!

[cin]

Thanks guys – sometimes its good to hear that you’re worried over nothing!

I continued their bonding in the tub for about another week, she was a bit scared of him after the confrontation at first, but he’s pretty timid so she got used to him again after a few days. After about a week, everything was going great again so I decided to remove the divider in our bedroom under close supervision. She made herself at home in his pen, and he really didn’t seem to mind it at all. They were eating together and grooming just like in the tub.

A few days later, however, I noticed that Ben doesn’t sit inside of his pen nearly as much as he used to. Now he’ll just go in there to eat and use his litter box and that’s about it. She’s is in there pretty much all the time though. I thought that they would want to spend more time together, but its been a few weeks and he seems to be more clingy to us rather than to her. He sits with us a lot more now, and she’s to scared to venture out to where he is so she likes to stay in the bedroom. When he does go in there, she gets really happy to see him. She’ll come right up to his face and they’ll groom each other, she binkys and flops a lot when he is around. Sometimes, Ben seems happy to see her too, but sometimes he will ignore her. When he’s in the mood to ignore her, she tends to do the same thing. I noticed that whatever he’s doing when he is ignoring her – she will mimic his behavior. There’s been no fighting at all since both buns are pretty timid but I was really hoping that they would enjoy spending more time together. I’m wondering if I perhaps I should go back to the tub bonding sessions to try to get them to have a stronger bond or to just let it happen on its on. 

Here’s a picture of our first bonding session – I have more but I have to get them off of my phone! They do look cute together!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Awww….they make an adorable couple.

I say just keep on keeping on. Ignoring is normal and good. It will take a bit of time for them to fall in love. Sounds like it’s going really good.

[cin]

Thank you! I’ve been keeping an eye on them and they are slowly spending more time together. I caught them tonight apparently forming a heart in their pen!

 

[tanlover14]

They are adorable!! I wouldn’t worry about putting them back in the bath tub, as long as they continue to do well you should let them thrive together at their own pace. If you begin having problems, that’s when I would go back to the bath tub. But as long as they are looking as adorable as the photo above you should just continue doing what you’re doing!!!

[Author]

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