How do I know when it’s ok to leave them alone?

[LopNessMonster]

So tonight I plan to put Nessie and Ollie together as soon as I get home from work.  They have been pretty good lately and it seems the longer I leave the together, the better they do.  There may be some scuffles at first but they settle down eventually and if I leave them in for a couple of hours I might even see some grooming.  Unfortunately I don’t usually get home until around 7 and I go to bed by around 11 (at least I try to) so even if I put them together first thing, they don’t get more than a few hours together each night.  I’ve had good long sessions on weekend days, but I do end up leaving the house every weekend at which point I have to put them back in their respective cages. 

Anyway I plan to sleep on the couch by them tonight to see how they do, and I’ll be home until at least the afternoon tomorrow.  How do I know if I can leave them together when I go out in the evening?  I will be away for a few hours and nobody will be home to watch them.  I know I have to leave them together eventually but I don’t want to come home to find the scene of a massacre.  Is there a secret?  Should I separate them and just put their cages together while I’m gone?  Agh!

[Slowebot]

When I was bonding mine I was so paranoid that I set up a nanny cam when I had to leave the apartment for a class. I was gone for 2 hours but I checked the cam every 15 minutes or so. But even if something happened I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it because I was far so really I was just being weird. Many people describing instinctually knowing when you can leave you bunnies alone.

I found that the smaller area I gave my bunnies, the less they were likely to fight so if I had to leave for a while I’d usually put them in a litter box sized pen, put a small bowl of water in it and leave them. I gradually increased this. They still had scuffles but they never got bad. When I put them in a larger pen for the night and I slept next to it they also didn’t fight or draw blood so I figured if I were gone for a while they hopefully wouldn’t do anything too rash. My bunnies never drew blood, if your bunnies have a good track record then you’ll have to make the decision for yourself whether you are okay leaving them together. If they fight often then I’d discourage it but like I said, use your own discretion.

It probably wouldn’t destroy the process if you kept them close together but separated by a small gate or something if you really are afraid of leaving them together. Also small scuffles aren’t ground-breaking, my bunnies still break into little scuffles and once in a blue moon I’ll find a tuft of fur.

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