Making progress, but after a little advice.

[RetroSquid]

Our two lady rescue buns, Navi and Daisy are finally making progress.

When we were first trying to bond them, there was lots of fighting, it genuinely seemed like they wanted to kill one another, but, we finally got somewhere.

We basically backed right off for a few weeks so they would (hopefully) forget about the fighting, and then both me and Ousie sat and held a bun, so they could see, smell and almost touch each other. We did this for probably about a month, just trying to make sure they were close and got used to being together, just without the fighting.

Then, over the last couple of weeks, we’ve given them a little more freedom and have found that they both just put their heads down at one another, no aggression, but eventually, Navi has started licking Daisy’s head.

This had been done in the very small area by the front door until recently, now, we’ve moved into the kitchen to give them more space. 
Daisy is very nervous, but is getting more and more confident by the day, but Navi is just exceptionally confident and seems happy to be around Daisy now.

As you can see, Daisy has a habit of pushing her head under Navi, she gets very low to the ground and seems to be acting rather submissive. Or, at least, we assume it’s submissive. We’ve never truly been in this situation before.

They even sat side by side and shared a meal together today.

So, today, in the kitchen, was the first time Navi had put her head down and Daisy had licked her, Navi seemed so content and appreciative of it.
Afterwards, they lay face to face, very content looking with one buns head on the other for nearly an hour, I’ve genuinely never seen Navi looking so content and relaxed.

This is where my question comes in.

Navi, she’s clearly the dominant and most comfortable and confident of the two and has, on a number of occasions, humped Daisy. We’ve been interfering and preventing this as often as possible. Daisy usually responds by just running a couple of feet away, or not actually doing anything at all if we don’t get there in time.
I was wondering, are we potentially prolonging the creation of their bond by preventing Navi from acting on instinct?
I know they need to establish a pecking order, we just don’t know how much humping we should let Navi actually do.

It doesn’t seem to stress Daisy out particularly, when she has run away from Navi, it’s never to cower or hide, it’s more as though it was a shock.

Also, now, when Navi is humping Daisy, she doesn’t hold on and there hasn’t been a single tuft of fur, she just mounts.

Any advice on our next step would be appreciated

Thanks!

[Stickerbunny]

You do have to let them mount a little, without it they will never establish who is boss. If you notice it stressing the humpee out too badly, or it seems like it’s about to cause a fight, then you can jump in. I only got in the way with my two when Stickers started crying (the most pitiful noise ever is a rabbit crying) from the stress of it because Powder just would not stop.

[RetroSquid]

Well, it was a rough start today, a few humps and a tuft of fur, but they settled down fairly quickly.

Daisy did take the opportunity to hump Navi while she was lay down… Which didn’t go too well… Navi isn’t up for being dominated… 

[Katscarpena]

This is very helpful encouraging! We are trying to take a different and slow approach with Luna and Chipper. I like the idea of sitting with them on laps. Both Chipper and Luna would stay – Licorice doesn’t sit with us even for 60 seconds.

Right now we have Chipper and Luna right next to each other – cages and all, something we could never do with Licorice because he is a tiny escape artist. lol I’m hoping they get used to each other – the smells, the noises they make, even just in having another bun around.

[RetroSquid]

We have spent months with their cages side by side at night (In the day, they’re free to roam in their own areas, Daisy in the livingroom/office and Navi in the dedicated bun room)

But that didn’t seem to be getting us anywhere, they would still fight.

So we sat in the hallway, by the front door with the buns on the floor and just gently restricted their movements somewhat…
It took a few weeks, but we got to the point where they were used to each other enough just not to fight at all…

It’s been slow going, but finally feels like the end is in sight!

[RetroSquid]

The bonding sessions are getting better, a lot less stress and Navi settles down a lot easier and quicker now.
Rather than half an hour of frantic sniffing, foraging and humping, she’s now settling down in a couple of minutes.
Still the occasional hump, but nothing major.

Lost and lots of licks, though. She’s obsessed with Daisy’s ears.

And after all those licks, it’s time for a rest! ^_^

And then a bit of a flop. 
Any excuse to stick that bunny butt out, really.

Daisy did take this opportunity to attempt to hump Navi, but was quickly put in her place. 
Clearly Navi is going to be dominant.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sounds like they are coming along, slowly but surely! That second last pic is so sweet.

[Author]

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