male and female bonding

[fonziegirl]

Hello.

I have a neutered male and spayed female that I am trying to bond.  They have been living in a side by side pen for almost two months.  They have gone on many successful dates that have always ended in cuddling and grooming.  I have left them alone while working in the other room and they seemed to be getting along fine.  After hours of them successfully hanging out, I decided to try the overnight date.  I left them last night in the same area where they had their other bonding dates.  At about 3am, they broke out into a fight.  My female was boxing and pulling out my male’s hair.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  I let them see each other this morning and they got along fine.   I did notice my female getting bossy with my male whenever he decided he was done grooming her.  She would nip at him.  I stopped this behavior immediately.  My male rabbit continued to groom her though..  and they laid next to each other shortly afterwards. 

Any suggestions?  They seem to get along fine during the day.  I don’t understand how this doesn’t continue through the night…

Fonzie (male) is approximately 3-4 years old.

Addie is about 2 years old.

[LongEaredLions]

Have you tried stress bonding in the car? What I would do since they get along most of the time is put them together, and if they fight, stress bond them, and then put them back in the pen.

[fonziegirl]

So when should I try the overnight date again?

[MoveDiagonally]

What did you do when they fought? Separating them due to fighting can actually lead to more aggression as it teaches them fighting gets them what they want (the other bunny away from them) LEL’s advice is what I do when mine have fought during bonding.

What were you trying to accomplish with the overnight date? Was it in neutral, semi neutral, or a home type set up area?

Bonding generally follows this progression:
Neutral territory until they get along > semi neutral territory until they get along > cementing

Generally I don’t do overnight dates until I’m in the cementing stage.

[fonziegirl]

It was the cementing stage.  They had been on many dates prior to that, and had spent hours together in semi-neutral territory.  They had never fought before last night.  The most I had seen out of either one of them was a small nip here and there, but it never escalated. 

And when they fought, I forced them together and calmed them down by petting them both.  After a few minutes I separated them and went back to bed…. I was afraid to leave them together after seeing the amount of hair that Addie (the girl) pulled from Fonzie.  It wasn’t a pretty fight.  They’re back in their side by side pens now.  I have heard of stress bonding and have tried it in the past.  I plan on taking them for a car ride tomorrow and returning to semi-neutral territory.  I guess my question is how do I trust them now?  I thought for certain they were in the cementing stage.  I’m a full time student and I work, so the thought of leaving them in the future makes me nervous. 

[MoveDiagonally]

Cementing needs to be supervised and you want them to be together for 24-48 hours without fighting before leaving them unsupervised together. If they fight during cementing it’s generally better to stress bond them and return them to the session than separate. The issue seems to be that you don’t have time to cement. Will you have time in the near future? Like a holiday break where you can dedicate a weekend to working with them? 

[tanlover14]

I definitely agree with MD. Wait until you have a good two-three days to supervise before attempting to cement their bond. It’s not surprising that they were bickering a bit, to me anyways. When transitioning from a shorter length of time to a longer length of time together this has always happened when bonding my group. They are simply working out their differences.

[fonziegirl]

I do have winter break coming up in a week…. and will be out of school for a month. I think that will be the perfect time to see how they do. I never knew that stress bonding was better in some situations than separating, so that was very helpful to me! Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it.

Addie and Fonzie seem to love each other! We’ve had a lot of play time since the fight and they’re back to grooming and binkying. I will keep everyone posted!

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