When is bonding “complete”?

[Adina]

Hi all!

Before I get into all the details the ultimate question is: how do I know when to let them sleep together overnight/let them be together unsupervised?

I have two bunnies:

1 neutered male, 1 spayed female. I got the female at 7 weeks old when the male had been post neuter of 4 weeks.
They were immediately fond of each other and “bonded” but with research I realized it was not a true bond and when she became hormonal I might be in trouble so I separated their pens with a gate and they took turns free roaming.

Since that separation I would “swap sides” daily and both did just fine in each others pens. The male would always lick the female through the gate and they always slept next to each other on either side of the gate.
Now the female is spayed a few weeks and I have just reintroduced them yesterday. Its been completely uneventful other than one chase when they first realized they were together again. It lasted less than 30 seconds and then it was kisses and grooming. They lick each other, share food, sleep next to each other and both sides of the pen are open and they are in communal and “personal” spaces acting normal. I am only doing this with direct supervision but I have dedicated all day yesterday and today to this.
I did not let them sleep together last night because I thought it could be a fluke.
I don’t want to separate them if they are back to being bonded , but I also feel like it was too easy! A good problem to have, I know, I just want to be sure I am not missing anything.

Thanks in advance!

[DanaNM]

Sounds like you got the coveted “love at first sight” bunnies! But you also had good judgement to not rush things. 🙂

You can definitely do an overnight now, but you will want to supervise. That means setting up somewhere to “sleep” near them so you will hear if a fight breaks out and you can intervene quickly. I put sleep in quotation marks because I find I never do much sleeping because every little noise will wake me up! So best to do this when you don’t have work the next day.

In terms of determining if they are bonded, the rule of thumb I go off of is they should spend 48 hrs together with no fighting or aggression that needs intervention from you, and lots of positive behaviors (cuddling, grooming, food sharing, litter box sharing). Then every time you move them to a new location (such as the move from neutral to their final home), you will want to supervise them again for at least 24 hrs, but preferably 48. The overnight supervision tends to be the most important because that’s when the buns are more active.

It’s also OK to separate them if you need to step out for a bit or take a nap, as long as they can see each other it won’t set things back.

So the timeline I often use is set them up in the neutral spot you will use for the overnight. If the first overnight goes well, I keep them together in the neutral spot and I start cleaning and rearranging the area they will live in permanently (or getting a semi-neutral transition area ready, if you have one). Then after the second overnight in neutral I move them to their final home. If you have a few issues at first in the final home you may want to supervise them a bit more just to make sure they are good, but if they are good the first 24 hrs they should be fine!

If you don’t have that much time to supervise constantly, you can separate them when you need to go to work, etc. My first bond I never did the “marathon”. Once they were good for multiple  6-8 hour sessions during the day,  I did a few overnights (with day-time separation). After the second (or third?) overnight I moved them to their final home and supervised for the first 24 hrs.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Adina]

Thank you! This is SO helpful!

[Author]

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