First up, Merry Christmas everyone! We're having a super time off work for a couple of weeks and. we even took Ariel and Miranda on a very successful road trip (3 hours in England constitutes a road trip!) to Devon to see the folks.

Anyway, it's been 4 weeks since they were both spayed; their tummies have healed completely and there's even patches of fur growing back! We've decided today to start the bonding process. First up, pics of the protagonists :

For those of you that don't know, they are 6-7 month old sisters that we adopted in November and they were fine with each other's company for about a week until one big scrap whioch forced us to separate them. They are currently living in "X-Pens" next door to each other.

Today we decided to put them in the bath together with a towel (we now know the towel is counter-productive), armed and rady with a apray bottle. They immediately went over to check each other out but within about 30 seconds there was a bit of nipping and we had to separate them again. We feel bad that we didn't  end the session on a gIood note, and have done more research to ensure we can see the signs of aggression before it happens (ears back, tail up).We've actually swapped them over in their pens (as per advice from the House Rabbit Network) and they both seem very happy , so we are going to try them in the our small kitchen (which neither bun has set foot in before) with our loud extrractor fan on and a pile of greens.  They don't seem to like cooking, and we're hoping the sound of the extractor should unsettle them enough so they don't fight. That's the theory anyway!

We'll do thais and post up how we get on.

2nd session. Progress

Today we had them both in the kitchen with a couple of towels and a pile of savoy cabbage in the middle. We had the extractor fan on max and the washing machine going, in order to provide some un-nerving sounds.
We tried to put them down within about 2 ft of each other, but Ariel (who is natuarlly a little more wary) climbed straight back onto me for cuddles! Seems this might be good for our relationship anyway!

After Ariel had stopped being such a scaredy-bun, both of them wandered around for about 10 minutes before taking a piece of cabbage from our hands. They pretty much ignored each other, facing opposite ways until after the 15 minute mark they both had a quick groom before nosing cautiously towards each other. We were all ready with a colander, sieve and a spray gun, but to our surprise and utter delight, they said a polite "hello" with their noses. Ears facing forward, tales down. We decided to call that our "positive end" and put them back in their quarters, with a raisin each for being so good!

It's a small step, but we've now had a 15 minute session without a sign of aggression. Happy days.
 

Sessions 4 & 5. Progress then a setback

Session 4 we decided to forgo the car-ride due to sub-zero temperatures outside and the fact that we live in a 4th floor apartment. A cunning plan was needed. We put the bunnies in a shallow laundry basket lined with a fresh towel in the kitchen and I vaccumed around them, making sure I caught the edge of the laundry basket a few times to stir things up a bit.

I tell ya what...it worked a treat! They were so good; huddling in together, no nipping or anything. Just burying their noses into each other's fur for comfort. Eventually we did away with the basket and kept the vaccum running and they still wanted to comfort each other. Ariel looked like she was going to nip a couple of times, but she was actually pushing ner nose underneath Miranda (which Miranda didn't particularly like). This makes me think Ariel thinks she's the boss.

Session 5 was last night. Oh dear, not good. We decided to try just a "normal" session in the kitchen with a pile of greens. We thought it was going really well after a couple of cursory nose-touches but then both of them thumped at each other. Ariel just went for it and we had to separate them. Miranda looked really sad as well and I'm not surprised given her sister keeps starting on her and I keep having to shout "NO" (I can shout quite loud, and I think they new I meant business!).

After we separated them a couple of times more Ariel just seemed to be in full on "I hate you mode" and we didnt see any other choice but to end the session before either of them got hurt . I understand you should always try and end on a positive, but all involved were getting more stressed by the situation. The funny thing is we sent them to their play areas (the lounge for Miranda and the Hallway for Ariel) and they bother were perfectly happy, running around and binkying; in fact I had Ariel on my lap for a good 20 mins for strokes, which is unprecedented!

I guess we should do a stress and forced snuggling session again tonight. They're such sweet little rabbits when they're on their own; why can't they just get along?!

Thanks Mark; we've had a 1 week hiatus due to both of us coming down with terrible colds, but we're back on it now and we're going all out daily stress-bonding for a while now.

Tonight we tried another 15 minute stress session in a box in the kitchen (neutral territory), bothering the rabbits with our vaccum cleaner. Suffice to say they hated it and this was the result:

 but also

This definitely has the desired effect, so we'll keep up with this for a few more sessions methinks.

Haha! Do you love carrots, nose wiggling and foot-flick people when they annoy you?!

Same again tonight; box, bunnies, vaccum. Same result, the bunnies snuggled in together for the entire 15 minutes with Miranda (the bunny ) taking time to groom herself as well.  After we put them back in their cages they were quite interested in each other, saying hello through the bars of their pens. I Imagine the conversation went:

"Thanks, you totally had my back when the nasty hoover was circling"

"Ah, no worries. I still hate you though"

How do we tell when it's time to move to the next stage? Should we carry on like this for a week and then try an all day x-pen session?

Like, if they nip, do you just break them up and carry on? What do you do if you're tempted to end it all because the bunnies just arent getting on? Carry on anyway?

Yes, carry on! haha. They need to work thru this and gain trust in one another. So when there's nipping, either use a vocal command, shake the box, squirt with water, whatever thing you're doing to discourage it, then try settle them and continue. I sometimes would briefly push the head down of the nipper to show it was not on, then pet both of them simultaneously. When they start circling one another and you can't distract them, it can spiral out of control and turn into a real fight so this is when you really need to separate them.

It can get boring for you, but if they are just sitting there after vacuum stressing and not doing much, this is actually positive - so try stretch out session times. If they are in close proximity and not fighting, this is good and they're trusting one another.

It's midday on Sunday now. We've had a brunch, washed down with a couple of mugs of tea and we're setting up for an afternoon bunny bonding vigil!

We're setting up an X-pen with a tray of hay, water bowl, litter tray and a box so one of them can chill out if they need to. The vacuum cleaner is on standby. We're gonna give it a 1 min blast at the start and then use it to stop them if they get nippy. Pics to follow

Clicky!

We did it! Five hours straight bunny bonding! See the vid in the link above for the condensed version

 On the whole, it was really positive. There were a couple of scraps, which you can see on the vid, but nothing more serious than that. Mostly they were just running round, ignoring each other and chilling out. There were a few tentative greetings where they just sniffed each other and went their separate ways.

After the first fight we used the stress bonding box with the vaccuum cleaner on for 5 mins followed by 15 minutes of forced snuggling. This is because Ariel got really riled up so we let them calm down a bit and stuck them in there. Totally worked as well! They were much better after that.

Ths video ends with them eating together for 25 minutes after about an hour with no nipping at all. I thought that was superb. "Good bunnies!"

We're going to keep this up all week, with at least an hour an night, followed by another big session on the weekend. I just want to say thank you to all of you on the forum, as without your advice and experience we woudln't have a clue! If this works it'll be down to you guys

Hehe! Thanks

However, it seems we got a litlle complacent as our hour session tonight wasn't quite as fruitful. We put them in a section of our bedroom again, this time without the X-pen and let them run around. Things were OK for about 2 minutes before a scuffle broke out (I was busy plugging the vaccum cleaner in "just in case") and we had to send them to opposite ends of the space. Anita (my GF) got some nice flesh wounds as a souvenir . We stuck them in the box for some vaccum cleaner stress bonding for a few minutes, which was followed by some lovely snuggling together. Once we'd got them back out into the play area, they probably had 3 more attempted nips, instigated by both bunnies.

The only way I can describe what happens most of the time is this:

*Sidle up, ears forward. Sniff. Back off. Sidle up again. Sniff. Back off. Ears back. Lunge.*

It happens like this almost every time (see the vid on my previous post). Is this "classic" bunny scrapping? It's so hard to tell if they're going to nip in these instances, as I'd say 50% of the time they sidle foward, sniff and then one of them hops away .

We feel a bit "lost" again; we don't really know what's the best way to continue. Same thing? 1 hour a night of playtime together? Should we try a smaller area so they are forced into each other's space? Or should we still be stress bonding?

Grrr...I had such trouble loading vids lately. I want to see!!
I have to rely on your verbal report. It sounds like normal progression. I saw a slight setback too when I moved into new bonding space. Maybe try short stress technique then pop them into the xpen. You might not even have to use the vac, even just putting them in the box then walking around with it for a bit before going to the pen may be enough. One thing that was suggested to me was to peg sheets around the pen to create a sense of smaller space. I found there was less distraction by what was outside the pen.

The ears flattening is an aggressive stance. Do you interject with a vocal command, or some other method, to which they respond? I'm thinking perhaps do this when you see that aggression arising. The curiosity is good though. In the pen, try just petting them both . With petting them side by side, you can swap hands between them, transferring each others scent. Also, you may want to give them some food to share - another positive and social experience.  They may not interact independantly but if they're in the pen just doing normal bunny things (like grooming themselves) this is ok. To me that means they're not totally on guard and feel comfortable enough to do normal activities.

It worked! Smaller space, 15 minutes of forced snuggling in the box after walking around with it was enough to make them really snuggly, with Miranda even flopping out right next to Ariel!

For the next 30 minutes we had them out of the box. There was one minor incident we couldnt diffuse with the spray gun but other than that we managed to stop another escalating before it even happened (ears back=wet head!). They said hello nicely a few times and ended up eating near each other so after they'd finished eating we ended the session, much happier than yesterday  Good bunnies!

This is really weird, but we seem to be alternating every day between good progress and not so good.

Last night they were good as gold for 20 minutes, including 10 minutes of forced snuggling in which Miranda flopped out again. They ate together again and I pre-emptively squirted once Ariel for having her ears back during a greeting. Poor baby - she always gets it!!

Then, 5 minutes before twe were going to wrap up they did their usual "nose touch, back off, ears back" and I managed to get a good squirt of water in but forgot the audio cue. They went at it for a second before we separated them. After they'd calmed down a bit and had some petting they both ate a bit more greens and we ended the session 10 minutes after the scuffle with both buns relaxed.

I think we've noticed something as well. Because it's generally Ariel that has her ears back when they greet and she's been squirted quite a few times now, she's learning to be nice most of the time. Miranda on the other hand seems to be trying her luck a bit now  and seems to be her that starts an actual scuffle.

Seems like this process is very much two steps forward, one back... Which is good I guess!

Today we reached a major milestone - they did 20 minutes without incident!

This time we didnt do any stress bonding or forced snuggles and just plopped them down in their bonding area in our bedroom. They groomed themselves a lot! They said hello about 5 times, and each time Miranda had her ears forward and looked very relaxed. I've noticed it's nearly always Miranda that makes goes up to Ariel. Ariel had her ears back a couple of times, but we managed to avoid any kind of nippiness by putting our hands on both their heads and stroking them until one backed away. This seemed to work really well as the bunnies sat there right in each others faces without feeling the need to get nippy.

I still think we've got a long way to go, but we're totally stoked today!

Perhaps Ariel is a bit fearful? Are you noticing who is the more dominant of the pair? It's interesting what you've said about Ariels nipping & consequently wet head. I wonder if there's a subtle snub or move by Miranda that she retaliates to? Is the water spray making her (Ariel) more agitated? If so, try replace it with a vocal warning. But if it's working, she backs of and goes about normal business, she's probably not getting too stressed by it.

Does she allow you to pet her head easily? I'm wondering if you can head of aggression in her with the vocal warning then after a moment, pet her to calm her some. Even pet them both. Just thinking this if her aggression is fear based.

 

Edit: I replied before reading all your last post!  Looks like your sussed them out!  Good to see petting them helps calm things down.  Having a pleasant massage whilst being close to one another should really help build trust.  In time, they will need to negotiate approaching each other independantly without incident, but for now what you're doing will really help I believe.

When you find they are sitting close and grooming themselves or just napping, you could probably start encourage them to groom one another.  I'm not sure if there should always be grooming - did they do this before?  Some pairs may just cohabit without grooming one another.  (btw, haha on reading my bonding thread(s) - what a mess!  There was good advice given by others though, so I hope you find that useful.)

@ jerseygirl: We're not entirely sure which is the dominant one yet. They've both got such different personalities but neither one has shown any signs of dominance over the other. We may have missed something though I guess. And, no - they didnt really groom each other before. Must have a read through your thread again though.

The last 2 sessions have both been 20 minutes long. Today they went for each other as soon as we got into the bonding area. Bad start;  Miranda got a good face-soaking,daddy got frustrated and stressed out and after mummy told him to calm down he gave the two a pep-talk. I think the face-soaking worked on Miranda as she was very good for the rest of the session. They ate loads of hay about 10 inches apart without a problem. We had to use the petting method to calm them down a couple of times but other than that they kept avoiding each other, grooming and eating. I guess it started badly but got better so a win I think.

Haha! I'm writing this on my laptop in our hallway and I have Miranda out here with me. She's just done a lap of the hallway and come up to say hello: