Thanks MimzMum!  And yes, it feels WONDERFUL to be done with my AA! Now I'm off to UCF in Orlando this fall to finish up my --ready for it-- BFA in Animation! I know, surprise right? Lol. I must be foolhardy but hey, I'm chasing my dream.

Karla -really? Wow those are great results! I've really been wanting to do the banana trick since Little-Bit is so stubborn and hasn't groomed him once, but I keep hearing that it's best not to interfere as much as possible(?) and that some pairs just never mutually groom. Although admittedly I would LOVE for Little-Bit to groom poor Peter as well! So what are everyone's thoughts on this should I aid along the process any or let them be as they are? I don't want to confuse them or hinder them but I would also like to see some mutual grooming if it's reasonable.

Alright! Then it's decided, tonight Peter gets some banana on his nose!

Oh!! I also forgot to mention something WEIRD I've noticed happening! It occurs continually --when Peter and Little-Bit are together they almost always wind up getting their cecals within minutes of each other. And I bond them at different times every day. I kid you not, yesterday I witnessed two bunnies sitting next to each other sit up, lean over, and get their cecals SIMULTANEOUSLY. At the exact same time!! Am I the only one witnessing this?? xD It's like some kind of bunny bio-synchronization! Certainly this is a documented anomaly.

I saw (and still see) that too. When bonding, I called it watching the cecal sequel. I be sitting in the bathroom, cold, tired and hungry, watching them do this and thinking what my life had come to...lol!

 

Yes, worst thing is that you have a bunny with banana dried into the fur.

Oh yes! I forgot about that. heehee

Well I tried the banana twice tonight. It did make Little-Bit "groom" him but...I mean you know, she didn't really groom him. xD I administered banana twice in a two hour time frame. I don't think it really did a whole lot for their comfort level with each other but of course I may be wrong. She still won't groom him minus the banana.

I also took the hutch out tonight since Peter's humping seems to have calmed down. He was more humpy than he was with the hutch in there but he was definitely a lot less humpy than before we used the hutch at all. Little-Bit isn't scared of his humps any more either. She usually doesn't tolerate them at all, but she's no longer scared.

Tell me if this is normal you guys: Peter does groom Little-Bit a lot and she loves it, but it seems to be that grooming her is usually all part of his humping game. He'll be groom groom grooming her and then slyly work his way up into a mount. Gah. It seems to me like he's giving her mixed messages. Every time she begins to feel more comfortable around him he works that sneak-attack hump in the middle of a groom. Or is this a normal thing?

I think an hour and a half is where I should cap my sessions for now, because they seemed to get annoyed and anxious after that (and Peter got really humpy). Where should I take it from here? Keep doing what I'm doing or try something new?

Well Peter is neutered, albeit only recently. Late January. Sometimes Little-Bit requests and sometimes he just suddenly decides to hop over and groom her. He doesn't mount her ALL the time though. Sometimes he'll look like he wants to mount but instead he'll lie down next to her. (x/ And I don't think Bitty gets the idea of snuggling yet.) He's been doing these weird half-mounts lately too, like he'll just put an arm over her back like a hug and stay like that without doing anything until she moves.

IS moving them into a bigger space a good idea? They do try to ignore each other as much as possible, and my line of thinking was that the smaller the space the more forced they'd be to interact. Right now they are in a space of about 2 feet by 3ft and no distractions. Should I start putting a litterbox in there maybe?

Edit:

Also.

What exactly is everyone's definition of a good time to move things along with the goal of merging territory? I'm just curious. To me, I feel like it's when they can lay down beside one another. I wouldn't DREAM of moving them in together yet, but right now even though they don't nescesarilly like each other I wouldn't feel like I was risking anything if I were somehow caught in a situation where they had to share the same space. I know for a fact that they wouldn't hurt each other --it's just not in Peter and I don't think Little-Bit even understands the concept of fighting. What's everyone's definition of 'time to move it along'?

Sorry, I didn't see your edit before. I think the article will address some of that better than me anyway.

www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

That was a great read Jersey, thanks! I have it bookmarked now.

Unfortunately it's a little hard for me to tell exactly where we're at because of Peter's sometimes double-edged grooming and Little-Bit's inability to mount. (I'm convinced she truly does only know how to express dominance in requesting to be groomed.) I sort of feel like they are confusing each other --they're certainly confusing me! :p

Tonight I think I will try moving their enclosure to a different location --the living room instead of the hallway, which is an entirely different rug. I think I will put some socks or washcloths in there for them to throw around too. I can tell that they get fed up sometimes because they'll take little anxiety digs in the rug and pull it up. I'll try petting her to snuggle down when he grooms her too. And of course we'll try more banana.

The more time they spend together the better they'll become in understanding one another. It all sounds like it's going well.
I've seen those little anxiety digs before. With Jersey it's a determination to get past a barrier. Same with Rumball sometimes but he also does it when he wants to use the litterbox sometimes. I also read that males (in a wild colony) will use digging to demonstrate their prowess which I think is hilarious!! I got impression they do this amoungst themselves, not so much as a show for the ladies.  I must say, seeing rabbits dig in dirt is one of my favourite things. I love how they hike their tush and throw the dirt thru the gap.

Last night went pretty well I think. Their session was almost 3 hours long. I moved their enclosure into the livingroom and gave them a bunch of rags and a newspaper ball (they loved the newspaper ball) to play with if they got fed up. I sat in there with them so I could try to perpetuate any snuggling that would happen. This also meant that I had to widen the pen a little so I could fit, but only by a panel. I don't think I'll be sitting with them again because instead of paying attention to each other all they wanted to do was climb on mommy and groom her and I only got to get them to snuggle once! Ugh. My bunnies are so sweet to me but they need to bond. xD After about two hours I left the pen and they paid more attention to each other.

For the first hour or so Peter was pretty humpy (and he mistook my arm a few times, to which I quickly let him know was not okay), but after that he calmed down. Little-Bit also seemed to be calmer this time, she laid down several times (which is a feat for the neurotic little girl) and most of them were in the general vicinity of Peter. I thought that was cool because the pen was bigger too. A few times he even came up behind her or passed alongside her and she didn't flinch. I tried the banana trick again and I actually caught Little-Bit taking a couple of really quick stray grooms at him later on, once on his ears and once on his flank. She only nibbled at him once or twice but I think it's a step in the right direction.

Overall I think the move to the living room and slightly bigger space was less stressful for them and the rags/ rugs were a really good implement.

I also wanted to ask, if I'm doing these 3-hour long or longer sessions is it okay to put a litterbox in there for them? Peter goes to the bathroom IMMEDIATELY when I put him back in his own enclosure and I've caught poor Little-Bit not being able to hold herself a few times. I think they may get more aggitated the more they have to pee...

Last night we tried the litterbox. It didn't really make a difference in Peter's mounting but it did seem to make Little-Bit feel a bit more comfortable and less jumpy -it was her litterbox. Peter pooped and peed outside of the litterbox, although I'm not sure that it was a territorial statement so much as it was just him being confused. In hindsight I should have put some of Peter's litter in there too because Peter wouldn't go in Little-Bit's litterbox. >< I think it may have confused him.

We'll see. Tonight I'll put both of their litterboxes in there.

Oh, also they snuggled once and Little-Bit stayed there so long as Peter was grooming her.

EEEE!! They snuggled last night for the first time!! Like truly snuggled along side each other without any grooming!! And within the first ten minutes of putting them together. Little-Bit never stays snuggled for more than five seconds unless she's being groomed. Last night they snuggled for at least a minute! I teared up a bit. :p The only thing that broke their snuggle was that Peter had to get up and scratch an itch.

So obviously last night went well! Peter only tried to mount Little-Bit twice and I had them together 4-5 hours. I also had both litterboxes in there which did a world of good. They both hopped in and out of each other's boxes and dug in them. Neither of them seemed like they were territorial over their litter box, but Little-Bit just stared confusedly at Peter when he hopped in her's and started digging. Lol, it was as if the concept of personal property violation was so far from her normal scope of comprehending that she didn't quite know what to do with it.

I know I've posted a lot but I have to say, I'm really enjoying reading of their journey.
Even if it is somewhat lacking in pictures......*whistles*