Well, I took Olive down to the local shelter today and she met a nice New Zealand bunny (male, neutered).  They seemed to be getting on alright (no fighting, no lunging) so I took the plunge and brought him home with us.  Now I think I've made a big mistake--they fought during their bonding session and fur flew (the NZ bunny, who's name I've got to change, growled) but nobody was hurt.  Meanwhile, I separated them and put one bunny in a smaller cage and the other in the X pen.  They can see each other, but they can't get to one another when both are caged.  I went out to eat, then came home and switched it so the NZ bunny was in the X pen and Olive was free range (I'm not sure yet about the NZ's litterbox habits, so he has to stay in the X pen until I'm confident he's ok to be let free range.  Olive is keeping a wary eye on her new "friend" and will often come up to the cage bars and try to nip at him (I stop this before it happens), but so far nothing else has happened in the way of fighting. 

What do I do now?  Obviousy, I need to get them to bond on neutral territory (the bathroom is probably the only place I can think of at the moment that would would be somewhere Olive hasn't really been), but I'm afraid of putting them together again.  When's a good time to try meeting up again in the same physical space?

I can't believe I wrote "bonding bunnie"--I meant "bonding bunnies.

Do you mean I should try them again together in the same room (bathroom this time--definitely not in Olive's territory)?  I'm afraid they'll fight again.

This one seemed pretty serious, although no blood was drawn.  We put them in the bath tub together later on in the evening; no fighting.  a little skirmish could've started when I was going to put them in the litter pan (in the bathtub) but we scrubbed that idea since it was exciting them.  This last time, they stood near each other, but basically ignored each other.  Sound about reasonable for two goofy bunnies who don't know they're supposed to be friends, yet? ;-)

Well, I put the bunnies back in the tub this morning and the NZ rabbit started to growl and honk at Olive, so I separated them.

Unfortunately, I have a problem as well--my boyfriend doesn't see this pair as matching and is getting stressed out about it.  I'm trying to make him see that bunnies take awhile to get used to each other, normally, and all of this is part and parcel of getting bunnies to bond, but I'm having very little luck.

I've tried a couple more times with putting the bunies in the bathrub.  results were mixed--they'd be fine until one of them moved, then the white rabbit would lunge and grunt.  I kept the spray gun at the ready and used it to ward off any true fighting, and this last time, I took them both off out of the bathtub and set them on the bathroom floor and they tolerated each other's presence.  olive climbed over the NZ'ers back, and he lunged slightly once, but otherwise didn't challenge the term.

He is neutered, that is correct.  After yesterday, I'm beginning to think I made a mistake.  Olive was very happy as a single bun, and I seem to have upset the apple cart by introducing a new bunny.  On the other hand, they are learning to tolerate each other's presence, this is just going to be a slow bond, I think.

It is upsetting to a bun to get another one, they are a creature of routine. Imagine if you were an only child and then your parents adopted another child out of the blue. Or if your boyfriend brought home a new girlfriend or roommate and expected you to accept it 100% immediately. It takes time to adjust, and it takes work to bond them. You've literally only been at it for a day, and you're ready to give up, so what you need to decide is if you want to put the effort in or if you want to just go back to a one bun house. There is also the chance that they will never bond, and you'll have to keep them separate for their lifetime. I've read stories of instant bonds, but I'm pretty sure thats the extreme minority, most bonds take a couple months, and some even can take a year.

I can't "officially" start Lady and Samsons bond until Lady is fixed, which will be another 4 months. In the mean time, I've placed their individual pens next to each other, and I've started giving each some pen time in each others pen. They've had supervised sniffs through the bars. You might want to look into getting another pen, its probably causing tension that your NZ is your other buns territory.

ETA, sometimes what helps me remember why I wanted a second, I just look at pics of bonded bunnies

Well, part of it was that my boyfriend was leery of being in possession of two rabbits who don't like each other--we live together, so I have to make everybody happy, so to speak.  Kinda stressful when it was your idea to bring the second rabbit home.  I just called the shelter and they recommended backing off on the bonding attempts for a few days, keeping them separated and seeing how it goes for a few weeks.  I would like to make it work, obviously, because I think in the long run, it will be good to have bonded bunnies.

Beka:  Thank you for chiming in!  The fur did fly on that first fight, and was a bit scary to watch.  The NZ rabbit (who I really have to name; I wasn't crazy about the name "Junior" given by his former owner/the shelter/whoever) is "noisy" and honked/grunted--startling me even further. 

If you don't mind giving me details, how did you accomplish what seems now like the impossible?  Olive is free range bunny during the day when I'm home and I've given her the cage instead of her x pen so the NZ could stretch out, but he's kinda lazy so far, choosing to stay in the jumbo-sized cat litterbox I have in the X pen and not moving much. 

I called the shelter to see what their recommendation would be and they said to wait a few days to try to do some play time sessions (bonding) and for now just keep them within view of each other but housed separately (obviously!).  They said to call in a couple weeks if I hadn't made any progress.

Sarita:  The NZ bunny is actually very sweet and docile (though he does like to make noise on occasion--he's just a vocal bunny, and I'm tickled pink about this because I've never had a vocal bunny before).  I see Olive as being the instigator initially--I think it's a matter of bunny turf wars.  Do you think it would be wise to wait a day or two before attempting to do short bonding sessions?  

Thanks, Sarita.  I'm wondering what his personality will be like.  He seemed so inquisitive when I first met him; now he's just hanging out in his litter box.  Oh well, laid back is ok by me.  Olive is more of an explorer, not constantly on the go, but she does like to hop around, and (bonus) she doesn't appear to be horribly destructive of my possessions (electrical cords are all bunny proofed).  He seems very good natured, though.  I feel sorry for what he's gone through already; first dumped off at the shelter, then transferred to yet another shelter, and then home to a house of horrors!  LOL!

Yes, I have.  Thank you!

I'm glad to hear tiffs are normal; I've bonded bunnies before and never seen them fight like that.  Chase each other around, yes, but never fight.  It was truly a bit frightening, especially since the NZ bunny is vocal, and was growling/honking. 

Right now I'm letting Olive out (supervised) because she can be free range, and the cage I have for her is pretty small--ok for a Holland lop for a few hours or overnight, but not for extended periods of time.  She is littertrained and can be trusted.  However, she was out most of the day, and I just put her in her cage next to the X pen (they can see and smell each other but not bite through the bars!) and after a few cursory sniffs, both of them chilled out.  

Hi, Monkeybun:  Yes, I think the stress bonding idea is going to work for them... hopefully.  Olive doesn't seem very phased by the noise of the dryer (I'm beginning to realize what a plucky bunny I have!) but I tip around the laundry basket I have them in and shake it, too, so they're unfooted a bit.  They haven't nipped or fought while in the basket (thank God) and the NZ bunny tried to snuggle next to her... until she hopped to the other side of the basket to investigate how she could get out of the basket. 

Now my problem is.. Olive likes to jump out of the basket, LOL!  But, I've been stressing them in five minute sessions, and have gotten Olive to eat some banana off the new bunny's head.  She won't do it consistently, and it's obvious they aren't friends yet, by a long stretch.  However, Olive did mount the new bunny, and he allowed it for a little while before he started to honk (then I gently shoved Olive off of him and made sure they didn't fight).    I've never had a difficult bonding process and it's a little unsettling watching two bunnies with such a wary eye.  It feels like they'll never bond...  but, I'm encouraged that I can have them in the same carrier (laundry basket) for a little while without outright fighting. 

I kept on with a few more bonding sessions, but I'm done for the night.  The last session, I was downstairs in the laundry room and they were across the room from one another, grooming themselves.  Then I brought them (in the laundry basket) up to the bathroom, but they started to circle and almost get nippy with each other, so I broke it off and put them back in the basket (making sure they minded their p's and q's) and ended the session.  it feels like these two will never bond, but I'm glad to see some progress, however minute.  No outright fighting today, but I've been really, really careful and kept them from doing so.