So I figured I'd start this now, since an end to the 2 cages split house is finally in sight  Lady is getting spayed on the 4th of January!

 

Ok so to start, Samson is a 4 1/4lb 10 month lionhead girl, spayed. She roams the house, but has her own xpen.

Lady is a 4 month old flemish giant girl, she is getting spayed a little early, but I have talked to my vet about it and since shes displaying some hormonal behavior (scenting and chinning everything for one), hes comfortable with spaying her at 4 1/2 months. She's about 6lbs at this point.

 

To start with bonding,  I've kept them separeted since I got lady 2 months ago. They are in xpens side by side, but about 2 inches apart. Battle of the poops has been bad, Samson didn't start creating her own piles until Lady escaped into her pen and chinned everything :/ That was about a week ago, so its been..annoying

Since then, I've hung a blanket between the 2 pens so they don't have a visual anymore while in their pens. Its worked wonders, Lady poops 90% in her box now instead of 20%, and Samsons back to normal }
"{ =ppl[; <---- thats from Lady

When they are out during the day, I stretch out Samsons xpen to the wall, so she get the bedrooms and the hall way, Lady gets the kitchen and living room. There is only 1 xpen separeting them during the day, so I watch. Samson tends to spend most of the day on the other side of the house in our bedroom, but sometimes she comes out.

One time the gate was left open on a rare occasion I wasn't home, and Lady got out, and they scuffled Fortunately we didn't have a rug at the time, just hardwood so they didn't get enought traction to do any serious damage. This was at about 3 weeks I think? Anyway.

So after about 3 or 4 weeks of interest from Lady, but total ignoring from Samson, they started meeting through the bars during play time. They'd both stick their noses through the fence and ask for grooms, and both refused to groom each other so I'd sit there with them (to prevent fights as well) and pet both noses (sometimes with a little water on my hands to add a little friction, more like grooming). They'd walk away happy. At this point if they'd try to demand grooms and I wasn't there petting, they'd box a little through the xpen. I'm always within a few feet of the wall so no damage would happen. I also keep a squirt bottle nearby to disuade fighting

 

Finally at about 6 weeks, they started to groom each other, and for decent periods of time, still through the xpen though.

(excuse all the background noise! I don't know how to mute that haha)

 

Anyway, so thats pretty much up to date, I'll wait probably 2 more weeks after Lady is spayed, and then the true bonding commences!

You might be one of the lucky bonders who's rabbits get along right away! I've had that happen a few times so it can definitely happen.

I sure hope so! The hard part is going to be to find a neutral spot to introduce, since they literally roam all over the house. I figured grooming is a good sign though at least!

Alright so I had their first bonding session, it was 2 days earlier than I wanted, but Lady managed to escape into Samsons area and they were doing circles so I put Samson in Ladys pen and created a second pen connected to that with Lady in it. I used a laundry bucket and a broom, and set out salads. It went pretty good, no grooming and a couple scuffles, but ok considering... Feel free to fast forward, I'm still working on editing hah
 

 

Yesterday I did another session, a little longer about 15 minutes? I tried out in our complex hallway because it was for sure neutral, and being a new area it was intimidating for both. They had a small scuffle, but no fur pulled, I forgot my camera by the time I got the hamper,broom,veggies,litterbox and bunnies out there hah. No grooming yet but nose to nose for short bits.

They look like they are dong great together! BTW, I LOVE Lady's tail!

Isn't it great? I pet it sometimes. Its just so big!! She was 8.5 lbs at the vet today!

And here's todays session! I moved it to the laundry room with great success I think! They never go in there, and I threw a couple sneakers in the dryer and ran it, along with playing some Pantera (loud angry music) for several minutes to basically stress them a little. Samson fake groomed Lady twice (smudged banana on their faces) but Lady didn't groom Samson at all   They had a couple of really minor scuffles that only lasted a half a second and they worked out themselves, I didn't have to interviene. I also pet their heads together, they sat nose to nose for a couple minutes and were good, just refused to groom each other. Willful bunnies I have!!!Total time today was about 30 minutes-ish

Here ya go, not super exciting since its a lot of ignoring but I guess thats good!!

 

 

They are the CUTEST pair!

Awhhh heehee Lady is getting so pretty and Samson is as cute as a button next to her Looks like bonding is off to a good start

Glad it hasn't been a bogus journey. Hehe!

Haha *like*

that tail and those EARS! omgosh those ears!

and their noses going double time! so cute!

Looks like Lady bought the fake groom! lol

I cant be of too much help cause bud and halo were almost instant..but Good luck!

Haha there's a lot of funny parts in that, if you really look. There's one part where Lady goes to meet Samson without Samson noticing, then when Samson notices she hops around and puts her back to her for a bit And Lady totally melts when Samson grooms her, she just wants loove!
I'm going to do another 30 minute tomorrow morning, then a second one in the evening tomorrow

They are ridiculously cute together. I love how Lady's eyes close when Sam starts grooming her. You have such beautiful buns, and I'm happy that bonding is going well for you!

The broom idea is great! Lady loves her veggies doesn't she LOL.

This is a really good bonding journal with good videos

They're looking really good! Samson seems very easy going and completely unconcerned with having another rabbit so close. Lady definitely seems more apprehensive, but with the way things are going she'll probably build confidence pretty fast.

Lady's ears are precious, btw.

Bad day today Didn't get the chance to try until about 5pm, put Samson in in her cardboard house, then added box and Lady and was setting up the loud music when they started to fight Some serious tufts of hair were pulled, and they both were on their side, latched onto each other and took me a few precious seconds to separate them. I looked them over and felt very thoroughly and nothing felt wrong or was bleeding Still very disturbing. I haven't decided if I'm going to give them a week break or try more, 2 seconds before I put them in the laundry room they were grooming through the bars! I think they are just trying to drive me crazy.

I would not put a cardboard box in there at all...I had a situation where a pair I had bonded had all the sudden starting fighting. The adopter brought them to me to help rebond or see what the problem was. It was the boxes in the pair's area. Apparently big girl Boo would get frustrated because she couldn't get in the box, but Coco could. It caused territorial problems. Once the hidey holes and boxes were gone, they were fine. So give it a try without any cardboard houses or boxes and see if that helps.

Ugh I really hope it was the box. Silly me didn't even think of there being a territorial issue >.<

Yeah, I would say it's probably the box. The only accessories I used during bonding were litter boxes and a pile of hay. When they moved in together and were cementing for a couple weeks they lived in just a pen with the necessities - no hiding places. Once they're fully bonded then you can start introducing things they may be territorial of.

I had the same problem with my buns. I couldn't use a hidey house or things would just get out of hand. Bunnies can be so touchy sometimes, but, I still love them. Keep up the good work and don't give up!

No video today, but it was better, no grooming and a couple nips from Samson, but mostly ignoring. Samson seemed SUPER stressed

So its been a quiet evening, and I decided to work on another bonding session. About 20 minutes long, I stuck the bunnies beds in the washer and though, hey this might be a good way to mix it up. SO I put them both in a litterbox with some oat hay, and ran the washer. Only one small nip from Samson (at which point I took her out and took advantage of the situation and trimmed her nails ) and then set her on the dryer next to the litter box, and she jumped back in the litter box and they sat together for a few more minutes. Now my hands were petting and grooming most of this time, I'd stop for maybe a minute at most but I'm a little gun shy about them fighting again so I might be hovering a bit. We ended on a good note, and I put both buns back home

Sounds like a good positive session!

I was definitely a hover-er. I probably interrupted them too often, but it all worked out in the end. It might be faster to bond them if you let them work some things out, but as an inexperienced bonder I didn't trust that they wouldn't hurt each other. I figure the hovering just makes it take a little longer, but if it makes you feel better, then do it! It definitely made me feel better to interrupt chasing and humping behavior.

I'm slacking on the videos! My battery was dead from a shoot earlier.

So last night I had another session, 30 minutes. They were kinda aggressive, but it seemed more from not knowing what to expect from the other, like if Lady turned too fast Samson would nip at her and run off. Finally I squished them together and groomed them with a damp papertowel, side by side foreevverr, for like 20 mintues stopping every so often to let the move a little and see if they would groom. Finally Lady groomed Samson (Yes!) but then a couple minutes later Lady moved too fast and Samson nipped her and pulled fur so I squished them together and groomed them a couple more minutes, ended on a good-ish note and put them both to bed. *sigh*

2 more uninspiring bonding sessions, last night and this morning I put both buns in the kitchen and gave them their salads. I'm a little torn on it, on one hand Samson seems MUCH less stressed to have more room to escape if necessary, and therefore she's much more relaxed around Lady, she sneaks up and sniffs her every so often or will walk around her and even touch noses real quick, but spends most of her time about 6 feet away eating a romaine leaf she snatched and bounced off with. Lady doesn't care either way, which is a problem with having food there :/ My husband noted she's like Spike on The Land Before Time, she just sits and eats and pretty much zones out haha. If I take the food away she pursues Samson, not to nip or anything I don't *think*, more to ask for groomies but that stresses Samson out and Samson usually checks her (nips the top of her nose?) and then they scramble to split.

So I think I'm gonna have them eat their salads (or most, since Samsons more of a grazer and takes all night to eat hers) together in the morning and evening to get Samson more accustomed to being near Lady?

I think I forgot to say this in the last one, but the time before that I bonded in the laundry room on top of the washer, then I clipped Samsons nails and squished them together some more. I think this was too much for Sam, she was completely pissed at me the next couple of days, to the point where she'd growl at me if I even walked by. Hence the reason I'm now trying the hopefully less stressful intros.

Uninspiring is good. Sounds like she's just sizing Lady up for now. I wouldn't be worried about the fact that there is no grooming.

I had a bonded pair that I don't ever think groomed - they were definitely snuggly and laid next to each other, but no grooming.