I’ve had my bunny for a year, and I wanted to get him a buddy. He seems pretty bored with us absent and couch potato humans. Went to the shelter and had a bunny date, at the time there was only one candidate and so I was prepared to walk away but it went very well. The volunteer had some experience with bunny dates and she said it went pretty well and dispite some nipping and chasing, they sat nose to nose a few times for more then a few seconds, and one time I pet them both and they repositions so they were closer…. I may have lost my mind because of the cute, I was sold. I wanted a second date but I would have had to wait several days and they only did 24 hour holds.
I have the bunny xpens and puppy crates set up next to each other, 3 inches between them, and food Across from ea. other. They’re swapped daily. Mr muscles, my neutered male mini Rex, has had the run of the apartment except the bedrooms, so when i rearranged things and put the xpens in the dining space, the only place they really fit. I planned on using the bedroom and office for neutral space which he can see but cant get to. On the second day the new bun, small spayed female hotot, ran around she kept going over and checking him out. There’d sniff through the bar, then I petted them both at the same time, and she moved over a few inches to touch noses and we continued. When he was out kept going over to her, they touch noses and she half blinks away, he’d stare at her flop his ears, like he does pre binky. He nipped her once through the bars though, she replied by boxing him whenever he’d come over until she realized he wasn’t gonna nip again and it was half binkies all over. Before he was put up they sat nose to nose a second, and he licked her twice, they adjusted and he did it to Again! I thought this is it, smooth sailing….. Ugh. The next day he was in a funk, when he got out he slept in his favorite corner and ran around marking everything. he also seemed to nip at her more from his xpen when she was out. We kept swapping and figured I was overthinking things.
I set up the space in the office, vacuumed it, put up barriers around the computer, I put things he’d never played with or been in his area,then added the buns . There was a lot of exploring, and sniffing each other, some nipping and running, all pretty normal not very aggressive, then he started smelling her butt but lower then her tail and sure enough he bit her, she bit back and. Tornado ensued. I seperated them with a pillow and we put them back in their pens… The whole thing was10 minutes.
I’m fustreted and emotionally drained. I’m absolutely not giving up, but I’m not sure what happened. These are the potential problems Ive identified, input welcome:
Mr. Muscles is territorial of his space in the living room and is jealous of her running around in it. It festered and boiled over. (They spend the same amount of exercise time out of their pens)
Mr. Muscles was territorial of the neutral space because he recognized it from peeking through three baby gate
I had brought home another bunny which did not work out, he had been misgendered as a female, the date was way to quick to really know their reactions to each other. Anyway he had stayed in that room and his smells tainted the “neutral space” (I tried to clean it and used a vineager spray but it was a light misting not a scrub)
My plan, please tell me if any of these steps seem excessive or pointless, I’d welcome less work:
Swap pens daily, for at least a week before the next date.
Block his view when she is out (should I block the view of the living room the whole time?
Deep clean and rearrange the living room area (I can’t move the dining room area because I have utility shelves and I can’t move a large plant shelf I have infront of the window, but I can deep clean under them)
Future neutral space:, tent outside, friends garage, shelter office…maybe I could disguise the office with blankets and tarps–maybe even drive them around to further the ruse
Advice, stores, encouragement, theories welcome! I new ish to bunnies and while I’ve read a lot about bonding living it is a bit different.