When to remove the barrier?

[Morwenna88]

I am bonding my mini lop buck, Fatbit, with my Britannia Petite doe, Saoirse (sear-sha). A few months ago, I was moving too fast with their bonding and they ended up getting into a couple of fights, one of which sent Fatbit to the vet with a pierced ear. Well, 3 months later, they’ve been cohabitating in a wire shelf condo with a shared wall where they can interact 24/7. This has worked great for them and they seem to want to fight less and less as time goes on. I was switching them every day in the mornings but Saoirse said it stressed her out too much and she stopped wanting to come out and play. They take turns having free time out in my room to play, and sometimes Fatbit goes to Saoirse’s door and pines for her attention. She used to nip his nose a lot, but now she will either ignore him or touch noses with him. 

Last week, I started to put the ex-pen across the room, giving each bun half the room for themselves and feeding them their dinner salads next to each other in the middle of the room. The first night I did this, one would lay against the pen and the other would come up and nip them so they would move, then the other would take that “spot” and lay against the pen. They went back and forth a couple of times with this until they decided that it was okay to lay together, I was really happy to see that! They did it again tonight and I’m good with keeping this routine going for them as long as I need to. I can even let them both have the room all night like this. 

How long and what should I look for to know I can take the next step and remove the ex-pen and let them interact uninhibited (still supervised closely)? Given their past fights, I’m still nervous about this even with all the good signs. Fatbit is a confused little boy and just doesn’t know how to impress Saoirse, he gets frustrated with her when she ignores him and walks away. He will still grunt and nip at her when he’s feeling frisky. If he says something rude to her, she gets offended and she’s the better fighter and I don’t want either of them to get hurt again. They have gotten better at listening to voice commands, they know what “NO!” means. 

[SeeShmemilyPlay]

If they haven’t shown any signs of aggression in a week, I’d put them in a neutral zone and see how they do together with a shoe or broom nearby to break them up if something goes awry

[bonilla&BUB]

I am bonding my buns right now, and I used oven mitts to separate them. Nothing else worked – broom, loud sounds, vaccuum, nothing. Only physical separation.

If it makes you feel better – my male hasn’t yet humped my female. They are just co-existing. He is not an impressor… lol

I hear a lot of people say start in a small space or start in big space – well I started out in a small box (after doing what you have done) and that didn’t go very well. Then I started them in my stand up shower (I don’t have a tub) with a play pen across where the door would be so I could supervise and separate if necessary. This gave them enough room to actually move, groom, and eat. However, it gave more room for lunging and chasing. Just go slowly and don’t take your eyes off of them. They can nip, and lunge, but no chasing or circling (so I have heard – and this has worked for me). I separate them immediately if they circle or fight and place them facing each other, stroking them saying “nice bunnies, aren’t you so lovely” or something haha. They calm down and touch noses again or go back to ignoring. As you know im sure, end every bonding session on a positive note (that can be ignoring one another), and you should be good to go. There are a lot of people on here with so much bonding advice it is incredible. Just ask anytime with new questions and someone can help.

To answer your actual question – my advice would be to start in a neutral area and not in an area that is either of theirs (aka, don’t just remove the x-pen).

[Morwenna88]

See, I’m not sure if I should do the neutral territory thing with them, because last time I did, they immediately went after each other and fur was flying. I feel like they might get along better if they are both relaxed and in a familiar area. They both will flop right next to the other and lay against the bars and against each other. However, Fatbit will ask to be groomed and Saoirse gets bored and leaves, then his feelings get hurt. If Saoirse stays, she will press her nose to his and they both relax and sort of zone out if I “groom” both of their foreheads.

I don’t think stress bonding is right for these two, both have fairly dominant personalities so it’s precarious, they tend to look for something to blame and take their stress out on each other.

[bonilla&BUB]

Mash banana and put it on their foreheads! Show them it is there and this will initiate grooming on Saoirse, and Fatbit. This advice was giving to me and it worked marvelously. The fighting stopped with mine after I started using the banana.

[bonilla&BUB]

Mash banana and put it on their foreheads! Show them it is there and this will initiate grooming on Saoirse, and Fatbit. This advice was giving to me and it worked marvelously. The fighting stopped with mine after I started using the banana.

[Morwenna88]

She groomed him through the bars tonight!

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