First a little background. I have had my blue boy Ash for 4 years, he is neutered and has been a solo bun until a few weeks ago. We decided to try and bond him with a bun from my local HRS. I have been taking him to Hoppy Hour for about a year, to at least get him used to the idea of other rabbits. We went on a few dates and almost took a girl home, until the 3rd date when she started humping him a lot and he got very upset, but wouldn’t tell her no and just kept running until he was exhausted. We ended up bringing home a gorgeous 2 year old female rex named Diamond. She is very sweet and gentle and seems quite interested in Ash without the humping.
Our first date at home did not go well at all. Immediately, Ash tried to nip at her face, so we separated them and had them live side by side for a week and let them get used to each other, mostly for him to get used to having another bun in the house. This passed week we have been doing some stress bonding to help Ash with his nipping. We have them in a corner of the kitchen (neutral territory) where it is tiled and usually cook chicken in a frying pan because neither of them like the sound. The dates have been going OK because Ash is too upset about the situation to try and nip at Diamond. I try and keep them together when they are in the kitchen and pet them while their faces are next to each other. Yesterday after their date, we took them into our bathroom (neutral territory) with no rug and textured tiles. He didn’t immediately try to go after her face this time, but after about 10 minutes of sliding around, he started getting agitated, then he got nippy again.
They are set up in our guest bedroom in two 4×4 xpens side by side with chicken wire in between so they can’t get to each other. We swap their pens every night after dates. At first he would dig, claw, and bite at the wire anytime she was near, but that seems to have stopped. He will follow her from their beds to the litter box sometimes, or if he thinks she has something interesting, he will sit as close as he can and just watch her. They tend to sleep either in their houses which are set up next to each other, or on opposite sides of their pens on the other side of the litter boxes where they can’t see each other
The other day, I noticed that one of them had been grooming one of the stuffed bunnies in their pens. Today, I saw it was Ash that was grooming a stuffed bun, which he has never done before. I also verified today, that he dead bunny flopped twice in his little house right next to where she was. We have a Nest camera set up, so we can see what they do all day long.
Tonight we are doing another date in the kitchen and we are going to try to go to the bathroom after. I am going to bring banana and hope that gets them into a more positive mood. This weekend, we are going to try a few car rides and a box on top of the dryer. Things seem to be progressing, but any time he is placed near her and has grip under his paws, he starts with the nipping.
What kinds of signs should I be looking for to know that we are progressing?
It’s so stressful for me to see this side of my sweet boy