Advice after first few bonding sessions

[lily2521]

I’m trying to get some feedback as to how things are going so far, we’ve now had 3 bonding sessions.  Background:

Gizmo – been with us 1 year.  3 year old spayed female lop.  Spoiled, pretty lazy and chill rabbit. 

Had 2 dates with Nova, both successful where Nova groomed, although Gizmo sat there frozen most of the time.  No fighting or aggressive behavior. 

Nova – adopted her 8 days ago, gave her 6 days to settle in with us before starting sessions.  1 year old spayed Lionhead.

Both rabbits are currently living in separate rooms, as this was advice from the shelter we got her from, they advise separate living rooms for both rabbits while starting bonding.  I know other forums say to have them in the same room, separate cages…I’m not sure what’s best?

Bonding sessions 1: A little bit of light chasing done by Gizmo, I’m not realizing she’s doing it to try to mount Nova.  During session 1 I broke up the chasing by lightly putting my hand on Gizmo, and it stopped.  Nova groomed Gizmo a little bit

Session 2: Both rabbits ignored each other for most of the time.  Gizmo groomed herself, and flopped for a bit.  Nova again groomed, but only for a couple of seconds at a time.

Session 3: Chasing again to mount, this time it wasn’t aggressive chasing, so I let it go on for a bit.  Gizmo did mount Nova, and after about 5-10 seconds I broke it up.  Nova is running from it, but then once Gizmo  mounts she just sits there.  I had to break up a couple of other mounts right away because Gizmo mounted Nova’s head.  Again light grooming from Nova to Gizmo, just for a few seconds here and there.  Gizmo did flop, and put her head towards Nova to be groomed, but Nova didn’t groom at that time. 

I’m not sure if I should move the rabbits into the same room (keeping separate cages of course) or if I should keep them in separate rooms for now?  I *think* bonding is going okay so far.  We haven’t had any biting or severe chasing or anything like that.  Or should I just continue with the sessions for now and keep them in separate rooms?  What do I do next? 

[LittlePuffyTail]

When was Nova spayed?

Sounds like it’s going pretty good so far. As for whether to house them in the same room, I really don’t know which is best. If bonding is going good with your current arrangement, I would probably leave things the way they are.

[lily2521]

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 11/06/2016 2:57 PM
When was Nova spayed?

Sounds like it’s going pretty good so far. As for whether to house them in the same room, I really don’t know which is best. If bonding is going good with your current arrangement, I would probably leave things the way they are.

I don’t have an exact date but I know based on when the shelter got her it’s been 2+ months. Gizmo was spayed when we got her over a year ago

I’m eager to move Nova into the other room with Gizmo because housing them separately is kind of a pain, and is taking up 1/2 of my bedroom, but I don’t want to move too fast with them either. Like you said if it’s going well I’m not sure if I should mess with the living arrangement?

[lily2521]

I think tonight’s session went really well!  We had 2 different instances where both bunnies rested comfortably.  Gizmo did mount again, Nova doesn’t seem to love that, but tolerates it.  Both would groom themselves in front of the other.  Still no fighting or aggressive behavior at all.

[lily2521]

[Mikey]

So cute! Looking promising so far

[LittlePuffyTail]

They look super adorable together. Humping is very normal and will continue as they work on the dominant/submissive issues. Some bonded buns continue humping even while bonded. Looks like your buns are well on their way.

[lily2521]

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 11/08/2016 5:52 PM
They look super adorable together. Humping is very normal and will continue as they work on the dominant/submissive issues. Some bonded buns continue humping even while bonded. Looks like your buns are well on their way.

What do I do if Gizmo has to chase Nova a bit in order to mount her? I’ve noticed that although Nova doesn’t get aggressive, Gizmo tries to chase her, and she runs away while Gizmo is trying to mount. I’m not sure if I should allow the chasing as long as it doesn’t get aggressive or not? I don’t know if Nova will finally say enough and strike at Gizmo or something, as she really doesn’t seem to like the behavior at all. when gizmo does mount, Nova completely freezes up, and will stay frozen for a few minutes after Gizmo hops away. Is that normal from the bunny that’s being mounted?

Otherwise I haven’t seen any aggressive behavior. I’ve seen grooming from both bunnies now, they have mirrored each other’s behavior with both grooming themselves and lying down, and for the first time in 1 year I saw Gizmo flop right in front of Nova…I’ve never seen Gizmo flop!! I’ve also noticed when Gizmo grooms herself, Nova hops over to her and puts her head down to see if Gizmo will groom her, which she’s just starting to do.

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