Bonding The Bunnies

[BunnyTheBunny]

Hi Everyone!

As some of you may know, I recently adopted a 2/3 y.o female Harlequin Dwarf to bond with Bunny who’s name happened to be Bunny also! I fostered her for about a month and a half before I decided to officially adopt her and renamed her Lilly. During that time I did some pre-bonding. Bunny was neutered about 3 weeks ago and boy has his attitude toward her changed. He still shows interest in her but its been significantly reduced. The tables have turned! When he was intact, he would go on missions to try to break into her enclosure. He would lay next to her enclosure for the entire duration of his free roam time and thump nonstop if his attempts to get near her didn’t work. They would touch noses and he would groom her through the bars. NOW, he still grooms her through the bars when they are separated but seems super nonchalant. She actually has started to go a little nuts racing back and forth and gnawing at the bars whenever he is close by. A few days ago, I had their first real bonding session in my kitchen and they actually snuggled briefly! However I feel like I may have had a part to play in it. They were in a little bit of a standoff with both requesting grooms and neither giving in so I stepped in and gave them some pets and they started cuddling. I ended the session after about ten minutes. Today I had another session in the den that they share this time and set up a small enclosure around their cages with a litter box and some hay. Bunny went straight for the hay, and Lilly just explored. They ate hay together briefly, and then Lilly started demanding grooming. He would kind of just ignore her when she did. I noticed after a few minutes of her demands, while still eating hay he kind of sniff/groomed her? Not sure but it seemed like he just did it to satisfy her and it only lasted a few seconds. After that they got into another standoff which was broken up when I moved to pet them because Lilly ran away (she’s pretty skittish). She went back to her demands shortly after and he actually hopped away from her and flicked his head lol. During the session, if he even went anywhere near her backside she would hop away from him but he didn’t really seem to care. Has anyone else experienced this? It seems to me like they’re in a standoff, power struggle type of phase. Any thoughts or tips on how I can help it along?

[Azerane]

It sounds like they’re doing really well. There’s no fighting, nipping or chasing etc which is ideal. The standoff with demanding for grooming could eventually lead to some nips if one rabbit doesn’t give in, but to me I’d say it’s going pretty well. Keep doing what you’re doing and I’m sure they’ll be fast friends. Also I don’t think it’s wrong to step in and pet them both so it seems like they’re getting groomed. I wouldn’t do it all the time because one of them does need to give in eventually, but it’s a nice way to break the tension if need be.

[BunnyTheBunny]

Thanks for your response Azerane  Since things have been going well ive stopped timing their sessions. During todays session, I noticed Bunny grooming her for a few minutes. Towards the end of the session he was grooming her until he decided to mount her head. I moved him off of her and then they both ran away and started to eat hay together lol  She seemed a little freaked out by the mounting so I decided to end the session with a treat for both of them and some pets to help calm her. They are now in their cages laying by each other on the shared side but it seems like she’s giving him bunny butt. 

[BunnyTheBunny]

So bonding has been going well for the Bunnies. I recently had them spend the night together in an enclosure set up around both of their cages. It went very well and ive been doing this every night since then. Bunny has also been grooming her a lot. I still have never seen her groom him. Does this mean they’ve established that she is dominant? How will I know when they’re completely bonded? I have them together whenever I am home and I usually separate them when im not home. Ill leave her in either of the cages and let him stay in the enclosure when im out. (She’s been having accidents) Ive also noticed that whenever I am petting Bunny she’ll get upset and grunt and bat at my hand. She usually ends up hitting Bunny. Is this a behavior I should correct? 

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