OK... bunny mood swings... AKA Bunnies make no sense!

We put both bunnies in the bathroom with the baby gate across the door and left them to get on with bonding (though armed ready to separate fights).

Few hours pass and they are hopping about sniffing each other... Frosty is trying to hump Smudge though she's not having any of it and either opting to just flop or run away. Was quite funny watching a randy rabbit trying to hump and run at the same time. Good thing was she wasnt attacking him which I admit I was nervous about given her past behaviour towards him. We even caught her grooming his head and he was grooming her!!!

They seemed to be getting on ok so we decided to leave them in the bathroom over night so that we wouldn't interrupt them. I was up every 5 minutes out of nerves to find them just hopping about and eating.

This morning peace has continued and they are now up in the study flopped out on the floor. Frosty isn't really (or doesn't seem so) interested in Smudge humping now and she isnt that bothered by him.

All we get now is the occassional bum nipping but I assume thats normal.

They don't seem to be interacting much but I guess this is early stages really.


Is this bunny love?

Sounds brilliant so far - just don't rush things and you may end up with bunny love

Should bunnies be grooming each other? At the moment the grooming is all one sided... Smudge grooms Frosty whilst he just sits there.

When we got Frosty from the rescue place his teeth were really badly overgrown and so I was wondering if he might have had issues grooming himself and so not learnt to groom properly.

Is this something he will re-learn or is this normal behaviour?

I know grooming helps assert dominance so is Frosty just conveying to Smudge that "he's da man"....

Sounds as if it's going excellently - ignoring is good and it can take some days/weeks before you may see grooming both ways. Grooming at this stage is great as it indicates that one of your buns has accepted the other one as 'the boss' so they seem to have sorted out their hierachy for now (but don't rest on your laurels as sometimes they change their mind!!)

I have two pairs of buns and one bun of each pair always grooms more than is groomed. In fact I don't think I've ever seen Harry groom Heather. My nethies will groom each other though.

sounds good, humping is a way of saying i want too be boss,they will groom in there own time as it can take 24hrs too 5 days normally,rick

So with things as they are would you say its a good idea to put them out in the new hutch together over night?

They wouldn't be supervised....

Do you have a car? If so put them together in a carrier and go for a car ride, then put them straight into the hutch when you get back. I'd leave them alone there overnight..you could just go and check them every now and then till midnight. New year's eve tonight so I'm guessing you'll still be up and about anyway Good luck, it all sounds very promising. Just be aware that there will still be chasing,nipping and humping, but that's normal.

Graeme27Uk said:

So with things as they are would you say its a good idea to put them out in the new hutch together over night?

They wouldn't be supervised....

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Personally I'd rather have them in for another night, they longer they are together in one place the more they will have established their bond. There is a risk that if you change their territory too soon they will start fighting over the 'new' territory. It may well happen anyway but you do lessen the risk by leaving them in one place for longer. Plus of course you're around a bit more to keep an ear out for scuffles.