Please help- Bonding

Hello everyone,
This is my first post on the forum, I used to have french lops years ago but I am really starting again with being a rabbit owner.
I now have a netherland dwarf called Alfie who is just a year old who I have took in after his owner could not afford to pay for his ongoing illness of pasteurella. I decided to get him a lady friend to help keep him company and help keep him clean.
Harriet is a 4 month old dwarf lop who is the newest member to our family. She has been with us know for about 2 months and lives in an indoor cage next to Alfie to allow each other to smell and get to know each other. We started trying to bond then asap but I need help!!
Harriet loves to chase Alfie and puts her head under him and nibbles him. I then made the area smaller to stop Alfie being able to run but still hide if he wanted to. This went well and she began grooming. He has never groomed her, he is very timid but does go over to her and investigate and has mounted her a few times.
I am really asking for help and advice please because I am unsure if they will ever be able to live together as the bonding has been happening now for just over 2 months. She grooms him but also bites him so Im not sure what stage they are at as It is all new to me.
Thanks everyone

:wave: Welcome to the forum

Your bunnies bonding sounds like it's going ok to me. They do tend to chase and nip, even mount each other and have a few scraps in the early stages of bonding. Are you sperating them each time you introduce them? If you are I would advise you take some time when you have the time to spend with them and put them together and leave them together. Rabbits don't get to know each other int he same way we do and by splitting them you are in effect starting the bonding all over again each time you put them back together.

is he neutered? If he is the mounting is probably just a bit of bonding fun. If not he could pester her indefinately which could cause problems.

Hello,
I let them spend time together but when she gets in the mood of just running after him and biting I do seperate them. Mainly because Im scared she will hurt him as she does pull lots of fur and also due to his illness, I dont want him to get too stressed.
Would u advised I leave them to just get on with it and keep them in one cage together? Would it be advisable to leave them together overnight?
As u can tell this is all new to me and most people told me it would only take few weeks for them to accept or not accept each other and I dont really know what to look for to know they will not hurt each other seriously.
thanks

Hello, Yes he is neutered. He doesnt mount her very much and she soon tells him off.

MelanieO said:

Would u advised I leave them to just get on with it and keep them in one cage together? Would it be advisable to leave them together overnight?

Click to expand...

Once you have put them together yes, I would advise leaving them together. Could you put the cage in your bedroom so if they do get upset with each other you will hear them? Rabbit scraps often look worse than they are. They tustle a bit to determine who is boss. The best way to deal with the non serious scraps are to just push them apart, but not seperate them. Serious fighting is usually in the form of leaping in the air and grabbing hold of each other, not letting go and lying on their sides kicking.