Bonding today

My two male bunnies are being put back together today after over 8 weeks of being apart. They were wrongly sexed and so we had them neutered at different times. Both are now neutered, the last one, Dennis having been done over 8 weeks ago. During this time, they have lived next door to each other day and night. Before the neutering they happily lived in the same hutch. The bonding has gone fairly ok so far - they have been in the run for 2 hours now. At first there was a lot of fur pulling and circling. Poor Dennis has squeeled a couple of times. It is obvious that Zola is the dominant one (as he was before). Zola is very comfortable and keeps laying down but Dennis is looking quite nervous. They keep sitting at opposite ends of the run, but then Zola will come over nip Dennis on the tail and they chase round the run for a couple of circuits until Dennis lays down. Once Zola came over and licked Dennis's ears, which I thought was a good thing - next minute they were chasing around again with Zola trying to nip Dennis. Dennis won't go over to Zola. I'm quite stressed by they whole thing and I'm wondering if the rabbits are too - I know they stress easily. I would just like to know if this is a good start for 2 hours together. I have just left them so far and will carry on doing so unless anyone thinks this is not really going very well and the rabbits are stressed. All advice gratefully received. Thanks Gill

Humping, nipping is all normal behviour. Just keep with it and keep them ideally in the same place together for a minimum of 48 hours and then move them to their new home which has been thoroughly neutralised.

Bonding is not the easiest thing to do, just keep at it and only separate them if an injury occurs.

Bonding today - update

My two bunnies have been in the same run for eight hours now and they don't love eachother yet, but they don't seem to hate eachother. Zola still chases Dennis around. Dennis is not as comfortable as Zola seems to be. He seems to want to be left alone. There is no more fur pulling just chasing at speed round the run. Zola is eating ok but I don't think Dennis has eaten much. I know I have to leave them for 24 hours, but can anyone tell me what I should expect to see by now. Is all this chasing around stressing Dennis. I'm a bit concerned as its coming up to night time and I'm not sure whether to leave them together. Can anyone let me know if they have had similar experiences ?? Really hope I am doing the right thing. Please let me have any thoughts - I just want to do what is best for the bunnies. Thanks Gill.

Love with rabbits is the same as with us humans, it takes a while. At this stage an odd few would be grooming each other but that is rare.

the majority are doing one of the following:

• Sitting quietly apart and ignoring each other with the odd chasing and nipping.
• Continuing to chase intermittently with a little sitting near each other.
• Totally ignoring each other.

Just leave them together tonight where you can here them if they fight and you can attend to them if required. Ensure that this is neutral territory.

As the days go on you should find that they are closer and spend less time chasing. Some dont groom each other for up to a week. Like any relationship those which are rushed and separated are the ones which are more likely to be a problem. Give them privacy and let them get on with it

If they do fight put them together in a pet carrier for a while until they calm down a bit and then let them back out in bonding area. A car journey also takes their mind off fighting!

Where are you bonding them? Will you hear them tonight if they have a fight?

wishing you the best of luck in this! Kepp us posted with all the details as i will be doing the same thing with my boys soon. They were misexed and separated too! Do you have toys in there or a place for them to get away from each other? I am not sure if you are suppossed to or not, just curious. Are you watching them every minute? This is the part I am trying to work out!Oh and sleeping!!!

Hi Jill:wave:

I have been reading your thread with interest as I am thinking about bonding my two males but I think I more at a disadvantage as my bunnies had a fight when they were younger.

Im not sure if I will be brave enough to actually go through with it though!
I'd be so nervous as soon as they sniff each other I'd pulling them apart.

Hope its still going well.