bonding advice please

hello, i have coco a nethie dwarf and rexy a dutch, rexy has just visited the plum fairy and in 6-8 weeks will be able to live with coco,
they see each other on a daily basis through fence wire and are desperate to meet each other properly, will this seeing each other and kissing through the fence wire count towards there bonding.
when they are in their runs they are always side by side so they know all about each other,
i cant wait for the next 7 weeks to pass , it will be brilliant seeing them together happily bonded (i hope)

Aww best of luck.
As long has you bond in neautral terriotary i don,t see a problem

:wave: Awww I think it's going to be good as long as you are chilled too, I would let them out in the garden and keep one eye on proceedings (just in case) but, pretend your not watching if you know what I mean. I don't have a lot of experience but, I have had an adult doe and introduced her to a baby boy and in my ignorance just expected her to be nice! She was but, having read lots of stories involving putting them in the bath, small spaces ? I don't get that, I would of thought it was better for them to escape and have space to cool off as they say, also I feel that rabbits have a tendancy when they are free range in a garden to use their 'watch my back and I will watch yours' instincts and I would assume that running should be part of the bonding as they can show who is fastest :lol:- I think its gonna be great for you, you've done it right I think, very sweet

dont let them in the garden as a first meeting place! Its probably not neutral and waaaaay too big! keep it to a small neutral place and under observation. Even although they have lived side by side and are ok through mesh its a completely different ball game when that mesh is removed.Best of luck

Its not a first meeting though is it if they have been living side by side and grooming, smelling each other etc? Why a small area ? I have seen several bits of advice ranging from putting them in a box and making them stay there, to putting them in a bath, to putting them in the car, to putting them on a washing machine, I am struggling to get the logic? Maybe because I have bonded dogs and was fortunate enough to have a good experience doing it by keeping them in pens next to each other and swapping over for a few weeks and then letting them out together. Both had exercised in the garden separately so there was 2 scents all the time aswell. I do think they are incredibly intuitive and pick up on stress/tension and I know if I was put in a bath with another rabbit and people looking at me I would be thinking what's going on? What am I meant to do now:lol:

:wave:I have been looking into this and I think I get the theory - that if they are scared they will bond? My thinking is that they have a 'fight or flight' tendancy and I would rather 'flight' - I also laid on the grass reading the paper and when the little one was a bit nervous he tended to stay near to me, which was great as I got lots of attention too-although in this weather you wouldn't be able to lay down on the grass. I take on board you wouldn't want the area to be too big though - my garden is by no means huge and I would have been there is an instant or made a shocking noise to intervene if there was any of the nasty stuff I keep reading about. I think my tendancy would be to do it slowly aswell, is that the thing about putting them in cage and sort of forcing it to happen, that it is quicker? I would be scared that it was an artificial bond ?...I know dogs and rabbits are different obviously dogs are not prey animals but, if I had just put my dogs together in a cage or small space they would have fought I am sure.

I found a small space very helpful when bonding Nutmeg to the lops. A large space would never have worked, she would've just disappeared as far away as poss and never gotten to know them. The small space (sofa in our case) worked wonders.

Oh right, sofa sounds nice :wave:

VickiP said:

:wave:I have been looking into this and I think I get the theory - that if they are scared they will bond? My thinking is that they have a 'fight or flight' tendancy and I would rather 'flight' - I also laid on the grass reading the paper and when the little one was a bit nervous he tended to stay near to me, which was great as I got lots of attention too-although in this weather you wouldn't be able to lay down on the grass. I take on board you wouldn't want the area to be too big though - my garden is by no means huge and I would have been there is an instant or made a shocking noise to intervene if there was any of the nasty stuff I keep reading about. I think my tendancy would be to do it slowly aswell, is that the thing about putting them in cage and sort of forcing it to happen, that it is quicker? I would be scared that it was an artificial bond ?...I know dogs and rabbits are different obviously dogs are not prey animals but, if I had just put my dogs together in a cage or small space they would have fought I am sure.

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These are just my feelings. But bonding is very stressful on the immune system of a rabbit and I personally would not force a bond or put buns in a position to be 'scared' and add more stress to the mix. That's just me. We bonded ours slowly and carefully and it worked really well, they also lived side by side for a few weeks, able to see and smell one another. I would however make sure any wire is small enough to prevent nipping through bars... didn't happen with our two but I have heard it happen, and bun teeth can do a lot of damage to an unsuspecting bunny nose.
I do agree that too much space can cause territorial issues, but again too little space can 'sometimes' make a more submissive bun feel cornered and under threat. Not a situation I believe is conducive to bonding. But then I don't particularly agree with car rides or using the bath tub either. :? But like I said, that's just me.
I would personally use an unmarked room or bonding pen - NEUTRAL territory and plenty of toy and food distractions in the pen to ease tensions and provide distraction. Good luck

It is tricky, I suppose a lot depends on the individual personalities aswell, I would hate to see fighting would find it very upsetting, hopefully all will go well for this lady - it does sound promising

Lol or put Eastenders on TV if it's on the sofa to distract them ! Although second thoughts....maybe not :lol:

VickiP said:

Oh right, sofa sounds nice :wave:

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Like others have said, it does depend on their personalities. Nutmeg is a very nervous thing who sometimes needs 'pushing'. A larger space would've made the bond impossible as she'd just keep running away. She's like that with food, you have to try her with it several times before she decides it is edible and I'm not trying to hurt her. :roll: That's just her personality and the way she is.

i didnt realise bonding is such a big job...they see each other everyday, they have their runs side by side and they have a double stacker hutch with coco up top and rexy down the bottom, so they are smelling each others scents all the time.
i was also wondering will the fact that they are kept within smelling distance of each other effect rexys hormones disappearing after his op, he is still really really smelly:lol: bless him. (its only4 days ) i know it takes up to 8 weeks for them to calm down...
thanks for your help so far ladies.

Neither did I :lol: I suppose it does very much on how they feel on the day too, whether they feel in a good mood or not, I think yours will be grand and hopefully life happily ever after

Also keeping them to a small area to start with helps prevent fights exculating and means you can grab them quick if you need to seperate. Car journeys are great they really do help with bonding. Just gradually increase the space they are in and if you are taking them back to a non-neutral space makesure you neutralise it as much as possible by disinfecting it and perhaps using something like vinegar to get rid of the smell. Id set aside a whole weekend to bond them because once you start its improtant you do not deperate unless there is a fight, otherwise you go back to square one everytime (trust me i did it!) even just bars inbetween will interupt bonding . I bonded four which was very stressful!! I gave too much space too soon because i felt sorry for them and really paid for it, took me alot longer to bond them after that.