Bonding questions! Please help.

I'm hopefully going to bond my two (now) single lionhead cross bunnies! Amber and Edgar are both spayed/castrated - Amber has previously been bonded to another rabbit but Edgar has not. Edgar has always been right next to other rabbits though, so he's comfortable around them. The two of them have been in runs on the grass side by side for a couple of weeks now, and they will sit and flop in the corner nearest to the other and if one does crazy binkies then the other copies!

I've been introducing them for gradually increased amounts of time in the hall. I am unable to do the sort of bonding where they are not separated as I work and it would be impossible for me to stay with them for days like that.

When they are together they are interested in one another and Edgar will follow Amber around like a silly puppy... They'll sit beside each other, they'll eat together. Edgar has groomed all around Amber's eyes but very briefly. She repeatedly 'asks' him to groom her and he either puts his head down also and they reach a stalemate, or he nips her cheek and she gets quite irritated at him (which is understandable!) and they move as if to scrap. Neither of them has tried any sort of humping so I think they're trying to establish who is dominant by who will cave first and groom the other.

I keep moving to separate to prevent them actually scrapping... because I really don't want torn up bunnies or the vet fees that come with it. Not too sure where to go from here with them! They tend to start this sort of behaviour after twenty minutes or so - at first they're curious around each other and quite happy. I'm just not sure if me intervening to stop Amber boxing his ears for his bad manners is doing more harm than good!

How long are you giving them together?

What size area are you using?

Is it completely neutral?

When you say they move as if to scrap, what do they do that makes you think they may scrap?

Around 30-45 minutes.

Not brilliant with measurements. Not a big area though - not all the hall, just one end of it.

Definitely neutral.

And their body language turns aggressive. :lol: Their tails go all angry-looking, their ears go back and they go to lunge at one another as if they intend to bite/box the other ones' ears? It'd be almost comical if I wasn't so eager to avoid bloodshed... two lionhead bunnies with all that fur flowing around. They've done this three times. The first two times Edgar had nipped at her cheek when they were both demanding grooming and so Amber reacted to that. The third time I'm not too sure what caused it but I think Amber had reached the end of her patience with his less than polite ways!