eeeeeeerrrrggh, bonding went a bit haywire

just had a pretty bad bonding session both rabbits had been bonding pretty well in the bathroom for the past week, so I decided it was a good idea to finally take them downstairs, which I did yesterday- big mistake. Rascal wasn't happy at seeing Jack in *his* area and chased him all over the room. I put a stop to it straight away, but they're still tense. We returned to the bathroom today, and Rascal has gone from lightly grooming Jack to nipping in him frustration because Jack won't groom him back. He's been switching from one extreme to another, I was feeding them leaves and Rascal bit Jack lightly on the nose before I could stop him, suddenly turned and regarded Jack as if surprised by his own actions, then began grooming the area he'd just bit :shock: it was as if Rascal... regretted nipping him, he looked totally shocked when Jack withdrew back after being nipped. They then cuddled up together and had a few calm minutes of snuggles, before Rascal got frustrated with Jack for not grooming him back. I had to call it quits at that point, I didn't want to worsen the situation further. I feel terrible for moving things too quickly yesterday Any advice on how to proceed? I feel so guilty.

Did you neutralise thoroughly?
i Vinegared everything!, then moved the whole room round to confuse them and slowly largened the space.

Its like children you have to expand space so they learn to share the territory
xx

vinegar! There's an idea, I'll stink 'em into love!

Seriously, cheers, I'll have a go at re-arranging the furniture and neautralising everything

When you say they had been bonding well in the bathroom of the past week, do you mean they were there together all the time, or have you been doing sessions? I would never recommend moving bunnies back into one buns territory early in a bond - by which I mean they have been together 24/7 with no problems for several days - short sessions together but not left together all the time will not have allowed a bond to establish enough before moving them, especially to existing territory.

When it is time to start establishing them back in the main territory after they have been ok for several complete days, I would start in a small area and work outwards. Block off the view to the room so that the existing bun can't see it as his territory, and ideally cover the floor with cardboard so it smells different. Slowly expand the pen over a period of a couple of weeks. Letting them straight out into a large area is asking for trouble even if that area is neutral, let alone if one of them already owns it! I would always recommend starting small and working out, the most stable appearing bonds can degenerate very quickly with lots of chasing and into fights; buns just don't trust each other completely that early on, in spite of cuddles in close proximity.

I would recommend starting from scratch with a small neutral area and a few days where you can watch them like a hawk incuding overnight, before starting to think about expanding space. Good luck x