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Bonding advice needed - seems to be going well?

Shekinah

New Kit
Hi there,

I've recently been attempting to bond my 2 year old mini lop buck Charlie (who is very large for his breed) with a 4 month old dwarf lop doe Trixie (who is much smaller than he is). Trixie is new to the household, and she is quite skittish and nervous - she also has slightly torn ears so I'm wondering if she's been in scuffles before which is why she's nervous - whereas Charlie is more solid and stubborn. Things have been going mostly well. They've had five "dates" so far. The first was in the kitchen, which is completely neutral territory. Trixie was very nervous and kept running away from Charlie and trying to hide behind myself and my partner. They had a couple of extremely brief, neutral interactions, but most of the time was spent by Trixie running away from Charlie. The second date was in the living room, which is technically Charlie's territory (I think we moved too fast in hindsight). They did have neutral interactions but also had a couple of small scuffles. The third and fourth dates were in the hallway - we used this area as it is carpeted and Charlie hates the kitchen laminate floor. It is probably Charlie's territory, but is next to Trixie's house. They had some neutral interactions, including lots of sniffing, but Charlie also did a LOT of territorial weeing and Trixie was still very nervous and trying to run away. The fifth date was today in the kitchen, and was definitely the best one so far. They did lots of sniffing, and even groomed each other! Bunny kisses!! They seemed much more comfortable together and Charlie also went to mount Trixie a couple of times. Trixie was much less nervous too, and indeed seems to be the dominant bun in terms of receiving the most grooming.

So, on to my question(s). Where do we go from here?! We're going to move their cages closer together tonight so that they can get used to each other further. We're also going to enquire about getting Trixie spayed ASAP (Charlie is already neutered) so that when they are ready to move in together, she is already healed (should we stop their interactions whilst she is healing from the spay?). Do you think Charlie was more territorial in the hallway because he considers it his territory? Or because it was next to Trixie's house? And how can we encourage their neutral/positive interactions in areas which are historically Charlie's?

Some advice I've looked at suggests doing daily bunny house-swaps so they can get used to each other's smells. Is that wise? Charlie is very used to his house - and litter trained in it - and I'm worried that switching houses will mess up his good habits!

I'm pleased it seems to be going well, and I want to keep making progress so that they can eventually live together permanently as well as enjoy running time in the living room together. Any advice anyone can offer is greatly appreciated!!

Here's some pictures of the gorgeous pair :)

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^ Charlie

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^ Trixie
 
Hello there. You have 2 beautiful bunnies. You say that Trixie keeps running away - this is perfectly normal. Putting them in an area the boy deems as his will very likely cause problems as rabbits are so territorial. It sounds good as they haven't really fought so after you have had Trixie spayed she will need a good couple of weeks to heal before you can reintroduce them. When you do this make sure it is on neutral territory. Keeping them side by side is ok. It might be better to stiick to one area when they are toogether for now as they might find different locations confusing.
 
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