Bonding advice please

Hi all

I wonder if you could help as I don't know what to do.

Yesterday we took Rascal to the rescue to meet his new lady friend Hollie. When we got there the bunny lady very kindly did Rascal's nails for me as they were getting a bit long and they're black so I don't like doing it myself. Unfortunately she nipped the wick and he bled. We waited a while until it had stopped and then he went to meet Hollie.

He sat in the corner of the pen and totally ignored her ..... she ran over to him flopped and started to groom him immediately. At this point I left them to it (bunny lady was staying with them to keep an eye on them).

Went to pick them up at 3pm and she said it hadn't gone well and that Rascal was the one who was being grumpy. They'd had a bit of a spat and had retreated to different corners and were ignoring each other. So, I brought them home and put them in the pen in the living room. Rascal has been in the room before but not in the pen in the room, he's had free range but he's had free range in every room.

The pen is about 4ft by 2ft, they both sit in separate corners and as soon as Hollie goes over to Rascal he lunges and growls, she jumps and they have fisticuffs, last night we re-arranged the pen into two so they were side by side, this morning I have swapped them over into each others pens.

Do I try them again in the one pen today or leave it a few days? I've booked time off work Mon, Tue, Wed so don't know whether to leave them for a few days and go into work and try again next week or just keep trying.

What would you suggest?

Can they quickly get past growling and lunging or is it a reeally bad sign? I so want them to get on, I really thought that Rascal was so sad on his own that he'd be the one willing to make friends but it seems not.

Many thanks

Jo x

It could be the upset of being taken to a strange place, out of his own territory which is making him behave in this way. I would persevere with them together and when he lunges tell him off and say he has to be friendly with his new friend. Have a few treats handy and when night time comes, if you can't sleep closeby, separate them again and every night until you feel confident that they won't fight.

Make him know you want them together, and basically just keep going, each day hopefully it will get better. Please keep us updated and good luck.

Thanks tonibun ....... I 'think' we have made some progress (mind, every time I say that they have another 'spat').

They're now tolerating each other in the same pen, they eat, sleep and groom within feet of each other. They have touched noses a few times without incident and have both used the litter tray (not at the same time).

Rascal clearly wants to be boss but Hollie is really quite feisty so won't give in without a fight (not literally I hope).

There's been chasing and fur pulling but as I say, some head down 'groom me' type action too. I think it's just a grooming stalemate at the moment until one of them gives in.

Every now and again though, just to keep me on my toes they have bit of a kick off.

I slept on a camp bed at the side of them last night and will do so again tonight .....I do hope they make friends soon, it's all very stressful.

Thanks again x

It is stressful isn't it. I should know as I have bonded well over 30 pairs! It never gets any easier either. It usually takes a few days before they start to settle down so as long as there is no fighting you should soon have 2 very happy bunnies.