Bonding advice

Hi
Not posted in years but always find this forum a great source of information.
I am attempting to bond my 2 continental Giants, Bracken and Rosie.
I know it's early days but I am not sure how it's going.
I am on day 5 today. They are house bunnies and live next to each other when we are not bonding. There has been nipping and fur pulling but it sometimes leads to boxing. Bracken seems nervous when she goes near him and seems to lunge. When together they eventually lay about 1/2 metre apart. They will eat and groom themselves in each others presence.
This morning however bracken appeared to box Rosie through the bars that separate them.
Their bonding "dates" take place in our kitchen which has been scrubbed to make neutral.
My questions are I suppose are
1) is this normal bonding behaviour
2) when do I admit defeat?
Thank you

I also want to add I have been doing my internet research before bonding but some of it is contradictory. I know bonding is not a one size fits all. But any help and advice appreciated


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The scrabbling through bars is normal so you can't really read anything into that. I think you will only find out how they are getting along if you put them together 24/7 so that they can get their hierarchy sorted out and start settling down with one another. Good luck. :thumb:

Thank you.
Not sure I am brave enough to put them together 24/7 yet although building up the time.
They were together 1 1/2 hours which is an improvement from the 10mins we managed day one. I understand they need to establish who's boss. I am just confused/worried when to intervene to stop a full blown fight breaking out. Bracken tried to hump Rosie once half heartedly but she got cross but no other attempts made.

Needing help now... Bracken is not really showing any "normal" bonding behaviour. Normal meaning humping etc. All he is doing is getting nervous and lunging which in turn makes her cross.
Again I know we are only 4 days in but I really don't know if this is right. Is he just unbondable?
We so want to do right by him and we do think he would be happier with a friend.

There doesn't have to be humping or anything really, if they like one another then that is enough at times. I've just had 2 rabbits bond themselves and after 4 days of meeting in the garden the female allowed him to share her food in her hutch. :shock: I think restricting them to a small space doesn't allow them to exhibit normal behaviour. This may mean just a few seconds chase to determine who is boss.