Rebonding - stalemate - think we're there!

I posted in health last weekend that our bunny Billy had a bout of stasis. He's fully recovered now, thankfully! Unfortunately Billy and his bun-wife poppy started fighting when he was ill, so we had to separate them. We've been reintroducing them in the bathroom since Wednesday, but we're just in a stalemate. Poppy sits in the corner by the toilet, Billy sits on the bathmat about a foot away, both groom themselves, but they don't make any effort to go near each other, except to nip.

There's been no humping, but lots of nipping (95% of the time it's billy nipping poppy). If Billy approaches Poppy, she assumes he's going to nip her again, so she thumps and runs away. Poppy won't approach Billy. Because of this, they just both sit looking indignant, neither willing to make the first move.

When not in the bathroom, they are both in the living room, which is split down the middle with puppy panels. They can see each other, but the couch is in the middle, so it lets them hide from each other too. They spend some time near the panels, but we've caught them nipping too. We swap them over every night to avoid them getting too territorial.

I'm just not sure how to go forward from here - there's been no progress for 4 days. I'm reluctant to put them in a pet carrier together while they're nipping so much, otherwise I'd try a stress drive. What else can I do?

Is the bathroom a neutral area where neither of them go normally?

Can you give them more space so that Billy can chase her and she can run away. Almost like you are bonding them for the first time. Once they have the hierarchy sorted they should be ok. Fingers crossed.

The bathroom is a neutral zone - we had the bunnies in there once when bonding for the first time, but it has been scrubbed since then.

I'll try putting some towels down tonight to increase billy's range - Billy hates lino and refuses to leave the bathmat, I think poppy knows this, so she just runs away to a patch of lino when she wants away from him.

Sending bonding vibes xx

We gave them more space tonight, but I don't think it helped. Billy went up to poppy more, but he's just being downright aggressive. Poppy continues to demand grooming, and billy continues to nip her. This evening he growled and went for her sides a couple of times too.

We feel bad for Poppy, we're just shutting her in a room to be nipped at - poor thing just looks a bit forlorn.

I'm mot sure whether to set them up in two smaller pens, instead of giving them the whole living room. just forcing them to be nearer to each other the rest of the time?

Do you try telling him off when he starts nipping so he knows he shouldn't be doing it?

If he nips we tell him off, but I wonder if he understands we're telling him off... We say 'bad' in a stern voice. Maybe I'll get something noisy to hit instead.

We pull him away if he's growling and biting, and tell him 'bad' again.

Even before this Billy would nip Poppy when she was demanding grooming or hogging the food bowl though. He's always been happy to groom her, just not when she demands it - he's very protective of his dominant bun status. He's far more aggressive at the moment though - they don't usually fight, it always stopped at nipping.

Could he be acting out due to underlying problems? he jumped off the table at the vets last week - we didn't see any problems, just a cut lip, but could he have something more serious?

I suppose so,he might be feeling a bit under the weather - how is his lip now?

Lip looks like it's healing well, but still a touch of a scab. The vet checked his teeth, and that he wasn't limping after the fall so it didn't look like he was injured (but he jumped 7ft in the air, so quite a come down the other side) It's just hard to gauge whether he's acting out of the ordinary right now. I could just be looking for problems that aren't there though...

Still no progress tonight... Billy lay down with his bum pressed up against poppy's for a bit, but he still nipped her and chased her as much as normal.

I started sqeaking when he nips her, but it didn't stop him. I'll keep it up though. I'm thinking if there's no progress by the weekend I might try them in the en suite for a change of scenery.

I'm just at a loss for what to do. Would a professional bonding service be able to help us? Would it help to take them to a friends flat?

I really don't know what to advise. If it were me I would keep them apart for a few weeks to give them a break, also give him time to recover fully from the stasts, then try rebonding. I don't understand why he keeps nipping her. Do you know what caused the stasis?

I think the stasis was caused by stress - we had them in boarding for a week, followed by a 2 hour drive home. He got stasis about 30 hours after coming home.

The girl who boarded them was commenting how close they were, and how cute they had been snuggling up to each other.... Can't believe how much it's changed!

Sorry, another question!

Should I keep them in separate rooms if we keep them apart for a while? Or is it better to have them in the same room?

We've given the rabbits a couple of days off from bonding, but last night I tried to pick Billy up to clip his nails, and he burled about and bit me. He later growled and tried to bite me, but i withdrew my hand before he could get me. Billy doesn't normally bite, but it's obvious he's developed a sudden aggressive streak!

Do you think I should take him to the vet?

There's something not right with him. Was he ok before he went into boarding?

Yes, no problems at all before boarding - he nipped Poppy sometimes, but not often. The lady that boarded him is very rabbit savvy - she spent a lot of time with him and didn't see anything concerning (but billy hates new people, so I wouldn't be surprised if he spent the whole time in a corner, hiding). I just keep coming back to his fall at the vets, or the stress from travelling.

When we bonded them first time, he did a lot of mounting, but he hasn't attempted to at all this time. I can't help but think that's a sign too...

Has he had his back teeth checked, I ask as jumping from a heiight could have done something in his mouth if you follow me. Or his tongue could have got in the way and I know how painful that is as I bite my own tongue now and then. Or maybe he's still bruised from the fall.

They did check his back teeth, I think before his fall though, I don't remember. There were no spurs. His front teeth didn't look chipped after the fall, I suppose he could have jarred his teeth and have pain in the roots.

I think I'll take him back to the vet just for peace of mind and get his teeth checked out again.

I think the girl in the flat opposite has recently got a dog - we passed her earlier today coming in from a walk. I'm just thinking that could be the reason for Billy's change? I have no idea how to get him to calm down if so...