I'm trying to bond our older, nervous female rabbit with a younger male rabbit and would welcome some advice as its my first time doing this. Both are neutered and rescue rabbits, so we aren't definite on age. G lost her sister 2 months ago and was struggling without her (little sleep, almost always alert), so we thought she'd like a friend to share her hutch thro' the dark nights & garden in the day.
The first week we left her in her hutch, but put them in adjacent runs for parts of the day on a neutral part of our garden where she doesn't go. She did go to the barrier and he groomed her, most the time she sat just out of his reach. Putting them together for short times, she seemed terrified and crouched in a corner. Similarly we did stress bonding where she got very stressed and he was totally laid back or grooming her. She started to chirp when he was grooming her, he wasn't trying to mount her at this time, and she started to pounce at him. He then took the hint and left her alone, but she began pouncing when he approached. This was in a small enclosed run. This concerned us and we were worried she may bite him (she hasn't bitten him at all). We found giving them more space in a run, gave her the chance to move away when she was unhappy rather than pounce & this worked well for a while, with them both grooming each other (mostly him).
This week we have set up identical hutches and runs side by side (neither was hers before) so they can be adjacent 24/7 and together more often. Again some encouraging grooming signs to each other & themselves and time spent together eating & lying down, but mostly she avoids him and backs into a corner so when he approaches to groom her she pounces when she's not happy. We try moving her out the corner but she just goes to another one. She mostly refuses to groom him and steadfastly keeps her head bowed, so his next move after grooming is to mount her (the wrong way round) which leads to her chirping unhappily and again he takes the hint & stops. He is so good natured and patient, but is getting wary of her.
The main reason I'm writing this is this morning when I let them out, she seemed really down, just lying there and wet underneath. I took her to dry her off & she jumped about a bit. She is still eating. I'm concerned I'm pushing this too much, making both rabbits unhappy. When do you decide to stop trying to bond? I'm not giving up on either rabbit, if it doesn't work out they will both stay, but have to time share the garden.
The first week we left her in her hutch, but put them in adjacent runs for parts of the day on a neutral part of our garden where she doesn't go. She did go to the barrier and he groomed her, most the time she sat just out of his reach. Putting them together for short times, she seemed terrified and crouched in a corner. Similarly we did stress bonding where she got very stressed and he was totally laid back or grooming her. She started to chirp when he was grooming her, he wasn't trying to mount her at this time, and she started to pounce at him. He then took the hint and left her alone, but she began pouncing when he approached. This was in a small enclosed run. This concerned us and we were worried she may bite him (she hasn't bitten him at all). We found giving them more space in a run, gave her the chance to move away when she was unhappy rather than pounce & this worked well for a while, with them both grooming each other (mostly him).
This week we have set up identical hutches and runs side by side (neither was hers before) so they can be adjacent 24/7 and together more often. Again some encouraging grooming signs to each other & themselves and time spent together eating & lying down, but mostly she avoids him and backs into a corner so when he approaches to groom her she pounces when she's not happy. We try moving her out the corner but she just goes to another one. She mostly refuses to groom him and steadfastly keeps her head bowed, so his next move after grooming is to mount her (the wrong way round) which leads to her chirping unhappily and again he takes the hint & stops. He is so good natured and patient, but is getting wary of her.
The main reason I'm writing this is this morning when I let them out, she seemed really down, just lying there and wet underneath. I took her to dry her off & she jumped about a bit. She is still eating. I'm concerned I'm pushing this too much, making both rabbits unhappy. When do you decide to stop trying to bond? I'm not giving up on either rabbit, if it doesn't work out they will both stay, but have to time share the garden.
