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Would you give up?

Brilliant going. Bunnies IME are often over zealous in grooming new partners - I still cringe now remembering how Boo cleaned Mouse's eyes .
 
Omi said:
I would certainly keep the same space today and then I would assess how they are before saying definitely increase the space after that. It's not worth risking anything with these two by trying to change things too quickly.

It does sound as though it's going very well. I would guess that Hazel is being a bit over-excitable and causing Shadow to become nervous of her intentions. I think they'll both learn. He'll learn that she means well and she'll learn to be a bit more gentle with him.

Sending lots more vibes for you all.
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I agree with all of this:thumb:
 
Thanks again everyone :) Today has gone pretty well. Shadow tried to do a bit of mounting this morning so they had a scuffle. The rest of the day was good with the odd little chase here and there. Hazel did lots of grooming of shadow today, he did jump back a few times but they had a lot of fairly long sessions which I was delighted to watch :) Unfortunately this evening Shadow has been a bit 'jumpy' like he is full of energy. He started nuzzling or nipping at her back very roughly which she tolerated a bit but then it looked like he was trying to mount her so they went into a whirlwind, they stopped when I clapped loudly and sprayed some water at them, then started again but stopped when I did the same. Then I put some more food down and they were distracted eating that together. They are now sitting near each other but both breathing quite fast. I don't know if this means I should hold on longer with the same space or extend it tomorrow. There have been so many positives but that bit wasn't great. I also feel that shadow could do with a good run around. Hazel likes a bit of a run but shadow is super fast, every day he normally has a run into the bedroom, up onto the bed back out and repeats very very fast. He also runs up and down the stairs. But I don't know if that's a bad idea to take him out for a run or not? Also I'm not sure if I should be stroking them at all, especially now they seem stressed. I haven;t been stroking them other than the odd pet of their heads as I didn't want to interfere with their bonding!
 
I would keep on as you are as it takes a few days before they start to settle down. They have to sort their hierarchy out. I would not increase their space for a couple of days - be patient. This is the start of a new adventure for them and pretty soon they will be able to run around as normal.
 
Sammy&Patch said:
Thanks again everyone :) Today has gone pretty well. Shadow tried to do a bit of mounting this morning so they had a scuffle. The rest of the day was good with the odd little chase here and there. Hazel did lots of grooming of shadow today, he did jump back a few times but they had a lot of fairly long sessions which I was delighted to watch :) Unfortunately this evening Shadow has been a bit 'jumpy' like he is full of energy. He started nuzzling or nipping at her back very roughly which she tolerated a bit but then it looked like he was trying to mount her so they went into a whirlwind, they stopped when I clapped loudly and sprayed some water at them, then started again but stopped when I did the same. Then I put some more food down and they were distracted eating that together. They are now sitting near each other but both breathing quite fast. I don't know if this means I should hold on longer with the same space or extend it tomorrow. There have been so many positives but that bit wasn't great. I also feel that shadow could do with a good run around. Hazel likes a bit of a run but shadow is super fast, every day he normally has a run into the bedroom, up onto the bed back out and repeats very very fast. He also runs up and down the stairs. But I don't know if that's a bad idea to take him out for a run or not? Also I'm not sure if I should be stroking them at all, especially now they seem stressed. I haven;t been stroking them other than the odd pet of their heads as I didn't want to interfere with their bonding!
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I'm no expert but I'd say if its working (& it is) stick with your existing plan. There are always inconvenience to both owners & bunnies during bonding. Whilst I'd be nice to let Shadow have a run I personally wouldn't. He needs to be entirely focussed on Hazel . A few days without exercise won't hurt though I know it feels mean. I think the usual advice is leave it 24 hours minimum after last less than positive behaviour before thinking about extending.
 
Thankyou for the advice, I'm sorry to keep asking questions! Last night went well, i slept in with them again and evrything was fine. Today has gone very well too. Sitting together a lot and some more grooming from hazel. I have been able to go off and leave them for a while and keep checking back on them. So tonight I will go back to bed and we will leave our door open as they are in the room opposite so should hopefully here if anything bad is going on! I'm going to leave it the same tomorrow and hopefully thursday I can look to extending their space a bit. It'sa baby pen I am using so I have blocked off a small section of the room for them and will gradually make the space wider until hopefully they can have the whole room, then extend to the hallway etc, a bit at a time. I am so happy seeing them lying together and getting along, hopefully taking this slowly will work :)
 
Now you and they have got this far I can see no reason why things should go wrong now. Just keep them calm and happy and see how it goes when you extend their space on Thursday. Hope you have a good sleep tonight!
 
Another good day :) We didn't hear the bunnies last night with the doors open so looks like that was good, and nothing ended up in their water bowl so they certainly didn't have any big fights anyway!they have been grooming (hazel again), lying chilled out, next to each other quite a bit of the time, not reacting to each others movement. A bit of pushing each other when I gave them some veg but nothing bad :) So hopefully tomorrow I can extend their space :) A quick off topic question if anyone knows, I showed a photo update to the rescue shadow came from and the lady noticed I had an orange bridge chew toy in their pen. She said they are mostly made of sawdust and could cause a blockage! Yikes! I gave shadow one from pets at home months ago and he evetually ate the whole thing. My old bunnies would barely touch one. I bought a second one and they have both chewed/eaten loads of it. I thought that was great as they are entertained and it takes a while to chew. Shadow eats whole toilet rolls so I thought this was better than having loads of toilet roll inside him! He won't touch the wooden kind of chew toys and one with twine round he ate a lot of and again I was worried! Any suggestions what is safe to give him that might keep him busy too? I assumed it was safe as it was from pets at home and rabbits are on the list, I didn't notice it was made of about 75% sawdust!
 
I bet you're glad you didn't give up. Sounds like you have happily bonded bunnies. Hope the extended space goes well

There are lots of trees that provide enrichment as well as good diet. Get a pair of secateurs, a huge sack & go on a country walk if you can.
Weeping willow & apple are very popular & super easy to ID at this time of year. There are loads though. I dry lots for winter. Willow balls are safe & popular chew toy
 
Thanks, I will go on a hunt! I have some willow sticks and a willow tunnel that they aren't interested in but I forgot I had some willow balls that they did like, I have done an amazon order!
 
When you extend space it is sometimes a trigger for chasing etc, so just be aware of this and not feel too disheartened if it happens. I would also not extend by too much at once. Hope they continue to do well :love:
 
They seem to be ignoring each other sitting apart more and not seen any grooming, is that normal? I'm delighted no chasing or nipping, it's quite warm today so maybe they just don't want a cuddle! Shadow did try to snuggle up to hazel a little while ago but she got up and moved! I'm thinking leave it the same tomorrow and if all is well extend again on saturday maybe?
 
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