Male/Male bonding help

Hi there,

I have had Oliver for a year and a half he is fully neutered, integrated into the house and free to run around but we decided to get Stanley from a rescue as a intended mate and got him neutered, he is now 8 months old. We began their bonding process by putting their cages next to one-another so that they could get used to each other's company through the bars. They behaved quite indifferent and occasionally smelt each other, they groomed themselves and lay down happily.

After 8 or so cage dates we decided to try a meet in a neutral room within a 1.2m pen. They began eating biscuits in very close proximity with no problem, then the biscuits ran out. Oliver mounted and Stanley bowed his head but then Stanley went for Oliver. They ended up pulling fur and having a tumble so we separated them. After they had calmed down we tried again, they didn't fight straight away only after a couple of minutes but the same thing happened.

There are clearly some positive signs, I just need some advice on where to go as I have had no first hand experience of rabbit bonding, I am going on what I have read up on. If there is even anyone in the Liverpool area who is experienced and can offer some expertise Id be so grateful.

Bump :wave:

Is the area you are bonding them neutral as in none of them have been there or neutralised meaning you have removed all scent of either of them being there? As smells like Theses can make them territorial.

Sometimes fighting as long as it is not the dangerous type, is a part of the process I pull them off if they are humping faces of humping to much or getting too over the top I only seperate if they are being aggressive to the point there could be injury

There should be nothing to fight over when bonding so no toys ect I don't even use a litter tray just put paper and stuff down in the area they choose to toilet I scatter food on the floor as they will fight over bowls too

Hi yes we have used a neutral space, it is a whole room so we will try just removing the pen and having it more open. They did pull fur and have a roll about which is why we finished it early, I don't know if I am doing more harm than good by doing that but I felt that the behavior was aggressive. They ate off a neutral plate together and were quite happy with that until the food ran out and they realised where they were :?

I found when bonding my 2 males that the big room was to much and a massive fight broke out. Tired the bathtub dating but they did nothing so I just went for it and popped them both in a small cage armed with a water bottle. I spent 48 hours next to them squirting each time there was any nipping etc. And it worked. They are now insperable x