New rabbit owner needs help please!

I got a pair of male and female bonded rabbits from a rescue centre in June (both neutered). The male is about one and has lots of energy (he was found on the street) the female is two and is used to living on her own (her owners could no longer look after her due to emigrating). The rescue centre bonded them and I think they were together for about 4-6weeks before we got them.
We have created a lovely outside space for them: they have a double storey hutch inside a walk in cage so I can go and hang out with them. There is a tube that runs from the cage to the bottom of the garden where there is a secure outside run.
The problem is this:
When we got the rabbits everything seemed fine - both settled in well and seemed to enjoy each other's company. The female wasn't really bothered with human attention and is pretty independent. The male has lots of energy, was more anxious at first but settled quickly. Back then I didn't really know about dominance but I would say that she was the dominant one.
After a month, due to our stupidity with fixing up a new run, the female had a run in with a fox. Fortunately she had no permanent physical damage and has survived the ordeal. Again stupidly however we did not know that you should never separate bonded rabbits - we took her to the vet alone. She had a bruised eye and was obviously shaken up. On return the male was not happy to have her back - he chased her and nipped her bottom. I contacted the rescue centre and she recommended keeping them together in a smaller space - I shut them in the top floor of their hutch. This helped considerably with the chasing but both rabbits looked miserable. I spoke to another expert who recommended that we bond them again. We bought a friend a hutch, took them on a long car journey in the carrier together, and put them on to neutral territory for a week. In the meantime I completely cleaned their space at home and moved things around as much as I could. My friends reported that there was some chasing but on the whole they were 'okay'.
After a week we brought them back home the female was back to her usual self - her eye was fully healed and she looked healthy. Both rabbits were bouncing around and, on the whole, happy.
However, at times, the male does chase the female, nipping at her bottom. He loves being groomed by me and has tamed considerably. She will groom him although is a reluctant groomer and will give the bare minimum. She often puts her head down near him but he rarely grooms her. She is more skittish than she used to be. She seems to tolerate being bitten on the bottom and chased but seems on edge...individually the rabbits seem very content I'm just worried that their relationship is not as good as it could be or that it could be better with a different rabbit. People I've spoken to say that that's what rabbits do and not to worry about it but i want to be sure that it is best to continue. I absolutely adore my rabbits and just want the best for them both.
Sorry for the long message - I hope it's clear. Any comments and advice would be greatly appreciated!
Emma.

I would imagine they need a lot more time to recover from the fox incident. Rabbits have been known to die of fright upon seeing a fox so it must be bery scary. Your female perhaps hasn't quite got over the fox and her injured eye, so your male bunny is picking up on this weakness and nipping her. When she gets her confidence back hopefully she will be able to retaliate a bit so he should stop doing the chasing.

Dear Tonibun,
Thank you so much for your response - it certainly sounds plausible. Yes we were very lucky with the fox; the vet also found old scratches on her so she's certainly not had an easy past :-( I get the sense that she does want to have the upper hand - she's much wiser and more grown up than him but is just a bit too skittish at the moment. Hopefully you're right and that time is the best healer. They are both gorgeous bunnies so I hope we can work it through.

What will 'retaliating a bit' look like?
Thanks!

Retaliating would be where she doesn't just put up with being nipped but turns and goes to nip him back! So he knows he won't get away with it.. If a rabbit picks up on their partner's weakness they sometimes start to bully them, just try to keep an eye on them. I hope Mr Fox stays away. They sound to be lucky bunnies!

Ok...yes I don't think she has the confidence to do that at the moment but hopefully will in time. I feel very lucky to have them - I love spending time with them, getting to know them and learning more about them ;-)
Thank you for your comments - it's very useful to have an experienced view. I'll let you know how they get on over the coming months! Emma.

I would be grateful for any other points of view / advice / comments...watching the chasing is quite distressing and when I'm with them and he does it I'm not sure how to react. For now I've just been saying, in a firm voice, 'No chasing Zaza', turning my back on him and walking out of the cage. What do people think? Thanks!

Is this when you are feeding them?

No - they eat very well together ;-) I've watched them a lot today, and filmed them, to try and identify triggers. It looks to me like the male (Zaza) has a huge amount of energy and wants to play (he reminds me of Tigger in 'Winnie the pooh'!) - he goes up to the female (Mumu), sniffs her bottom, she runs away, which he reads as playing, follows her and this gently repeats two or three times and then eventually ends up with fast chasing until she darts upstairs or under the hutch. The wet weather for the past three days has meant that they have been reluctant to go down the tube to the run, today however he has been down four times, bouncing around - Mumu has enjoyed having the space and when I went to put them to bed this evening they were very happy together with grooming going both ways
It's rare that I see Zaza chasing Mumu in the morning, evening or when I go in the day to clean out their toilet (usually at about 5pm).
Today, after the chase, Zaza went down to the run immediately. My partner hung out with him while I stayed with Mumu - at first she seems a bit quiet but after awhile she seems fine...I'm wondering whether it's more distressing for me than it is for her? Having said that, she is considerably more skittish than before, and a lot of the t

time Zaza just has to come near her and she will run off - she seems on edge pretty much all the time :-(
Another long email! Thanks for being interested

It can take bunnies a long time to recover from an episode with a fox, maybe she thinks the fox will appear again. As for the chasing I am not sure - I have many pairs but they don't do this - are you sure they are boy and girl. We don't always know why they do things, they are rather mysterious at times. As long as they are not fighting then they should be ok.

Yes they are definitely male and female!
So we've decided to invest in some cameras to view them when we're not present...considering that the chasing does not seem to happen when I am doing 'jobs' in the hutch / cage maybe it only happens when a human comes in to spend time with them? Or we're thinking about possibly separating them and starting bonding again - any thoughts?!

Is your female still on medication, as this could make her smell different which would be the reason for the chasing. I have never come across rebonding rabbits which are getting on quite well. The other thing which springs to mind is referred aggression - this is when another rabbit or any animal comes right up to their enclosure and they start chasing each other.

No she's not.
I'm a teacher and so have been at work for the last two days...interestingly already the rabbits seem calmer and the female is certainly more relaxed (lying on her back when I got home today). Me being at home on school holiday coincided with the fox attack...I'm now wondering if I have been spending too much time in the cage (like I said before I have their hutch inside a fully protected walk in cage so they can roam freely) - in the holiday, most days, I was going in to their cage at least every other hour for 10 or more minutes. Maybe the male, despite loving my grooming, hasn't actually liked me coming on to his territory and so is taking it out on Mumu by chasing her. Any thoughts?

That's possible especially if you were paying more attention to Mumu than him. Other than this I don't have any other ideas,