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Separate hutches overnight?

BillyBun

New Kit
Hi!
So I am currently bonding my male, Billy and female, Bobbi.
I have a 20ft x 10ft run usually, but it is split in half at the moment so they live side by side. They each have large hutches attached to their side, which they can go in and out of all day but at night I usually confine them to just the hutch. No foxes can get in, and they can't get out but I like to do this just in case.
I was just wondering if separating them at night would affect their bonding? Because I know that if you separate bonded pairs they can loose their bond and I definately don't want to mess up this bonding process. Does keeping them separated at night cause them to loose any progess they made in the day, or stress them out, or affect the bonding process negatively?
I am not sure if I explained my question very clearly!!
Thanks in advance!
 
Some of us believe that separating them tends to be a backward step. As they are not truly together it won't make any difference. When are you going to put them fully together?
 
i had a similar situation recently bonding a young male with an older female.

they were ok all day in the garden & with their shed door open, so i put them in together in the shed in the evening with the door shut & kept a close eye on them, checking every 20mins or so until i went to bed. They were OK during the evening so i risked it overnight & all was fine.

this is the only experience with bonding i have had though.

^^^ ah, just realised they're not together yet. in my case i introduced them in the morning, left them both roaming the garden all day (keeping close eye on them) and then put them in the shed together in the evening.

post #15
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...d-boy-nethie-Nottingham&p=7051012#post7051012

Pepper is a bit mental :lol:
 
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Separating them will affect the bond, they will be a bit more frisky when they meet again in the morning. But it's not the end of the world. It just might take longer
 
I was intending on having them live side by side for at least a week. After this, if I feel they are ready, I will introduce them in neutral territory for small sessions daily. Once they are bonded I intend to attach each of their hutches together to create one big hutch and remove the barrier so they both have the whole run and both hutches.
Its more simple than it sounds, I promise!
The only potential problem is that they may consider each side of the hutch their territory... I have a few ideas on how I might fix this but nothing set in stone.
 
I wouldn't let them sleep together at night if they are ignoring each other. I've had rabbits ignoring each other, then all of a sudden it kicks off.
 
How will you know when they are bonded? If there is no fighting then they are in the process of bonding surely.
 
definitely the bonding process has begun, but they still haven't bonded completely to the point that they would be safe to house together.
 
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