Advice after first few bonding sessions

I'm trying to get some feedback as to how things are going so far, we've now had 3 bonding sessions. Background:

Gizmo - been with us 1 year. 3 year old spayed female lop. Spoiled, pretty lazy and chill rabbit.

Had 2 dates with Nova, both successful where Nova groomed, although Gizmo sat there frozen most of the time. No fighting or aggressive behavior.

Nova - adopted her 8 days ago, gave her 6 days to settle in with us before starting sessions. 1 year old spayed Lionhead.
Both rabbits are currently living in separate rooms, as this was advice from the shelter we got her from, they advise separate living rooms for both rabbits while starting bonding. I know other forums say to have them in the same room, separate cages...I'm not sure what's best?

Bonding sessions 1: A little bit of light chasing done by Gizmo, I'm not realizing she's doing it to try to mount Nova. During session 1 I broke up the chasing by lightly putting my hand on Gizmo, and it stopped. Nova groomed Gizmo a little bit

Session 2: Both rabbits ignored each other for most of the time. Gizmo groomed herself, and flopped for a bit. Nova again groomed, but only for a couple of seconds at a time.

Session 3: Chasing again to mount, this time it wasn't aggressive chasing, so I let it go on for a bit. Gizmo did mount Nova, and after about 5-10 seconds I broke it up. Nova is running from it, but then once Gizmo mounts she just sits there. I had to break up a couple of other mounts right away because Gizmo mounted Nova's head. Again light grooming from Nova to Gizmo, just for a few seconds here and there. Gizmo did flop, and put her head towards Nova to be groomed, but Nova didn't groom at that time.

I'm not sure if I should move the rabbits into the same room (keeping separate cages of course) or if I should keep them in separate rooms for now? I *think* bonding is going okay so far. We haven't had any biting or severe chasing or anything like that. Or should I just continue with the sessions for now and keep them in separate rooms? What do I do next?

Where are you doing the bonding? Is it in an area Gizmo has had access to before?

Watermelons said:

Where are you doing the bonding? Is it in an area Gizmo has had access to before?

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We're doing it in a bathroom that Gizmo has never been in

lily2521 said:

We're doing it in a bathroom that Gizmo has never been in

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I should clarify, we are using the bathtub in that bathroom.

Confused about how they are managing to chase each other around and mount in a bath tub?

I would mix up locations (again in areas gizmo has never been). Try a stress bonding session or 2 with them in a carrier on a wheelie chair or in the car
No fighting is good and sometimes you just need to let them figure out whos doninant and allow a bit of humping.

This is why i like male/female pairs. Their just easier and tend to work out better.

Watermelons said:

Confused about how they are managing to chase each other around and mount in a bath tub?

I would mix up locations (again in areas gizmo has never been). Try a stress bonding session or 2 with them in a carrier on a wheelie chair or in the car
No fighting is good and sometimes you just need to let them figure out whos doninant and allow a bit of humping.

This is why i like male/female pairs. Their just easier and tend to work out better.

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Gizmo is the one chasing, and somehow getting enough traction to mount. Maybe because we have wood floors so she's used to a harder surface? I will try setting up another location for our session this evening and update after that session.

We were looking for a male, but Gizmos dates with males didn't go as well as the one with Nova, she was the best date

Watermelons said:

Confused about how they are managing to chase each other around and mount in a bath tub?

No fighting is good and sometimes you just need to let them figure out whos doninant and allow a bit of humping.

Click to expand...

I should add too, Gizmo is the one chasing, and it doesn't seem aggressive at all, it's as if she's slow motion chasing to try to mount, if that makes sense. But like I said, Nova does move in the other direction when Gizmo is doing this.

Personally, I would keep them in the same room with their cages side by side. Especially at this stage in the bonding process. They have already been on dates and sound quite comfortable around each other. Living in close proximity but still apart for safety is excellent because they can see and smell each other. When you have them in separate rooms there is a longer and more dramatic re-introduction process since they are not used to seeing or smelling that other bunny all the time. I hope that makes sense!

Do try a stress bonding session with them. My pair immediately bonded and were able to live together after one. I simply put them both in a carrier and walked around the house holding it. I went in my living room and placed it on the couch. I would rock the carrier side to side, gently. Just enough to make them think they were going somewhere still. They weren't really all that stressed, but it was enough to get them to find comfort in each other.

Something to try and keep in mind: chasing and mounting are not necessarily bad behaviors so long as they aren't done out of aggression or upsetting the other rabbit too much. My female Mocha still humps her husbun and sometimes chases him when I get their food ready. The dominate bunny should be allowed to assert his/her dominance so long as it's harmless and doesn't get excessive.

I think tonight's session went really well! We had 2 different instances where both bunnies rested comfortably. Gizmo did mount again, Nova doesn't seem to love that, but tolerates it. Both would groom themselves in front of the other. Still no fighting or aggressive behavior at all.

Oh my... Gizmo looks almost exactly like my Pippi. Lol

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