When is a bond confirmed?

[ZoeStevens]

I adopted a little lionhead yesterday as a friend for my angora. He did some speed dating and an adoption event and these two got along fabulously. They spent the evening out together (supervised), I separated them overnight, and they have been together again all day. I have read some guides on bonding and they seem to be getting along really well, so I am having a hard time figuring out how I know when the bond is official. Since the start they have been eating together, lying together, grooming each other. No fighting, but some minor humping this morning.

So, what are the signs of a complete bond?

 

[ZoeStevens]

Haha, sorry for the upside down pic!

 

[Blue eyes]

Are they both fixed? Are they male/female?
Some bonds go fabulously quick. I had one bond where I was able to put them together in the same cage at night after the 2nd day. (It was a large cage)
I don't think there are any exact indicators. You'll have to use your instinct and good sense. When you do decide to put them together at night, I suggest you keep a close ear (and eye) initially until you feel confident that they will be ok.

 

[ZoeStevens]

Are they both fixed? Are they male/female?
Some bonds go fabulously quick. I had one bond where I was able to put them together in the same cage at night after the 2nd day. (It was a large cage)
I don't think there are any exact indicators. You'll have to use your instinct and good sense. When you do decide to put them together at night, I suggest you keep a close ear (and eye) initially until you feel confident that they will be ok.

Yep, the angora is a male and the lionhead is a female. Both are fixed. If I wasn't over thinking it, I would Put them together right now, but I haven't done this before and don't want to screw anything up. My hutch is only 42 x 24 which doesn't give them much room to escape if something starts. They spend most of the day outside of their hutches, I am just concerned about something happening. Maybe I will sleep on the couch when I do it... Good idea! Thanks!

 

[nunyabeez]

I did the same thing with mine. Had a male, went to bunny play dates and found a female. They had bunny love at first sight. They have been in the same cage since day one. I tried separate cages that evening, they tried to get to each other. I then tried putting them in the same cage with a divider. They tried to dig under the divider and groomed each other through the divider. I gave in and removed the divider and they have been inseparable ever since. Sometimes it just works out that way I guess. He did hump her quite a bit the first day. But she never even tried to run away or seem to mind. It calmed down considerablY the next day.

 

[holtzchick]

You know the lady from my local rescue had one pair of her own that was also love at first sight but she said she didn't want to chance it and still gave it two weeks before she moved them in. Now that being said I'm not saying you should wait two weeks but maybe wait one and see if this behavior is consistent. You know they already get a long so patience is a very small price to pay as opposed to an emergency vet bill should anything happen. Again I don't mean to discourage this, I think it's fantastic that your buns are taken with each other, it's just a possible outcome right.

Good luck and take pictures

 

[agnesthelion]

My two bonded very easily, never a scuffle, but I still went really slow...it took 30 days.

The first night I had them in the same cage I did sleep downstairs on the couch just in case. All was fine

"They say" they need to be together 4-5 hours on NONneutral territory without even one incident. The humping *might* be something to watch out for and let them work that out, other than that sounds good! That is great!