Bonding tips?

[Garett]

Hey everyone! Only my second post but trying to become a more active member on here! Currently I have a 2 year old altered female and a 6 month old altered female. I understand that I probably should have gone the route of bunny dates at a local shelter to find the best bond mate for my older bun but I didn’t research thoroughly enough before I got my second younger bun.
My younger bun was recently spayed almost about a month ago now and I’ve currently been having short feeding sessions with them (cage by cage) for a few weeks now. I have a bun room set up in my house for when they are hopefully bonded and for the last couple of days i have had them in there with their cages beside eachother and everything seems to be going fine so far. (They both come out at seperate times a day to free room in seperate rooms) They both seem relaxed and lay down in the separate cages beside eachother. I haven’t noticed any aggressive behaviour that I know of besides abit of curiosity between them. I do want to take it slow and hear what everyone’s next approach would be.
Should I keep them side by side for a couple more days-weeks then do a face to face bonding session?
What’s your experiences?
All information would be great!
I haven’t found a ton of info on bonding two females but any would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Niomi]

I bonded two females before, and this is how it worked for my rabbits. One female humped the other rabbit. Once dominance was established, I could keep them in the same cage. That was years ago, and I don't remember how long the humping went on. I have also had rabbits that got along from the beginning and I have had rabbits that never got along, and had to be kept separate. Rabbit fights can be deadly. But one thing I noticed, just because two rabbits can share a cage, does not make them a bonded pair. Most of the time when I put a pair together, they just tolerated each other. If I put the pair in a six foot cage, they would spend their time on separate sides of the cage. When one rabbit would move to the other rabbit's side of the cage, then the other rabbit would move to the other side. I have had about 5 pairs of rabbits, and only one pair was really bonded. That was a brother sister spayed/neutered pair that were together from birth. I would feel bad for a rabbit that lived alone in his cage, but by adding another rabbit, I just reduced his cage size by half. I don't know if I was just unlucky in pairing rabbits. I am sure others have had better experiences with doing so.

 

[JetFalcon]

My male Netherland Dwarf likes to hump the older male rabbit. But otherwise, they cuddle together.

Thankfully, the bonded the day I met the family at the mall to pick up the Netherland Dwarf.

 

[Garett]

Thanks for the replies guys!
Today was the first face to face bond and everything seems to be going great. There was a bit of humping and nipping for the first 5 minutes of seeing eachother face to face (I did a quick bond for about 15 minutes this afternoon) later this evening I took them for a ride in the carrier to stress bond them for about 30-45 minutes and put them in the tub for about two hours after and they have just been hanging out and my younger one has just been flopping near my other bun. My older bun even went and groomed the other! Really hoping this lasts will keep everyone updated !

 

[Garett]

Hey everyone! Just thought I would do a little update and may need some advice here! So today was the 4th bonding session. Everything has been going really great so far but maybe not today.
I’ve had them in the tub for the last 3 sessions and it was going really great. Since before they met face to face I’ve been keep them cage by cage in a little storage room a created into a bunny room which hey will be staying after they bond hopefully. Today I decided after the short stress bonding car ride I would put them in there in a litttle pen for the bonding session. It seemed to be going good for about an hour and then my older bun Zelda growled (only a couple times) and started to nip her and they had a few tiny tuffles. (Everyone’s okay thankfully) my younger bun still groomed her but Zelda didn’t want any of it today lol.
What should my next step be? Short break and seperate then? Put them back into the bathroom a couple more times?
I feel like I may have gone abit too fast with switching the location of where they were bonding but I would like to hear what other people think aswell! Thank you!!

 

[Blue eyes]

I would go back to the tub sessions where you were seeing progress and not rush things. You may need to give it a break a couple days (or longer) depending on the severity of their tussle. How long (or if) they should be separated before those tub sessions resume will be something for you to discern.

Moving to a new location is always a big test and shouldn't be done until you think they are thoroughly bonded. Once you are convinced they are thoroughly bonded, continue a bit longer before moving to a new location to minimize problems.

 

[Garett]

I would go back to the tub sessions where you were seeing progress and not rush things. You may need to give it a break a couple days (or longer) depending on the severity of their tussle. How long (or if) they should be separated before those tub sessions resume will be something for you to discern.

Moving to a new location is always a big test and shouldn't be done until you think they are thoroughly bonded. Once you are convinced they are thoroughly bonded, continue a bit longer before moving to a new location to minimize problems.

The tussles were more so just a quick nip but I interviewed fairly quickly so there were no injuries or anything like that. I may do the bathtub again Saturday and give them a day break and see how it goes. I wasn’t really too sure how switching locations would go but obviously they will need more time. Thanks for the reply!