Possible rebonding?

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Catlyn

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Two first paragraphs are just a recap/background thing, the question starts at the third one.

Got confused and didn't know if it is in the housing&environment section or nutrition&behaviour section, sooo i will write it in general discussion.
So, way back when I got Storm 06.06.2020 and Lümi 25.07.2020, i managed to get my dad to drive both to be neutered. Then i was struck with many hurdles and mishaps that may come with bonding. I was rushed so there were some pretty bad things but oh well, it's in the past and i won't be that stupid again, so...

I got them successfully bonded imo, they managed to go a week without harming eachother in their room, and could be trusted to spend full day-night-day cycles together. We had to move and their bond fell apart after a week in the new apartment. So we had to bring back the crate, which is now way too small to accomodate either of our buns at least semi-decently (sadly Lümi lacks the room to fully fully stretch without bumping into his litterbox or sticking his feet out the grids, he liked to jump into the condo with Storm in it, so he couldn't be trusted with just hanging around) but both get morethan the minimal amount of hours to get out their places and move around.
And as i was still thinking of what would happen in fall when we would have to move back here again, i thought that the best option at the moment would be considering a rebonding.

As far as i know, in order to rebond them, i would have to create a situation where they would not be able to see each other, or be in extremely close proximity, so that they could ''forget'' the other's existence. It would probably be ideal if they had separate rooms and an extra divider-room in between. And then i would dig up the vast spreads of the internet on how to bond rabbits, from scratch.

There is one thing that i'm not utterly happy about. Our cottage has three rooms and a kitchen (and a dust-covered but otherwise almost clean, vastly spacious, roomless second story), so definetly enough room to let buns have their own rooms, and one (the smaller one behind where Lümi used to stay) is technically still neutral territory as it has been cleaned and old furniture thrown out.
But dad insists that the boys be accomodated together in the smaller, spare room, with only, what i understood it to be, a cardboard separator. He's already mostly set up their pen area as well. Dad says that if they can't see each other, that would well be enough, but i beg to differ. They can surely smell each other and then will never even think of ''forgetting'' that the other bun is there, and it would also nullify the neutral territory effect. Yet, he won't listen to my explanations. So i was wondering, is it even possible to get a setup where they would ''forget'' each other without one of them having to move outside (to the shed) for a month? (I was pretty stubbornly determined to clean the upper floor and move one boy over there with myself, but 10 years of dust and no proper stairs make me wonder if there are any better options)
 
Do you have any pictures of your upstairs? If your parent's arent using it, I'd take some time and clean it, then you could put the buns on the opposite sides of the room. Also how do you get upstairs?
 
I do not have any pictures of it. If i had to describe it, it would look like a loft on tiny houses, with a triangle-slanted roof, and it has absolutely no pillars in weird places i believe. There is one window at the front i believe, and it opens, i'm pretty sure. I do not remember it so well though, so i don't know any more than that it is empty, not used and full of dust.
There is a latch-thing on the first floor corridor, and to get up there, i would need a ladder. If i were on the upper floor and closed the latch, it would be absolutely safe- no wallpaper, wires, plants etc etc. Ladder is why i am a bit worried if bringing one of the boys up for living and down for grazing would be more complicated.
 
Uhhh, I do not know that.
Albeit I am quite a nifty-brain and can build my buns' enclosures with guidance, and think of all sorts of weird stuff, I have not the slightest idea wether or not a flight of stairs could fit there. That hall is pretty cramped, so no way that classic stairs fit, and one of those twisty-spiral-stairs ( Say, what are they actually called?) are too wide for that space. The hall, if i eyeball it, is about two by two meters in floor space? I can be seriously mistaken as i was last there in, uhhh, november?
What makes the matter better or worse, i don't know, is that the latch is in the corner-bit of the wall. So actually, collapsible stairs might be an option, like the ones that firefight escape routes (and what are those actually called?) have where they just pull almost flat-down.

Also, i will, for better or worse, be away for a month straight, save for a few weekends when i return home (vocational school ''practice'' thing, basically unpaid work for a month) so i have no idea how that's gonna go. Might have to brainwash dad into trying it my way when i do get to stay home again as i am pretty sure he will insist on housing my boys side by side as i won't be around.

But other than the accessibility of the upper floor, what else should i keep in mind about rebonding?
 
If you have a garden, basement, spare bathroom, office or balcony, you could start the rebonding there and if they bond move into the spare room?
 
It's a countryside house, so of course we have a garden, and it is quite big for how our country's folks generally live. Americans would probably think it is still small, but nevermind about that.
What i do not have is a pen to keep them in a smaller area outdoors for the bonding session, and there's no way i'll spend a hundred euros getting a puppy pen that they might just not jump over.
Wish, amazon and all those would still charge double that money for shipping to get it here, albeit it is a mystery why as this world has pretty much free parcel routes everywhere...

We do not have a balcony, what would you expect from a cottage? Most cottages here don't have 'em, and most houses don't have a separate office room, usually it is replaced by a big desk n computer at the side of some bedroom. And unless someone is a really rich billy, their house would still have a single bathroom. Ofc reality-tv is not the full truth, but i have never understood why the folks overseas always have double the amount of bathrooms.
We do have some sort of basement-thingy at the apartment, but it is... hmm.. filled with junk and some needed items too, also idk why but it smells funny, in a bad way, and is not properly "clean" as living quarters would be. That being said, i would not dare rebond them there.

So to summarize that explanatory paragraph on what common Estonian houses/apartments have and have not, my only viable option would be getting some sort of makeshift pen in a shadier spot of the garden.

But what about the month-long separation period? When Lümi comes to sniff at Storm between the grids, he would get ignored but sometimes will get lightly nipped, but if the opposite occurs, i have seen some ear-kisses given. Not that it would really mean they would get along again, so i was still thinking about that...
 
I guess houses in America are much different, I wouldn't say we live in a huge house, but we have 3 bathrooms.
 
Well, the bad news is that dad has built their enclosures directly right next to each other.
Luckily the shared mesh area is relatively small.
Even more luckily, the area he had initially prepared (0.8 square metres per rabbit, not counting for litterbox n all that) got expanded (1.8 sq mpr, not counting litterbox n all that) because he saw how frustrated and near-crying i was. One time in half of my existence where being an hsp has helped me.

It still won't solve the bonding problem though...
 

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