hi all! just some context, i am a first time bunny owner who’s had one for a little over a year now and around august 2025 is when i acquired my second one. i was initially living with a friend and we both got one from the same litter. eventually i moved out and a few months later, my friend no longer could care for hers so i took her in since i was planning to get another bunny anyways. i did read a lot about how female bonds can be more difficult so i knew what i was getting myself into.
i got my first one fixed in july and the second one was fixed in october. i kept them separate the entire time, but their pens were side by side. i swapped their free roam time and they were able to be in semi contact through the pen and i’ve always swapped their toys and tunnels to get used to each others scents.
it did take me a while to start the full bonding process so i only started about 1.5 months ago. however there were times when i would do full deep cleans of their pens so they would be in my living room (neutral territory) together. and i would also just do a few sessions with them there when i had the chance and they did really good. i also ended up taking them for a nail trim about 2 months ago and was able to put them in the carrier together and after that is when i really started focusing on getting them bonded.
their names are bindi and sushi. bindi was the first one i had and her personality has seemed fairly independent and passive, whereas sushi seems more socially motivated. once it got to a point where i felt they were comfortable enough with each other, i ended up combining their pen space and had absolutely no territorial issues. i do monitor them in the pen together as well as keep a divider up when i’m at work or unable to pay attention to them.
currently, i’m doing multiple short bonding sessions a day (around 10–15 minutes), usually ending them before tension builds. i’ve also been letting them take turns free roaming in between sessions which seems to help a lot with keeping things calm.
as i said, sushi seems more socially motivated so they went through a phase where sushi would always bow her head but bindi would not respond or would hop away and this seemed to cause frustration for sushi. during this phase, sushi would mount bindi from the front and i was having to break it up and pause sessions. she also would try mounting her from behind, but bindi would not have it so they got into a few scuffles that i was able to break up pretty easily (no injuries). as of now, bindi is still a bit jumpy when sushi gets behind her, but she has improved a lot and now usually just turns around to face sushi instead of nipping.
it’s been about 2 weeks since they’ve had any scuffles or mounting attempts. right now their interactions are mostly nose-to-nose, bowing, or just brushing past each other. they’re able to eat hay side by side, lay near each other, and disengage without escalation. there have been a few moments where bindi has groomed sushi briefly, but a lot of times they kind of have a bow-off. sushi is still more persistent with trying to interact, while bindi is more neutral and sometimes just ignores her.
the main tension point still seems to be when sushi tries to position herself behind bindi, which makes bindi more alert, but this has also improved compared to before.
i feel like we’re in a more stable phase now, but i’m just wondering if this is a normal stage that can last a while with one rabbit being more socially motivated than the other, or if there’s anything i should be doing differently.
what signs should i be looking for that their bond is truly stable and when it would be appropriate to remove the divider and fully trust them together?
*picture of the cuties for tax :)*
by peachy6748