Kitchen Dating

In the weeks while Dan's hormones are leveling out, I have decided to allow him and Sam some supervised dates in my kitchen. He had broken through the barrier into the kitchen a few times before he was neutered and he and Sam just sniffed each other for a few minutes before I scooted him off to his own area. They were so curious about each other that I wanted them to at least see each other pretty regularly until full on dating starts. Think of it as texting, or facebooking someone you like.

If you don't have rabbits and are just here for the stories I advise you skip this next bit :) haha

 Based on my research these are the basics of bonding I am using for my buns:

1)Spayed/Neutered/Healthy Rabbits

2)Neutral Territory

3)Work with their stress

4)Squirt bottle at the ready!

5)Keep a watchful eye

1)Spayed/Neutered/Healthy Rabbits It can't be stressed enough how important this is. Getting your rabbits fixed is good for them (prolongs their lives, keeps breeding at bay, more even tempered), good for you (better litter usage, less destructive behaviors), and good for bonding (less aggressive attitudes, more receptive). This has been the limiting factor for my rabbys. Let me tell you, boy rabbits are humping machines and I knew that would terrify Sam (it totally shocked me the first time he did it to my leg). Healthy bunnies are also necessary for dating. Dating is stressful- AmIRight?- so they need to have stable eating/drinking/pooping habits. If they feel good they will be more receptive to a new relationship. Dan is finally healthy and an eating machine.

2)Neutral Territory Rabbits are so territorial, you can totally see why this is a must. Also if they are both out of their comfort zones they are more likely to find comfort in each other, makes sense right? So where oh where shall this be for my rabs? Wellll, because of the time frame, this is actually going to be at my parent's house (you don't mind right mommy? haha). I get more than a week off for Thanksgiving, so I am going to stay with my parents for the break. The bunnies have to go with me anyway (they have both traveled a lot with me and do totally fine-thank god), so I figured what a perfect time to bond them. They are going to ride in the car in their separate cages side-by-side. Then when we get there I will let them out into their room with a barrier in between and let them eat and drink and chill out. Once I feel they are not totally freaking I will let them be together for a bit, and separate when necessary.

3)Work with their stress This goes along with the last one. Bunnies don't always do well in new situations but you can use that to your advantage, if it is true for both buns they will look to each other for comfort. It is in some ways a false sense of closeness, when the stress wears off that's when you get to see how they really feel about each other.
4)Squirt bottle at the ready! This may not be your chosen method for discouraging bad behavior between the bunnies but I know it will work for mine. Sam learned what things she could chew on -not the couch- using the squirt bottle filled with water technique. If things get too intense or the rabbits are starting to fight try a good squirt.

5)Keep a watchful eye It can take an undetermined amount of time for bunnies to stop trying to kill each other during dating-a fraction of a second to months-so make sure they have really acclimated to each other before leaving them alone. They may not be fully bonded before you give them some privacy, but at least no aggression for quite a while. Learn how to read your bunnies body language so you can tell when to intervene or ride it out. For us, as long as there is not any biting, scratching, humping, or boxing I am willing to see what happens. Neither of my rabbits are aggressive normally, so hopefully they won't be with each other.

Ok, back to the dating.
Sam's room is off my kitchen and she naturally won't go out there because of the floor. I put down a rug to make a bunny bridge to the big rug in the middle of the room.

Sam hops out as I lead Dan in from the other part of the house. 

*And right here I screw up* Make a rookie mistake. I should have shut Sam's door. But I didn't want her to feel trapped. And this wasn't like official or anything so I didn't put out a litter box, hay, food or water. Wrong! Even if I was planning on it only lasting five minutes, what if things were going great and they wanted to hang out? 

Some very good things happened on that rug and then it was chaos for a bit. Back to the good things. They sniff and circle each other for a bit, then Sam lowers her head down to the ground and puts it under Dan's chin. This is HUGE. Well to me anyway.  She is assuming the submissive position. Sam is twice Dan's size and 4 times his age. And to be honest, she is the feisty one. Very sassy. So the fact that she didn't immediately punch him in the face was a win.

 *If you are a single person I would suggest asking a friend to come help you wrangle/give out cheerio bribes/give nose scritches.

After this Dan decides he must go explore Sam's room, and proceeds to cover every inch of her room. Gahhhh! But some good things happen in there. She binkies around him twice. She sniffs and nudges him. And then wags her tail. Huh? I have never in all our years seen her do this. Some of my rabby buddies think it is a contented sign and others more like sticking out your tongue. What do you think?
Did you noticed a pattern in the action? Sam was doing all the giving of attention. Dan was too curious about her cool room to notice the other BUNNY. This is why a small, neutral territory is so crucial. Hopefully she wasn't too offended by him being distracted.

After Dan is wrangled back into the kitchen, I shut her in her room. She is totally at ease, and not worried at all. She is a very emotive rabbit, she makes very clear her feelings about everything. 30 seconds after their date ends she flops down. She continued to hop up to the door all day and stretch out as far as she could and look around, which is new. I think she is looking for him. Which makes me squee so hard everytime I think about it.