After their recent bereavements, Poppy and Apollo were ready to start dating. I know the above photo looks like the start of a race , it was a start but of their first date! First hurdle was to come out of their baskets. Poppy was fine and came out pretty quick but baby Apollo had  to be encouraged.

Whenever you attempt to bond bunnies you always need to do it in a place of neutral territory. In Poppy and Apollo’s case it was in the house on a mat they had not had contact with before. Same goes for the boxes that were placed on the mat. This means that both are on equal footing and both will be a little stressed by all the new sounds and surroundings of the house, this does help.  Apollo had to be encouraged out of his basket sooner rather than later otherwise Poppy could claim the mat as hers and then you’re not bonding in neutral territory anymore.

The above photo shows them looking at each other and weighing each other up. They almost say Hello in the video below.

In the above video you will see both are a little stressed hence the quick breathing, this is normal.  Bonding is stressful for everyone.  The video is also a positive in the bonding process, no outright aggression.

In this video above you will see Apollo and Poppy ignoring each other, however each one will be keeping an eye on the other. Once again this is a positive for the bonding. They’re remaining calm and within relative close proximity.

Even though they are both settled they are both on full alert as to what the other is doing. It’s all a case of patiently waiting for them to have a meet. You should never force it.

Poppy finally instigates a brief meet with Apollo.  It was good to see Apollo gave a submissive posture, ie he lowered his head to Poppy. This is what I call a breakthrough and I felt more reassured things weren’t going to turn aggressive. Some time later…….

You’ll notice a small branch for them, I often give treats to them for positive behaviour, for instance when Poppy groomed Apollo’s head I gave her a piece of her favourite treat and he got one also for being a good boy and letting her do it. The branch was a distraction if they felt things were getting too intense, they diffuse the situation sometimes by eating or messing about with something nearby. When Poppy groomed Apollo, that was the moment I knew she was up for being his partner, he loved her grooming him. All I needed was Apollo to groom Poppy. Unfortunately, Apollo still isn’t very good at knowing what he should do in some situations. It was many hours later when he did finally groom her although I don’t think he was overly pleased with her long mane. By the end of the evening things were…

I have to say it was all down to Poppy who kept things calm and she knew what to do with Apollo. Having been a carer for Toffee for so long I think she knew Apollo is easily worried and scared of certain situations. He did do the odd nip and I was so pleased Poppy didn’t retaliate.  Normally, she would have done but I think she just knew how to handle the big lad. At this stage the bond is still very fragile so there was no way they were going back into their shed where the other bunnies could interfere. I kept them in the house another 5 days and then returned them to the shed.  More to follow in future posts.