Unbonded rabbits unsupervised

[jaidy]

Hello! Its been a while since I've consulted these forums and since then I have brought in another male rabbit as a potential companion for my previously owned male.

The last couple months have been me preparing him for bonding with my rabbit of two years. I got him neutered and have been waiting out hormones before I start the bonding process.
My problem is this past weekend I was out of town and both of them had broken out of their enclosures and were left to their devices.
Unfortunately the family member i left in their care was unaware of that being a potentially bad thing and let them be for a couple days continuing to feed them etc.
When I returned home there was a fair amount of fur in my room but no apparent injuries etc aside from some misplaced fur on my older rabbit.
Hell when I walked into my room they were eating hay together in one of their litter boxes!!
Now my main question here is: is that a good sign for them? I know the unsupervised bonding is a huge no no and I got their pens back in position to separate them for the time being. But the potential of them possibly "working things out" while I was gone shouldnt be ruled out right? Considering them eating closely together is generally a good sign in proper bonding processes.
Is there any signs I should look out for that may warrant me putting them back together? The whole thing is a mess and im not entirely sure how to handle it.
Thanks

 

[JBun]

If they were getting along, not chasing, not scuffling, not humping, I would be inclined to leave them together and consider them bonded, and just closely monitor for a bit to make sure all is good. They just saved you from the trouble of having to supervise the whole process by bonding themselves while you were gone. Not ideal, but it happened and doesn't mean they can't be considered officially bonded now.

But if you have gone ahead and separated them again, you will need to monitor them initially after putting them back together. Depending on how bonded they were and how long they've been separated, they may go back together no trouble, or you may need to redo some of the bonding process.