Bonding, Dominance & Humping

[Dibbyface]

Hi there! I’m in the process of bonding a male and female rabbit, and have a couple specific questions about humping and dominance and if the two always go hand in hand.

Evi is a male lop (not sure exactly what sort of lop, as he was a stray in our garden, but he’s on the small-medium side) whom I’ve had for about two years now. He’s very relaxed and easy-going, loves being pet, and generally has been a pleasure to live with all around. We brought him to meet a few shelter gals last week on Wednesday, September 16th, and quickly discovered that, with lady rabbits, he is a humping machine (all parties spayed/neutered, of course). The first two buns he met either seemed freaked by his constant desire to mount them or completely neutral. The third, a much larger American Mix named Cha Cha, took it calmly and let him get on with it, and then turned around and humped him right back–then hopped around calmly with him.

Cha Cha and Evi had a second date together the next day, and Cha Cha again seemed to be coming out on top. I assumed she’d probably end up being the dominant one. We took her home that night, set her up in a cage next to his, gave her a day to settle in, and then started up dates again. The first date or two they humped back and forth, but eventually it seemed Evi was going to be more persistent after all. I also started gently pushing him off after he’d got enough of a hump in, and keeping him from doing it again for a minute or so to give Cha Cha a break, since he has a tendency to hump, pause, circle, stomp, then hump again. When I was doing this, Cha Cha never made a move to try to doing any more humping herself, BUT she also tended to be the one pooping all over or marking corners with pee first (Evi sometimes pooped/peed in response, but almost never started it).

They’ve been having dates once a day in neutral zones, and seem to be progressing a good deal. Two days ago I witnessed the first grooming (Cha Cha licked Evi’s ears a bit), and yesterday Evi groomed Cha Cha. Today, lo and behold, they BOTH groomed each other, for extended sessions, and voluntarily laid down side by side. 

HOWEVER… I decided that, since they’d been doing so well and showing affections, I should try to see how Cha Cha would react to Evi’s extended humping sessions, instead of intervening as I had for several dates. And, sure enough, Evi started humping, circling, humping… and then Cha Cha humped him back again. Several times now they’ve circled in an attempt to hump the other, but they’re still grooming each other in turn, still opting to stretch out side by side.

Here, then, is my question: Is humping always a sign the rabbit wishes to be dominant? Or is it possible Cha Cha could be using humping in response as a way of saying, “Hey, you’re bugging me, cut that out?” 

Clearly progress is being made, since they’re far cuddlier than ever before and have both groomed each other multiple times in this same session. But do I need to wait until the humping is entirely one-sided before I progress to semi-neutral dating grounds? I worry about Evi’s humping-circling-humping, even though they’ve never fought or seemed truly aggressive toward each other–is it too bossy or pushy or enthusiastic?

I apologize for the long-windedness of this post, but I’m anxious to do all I can to ensure their dates are as successful as possible. I’ve never bonded bunnies before and need some help interpreting their lingo =]

[bluepaws]

okay first 5 days Cha Cha needs to settle in so no bonding then and yes humping is totally normal with newcomers they are just showing whos the boss within a few days it should stop though! Good luck!

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