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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum BONDING Bonding 2 rabbits, feeling like giving up

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    • Crystalpalace
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        I had a 1 year old neutered male for 2 months and decided to foster-to-adopt a spayed 1 year old female. We kept them in separate cages, but the cages were next to each other and would take turns letting them out. After a few days we started swapping their cages. The female (Zyra) really blossomed this way. She was calm, friendly, and becoming more confident in her surroundings. We put them together in the ex pen in the living room, outside in our yard, and put them in the bathroom upstairs. No matter where we put them, the male (Duncan) would chase and hump Zyra. (I know that’s normal at 1st to establish dominance). They never fought, the amount of fur he’d pull out in chasing lessened, and I feel the intensity of his chasing/mounting lowered. They’ve been in the same cage now for 4 weeks. They do fairly well with food, she’s stopped pooping right outside the cage, and they’ll lay as close as a foot from each other. Problem is that he has never stopped humping/chasing her after 2 months. He’ll come up and put his nose to hers and start mounting. We’ll pet them together and they’ll snuggle, but once we stop he licks her a few times and starts mounting. He even stated grooming her ears and then try mounting her. She refuses to groom him, refuses to let him put his head under hers, refuses to (for a lack of a better term) defend herself to get him to stop, but she also wants nothing to do with him mounting. Every time he tries or looks like he’s going on ty, she takes off. The only time she has peace is when he’s tired or zooming around the house. Last night he spent 45min. chasing her and for the 1st time in awhile pulled out 3 chunks of her fur. And unless he’s at the other end of the house, she’s become more skiddish. I just feel like this isn’t working and I feel bad for Zyra, but I also have no idea what else to do. I’ve tried small space, large space, neutral space, stress bonding, etc.


      • Mikey
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        3186 posts Send Private Message

          It sounds like hes doing it because shes not accepting him as the dominant one (not grooming him, and semi ignoring him). He doesnt like that, so it makes him mad in which he starts the fur pulling. You might not want to keep them in the same cage together to avoid further damage for a while. Then restart the bonding process in a neutral territory. But do note, not all rabbits will get along. Its possible that they just dont “click”


        • HotCrossBuns
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            What type of stress bonding techniques have you done? I was in the same position as you about a month ago, and the washer and dryer technique was what really put me over the major hurdle to completing the bond between my male and female.


          • Crystalpalace
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              I did the washer and 1 of them wasn’t phased by it so I only did it once. I’ve done the car ride a few times. When I bring them in from running outside, I use a carrier and walk around for a few minutes. The closest to cuddling I’ve been able to get was after their vet visit to get their nails trimmed. They stayed cuddled for 30min but went back to chasing/mounting.


            • Manda and Loki
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                I’m also in a similar situation and I don’t know what else to do! please let me know if something ends up working for you! i’m having this issue with my female. except there’s been no mounting. She just chases him and tries to pull out fur. My male does nothing at all… poor Loki 


              • LittlePuffyTail
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                  You can try putting some mushed banana on your boys head so she will groom him. If he feels he’s established as the dominant bun, hopefully, he will let up.


                • Puggled
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                    I have a resident female bun who is a house rabbit. I was worried that she was lonely as I have been traveling more for work and my husband isn’t really a bunny person. so I found a male for her to try from the local adoption agency. Both are desexed and around 3 years old. I have only been trying to bond them for 4 days, but am ready to give up. They both will not submit in their struggle to be the dominant bun, and I’ve had to resort to putting something between them to stop them from fighting. I have their bonding sessions of 20 min in a pen (neutral territory). He will groom and eat in her prescence, but she is uninterested in food when in the pen. She has groomed herself in front of him, and he had groomed her the first two ‘dates’ but appears to have given up. Advice please? I have never attempted a bonding before.


                  • Manda and Loki
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                      i’ve been bonding my two rabbits for 2 months about, and I still question whether they’re fully bonded or not. I wouldn’t trust my female alone with my male. My buns were really awful at first. (mainly because of my female.) She was clearly dominate and my male just wasn’t willing to socialize with her at all because he was so scared. Mine were in two separate cages but next to each other and he was totally fine but in the x-pen, he would not dare touch any food around her, but she would eat freely as she pleased. I was about to give up until I put my foot down, and did stress bonds every single day- I would try the pen after, and if my female tried to fight- it was right back to the stress bonding. I would put them in a laundry basket and walk around… drag them around in the basket.. put them in the bathtub.. and do car rides. Car rides is what ended up helping me with these two. I would actually tilt the carrier up, so they were forced to sit right next to each other. I also tried the banana trick on their heads to get them to groom each other. My male was very scared to attempt to get the banana off my female. He still to this day will not groom her. He just demands her to groom him- which usually she will do, even though she is clearly the dominant one. So I highly recommend stress bonding. It’s not fun, and you’ll most likely feel bad in the process.. but it seems to work for a lot of people, including myself. My female still goes after my male and tries to pull hair from his butt.. I’m hoping in time it’ll stop but I still won’t be leaving them alone or putting them in a cage together as their home. Just try and be patient and stick to whatever works for you. it’ll all work out. 


                    • Puggled
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                        Thank you very much for the advice. I had thought of trying it, but it was a frowned upon (by the adoption agency). I had come to the conclusion that I have nothing to lose by giving it a try, and a lot of bunny bonding advice is just what you have given.

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                    Forum BONDING Bonding 2 rabbits, feeling like giving up