Rabbit Bonding after the death of a partner

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by Kokaneeandkahlua.

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- 02/15/2016 at 3:44 AM
  Funzodied222
  Participant
  5 posts
  Hi there.
  
  On Saturday the 13th of February i brought home a partner for my newly widowed rabbit Fawn and his name is Reggie. Her partner passed away while we were on holidays. I gave the period between the death and the new bunny 2 weeks. After i brought home this rabbit i had a few conundrums.
  
  1: The new rabbit was desexed only 3 days before hand
  
  2:He seemed to continually mount her no matter what (I would allow it for a few seconds but when i pushed him off he wouldn’t move on, he would always have to remount again. She also seemed to get agitated and try to run away during this, but he would put his paws on her head and stop her from doing so)
  
  3: Fawn seems slightly upset now. She was very happy before we got him, but now she is grumpy and moody.
  
  I now do not know what todo. I have them in the same are but i have a barrier going through the x pen cage so they can sniff and see each other. He will not stop mounting her and i feel like this is the only problem with the bonding. How long should i give him before trying another bonding session (i have read for some males it will take up to 6 weeks before their hormone levels drop after desexing)? How long do you reckon it will take for him to lose the hormones? Are there any techniques you have learnt to stopping mounting as often? And could you recommend any other ways of bonding them?
  
  Thank you so much in advanced for your responses to my tricky situation!
  
  Kind Regards.
- 02/15/2016 at 4:40 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17027 posts
  I think you should separate them for about two weeks, possibly even a month. A newly neutered bunny still has hormones circulating in his body. You very often see what is called a “post-neuter craze” right after a bun’s been neutered. You could describe it as the sex- hormones going berzerk in the bun’s body, causing an increase in all sexually triggered behaviors. The bun can get humpy, territorial, aggressive, he can go crazy with the poop- and pee-marking. In a boy this generally subsides after 2-4 weeks, in rare cases 8 weeks.
  
  Your girl might be grumpy and moody because she’s annoyed with him. An adult, spayed doe will naturally not be overjoyed by having to deal with a boy who has the sexual interest and capacity of a teen-ager =)
  
  So separate them before she looses her patience and gets angry and they get into fighting, then do a new introduction when your boy has calmed down.
- 02/15/2016 at 1:43 PM
  Kokaneeandkahlua
  Participant
  12067 posts
  Yeah I would second that-separate them, if you are nervous about someone you do not want to see them all day. That’s just upsetting for both, if you could house them in different rooms and let them both settle. While you are doing this, you can swap a towel so they get used to each others scents that’s usually the first step and something you can work on while your new bunny settles.
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