Horny Leo???

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This topic has 14sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 11 months ago by PeachyCream.

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- 12/26/2017 at 1:55 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  Okay so we’ve had Leo for a couple years now, he’s really good with people and other animals, never had a territorial issue with him, so we decided for christmas we’d get him a companion animal, since neither of us are around all the time with work and we’ve been told by other rabbit owners and vets that rabbits really need a lot of companionship to be happy. We discussed it for a while, built a new enclosure (it’s working as a cage for now until she becomes more comfortable)
  
  So far activity between the two is all monitored, we never let them run around with each other yet but what we do is (she is in my dad’s room and he’s got free run of the living room) we’ll bring them into each area. We began with bringing Leo into the room with her in her cage, it seemed to go well, they sniffed each other and stared a lot. She does seem territorial (she’ll lunge at us if we put our hands in her cage but quickly calms down if we start petting her) but she didn’t react aggressively towards Leo. (her name is Pringle, btw, she’s a little white with blackish spots Netherland Dwarf with a whole lot of attitude) So today I brought her into the living room (she actually really likes being picked up and held) and sat on the floor while holding her. I was quite cautious since, while Leo has never BEEN territorial, we’ve never had another rabbit in the house. However his reaction was… .unexpected
  
  Leo ignored her mostly but he came up to sniff her and then without any warning tried to get onto my lap to uh… mate with her??? His tail was moving around and he was trying to get to her to hump her. She didn’t attack him or anything but I couldn’t tell if she was uhm… enthusiastic about it, mostly she seemed to be on alert because of the new territory… Both of these rabbits are fixed….
  
  This is so bizarre to me, Leo has never tried to hump or mount anyone, anything, or any other animals that have come to visit the house. But as soon as he got a good whiff of her he was like, determined to… get down to it with her… She didn’t seem afraid of him at all, in fact she seemed to be ready to just let him do it but… I mean I am trying not to rush things so I brought her right back to her cage to let them both cool off a bit… I have no idea what this means?… Or what that means about the possibility of them bonding?…I’m just really confused
- 12/26/2017 at 2:29 PM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  Well, you’re going to have to stop what you’re doing. You can’t just introduce them, you have to do prebonding, then bonding. Him mounting is him trying to assert that he is dominant, it isn’t sexual.
  
  Is the girl spayed?
- 12/26/2017 at 2:35 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  She is spayed yes.
  
  Really? This is how the person we adopted her said we should do it :/ she said that we can have them in the same room and let them approach but to make sure one is contained. I didn’t realize we were doing this wrong!
- 12/26/2017 at 2:39 PM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5813 posts
  There are a lot of people who believe they understand rabbits and bonding but don’t. So don’t feel bad that you happened upon someone who wasn’t well informed. You can read about bonding on the bunny info section of this website.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 12/26/2017 at 2:40 PM
  Deleted User
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  22064 posts
  Where did you get her from? Pet shop, breeder, rescue?
  
  If one rabbit was able to mount the other, then it can’t be considered “contained”.
- 12/26/2017 at 2:44 PM
  Deleted User
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  22064 posts
  1st- The new bunny needs time to settle. Often times, people bring home a brand new rabbit and don’t allow them time to settle in before they introduce them to another rabbit. At first, the new rabbit may not respond aggressively, but this could be because they just don’t have their bearings yet. Once the new rabbit gets more comfortable, it’s possible that they would start becoming more aggressive. Right now, it’s very frightening for the rabbit because she doesn’t know you, the other rabbit, or her surroundings.
  
  2nd- AFTER the new bun has settled in, you should start swapping out litter trays, toys, blankets for a few weeks and then start to switch the rabbits into each others space. This is prebonding
  
  There should be no face to face meetings without prebonding. If you’ve never seen rabbits fight, trust me…you DO NOT want to. It ain’t pretty.
- 12/26/2017 at 2:46 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  @Wick Yeah I’ve just been reading and it says they can be introduced in neutral territory first which isn’t what she said, she said that they could be introduced anywhere as long as it started with them contained. Which does fit the pre-bonding stuff but it’s not the same as an introduction. She wasn’t really clear about that part
  
  @BunNoob Well he couldn’t actually get to her, no, he was TRYING to and she wasn’t responding aggressively is how I meant to say it, sorry if there was confusion Hmmm though I guess when you say contained you might mean that he should have been caged if she was coming into the same room as him? I was holding her so as I said he couldn’t get to her, and she is calmer being held so that’s why I did it.
- 12/26/2017 at 2:46 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  @Wick Yeah I’ve just been reading and it says they can be introduced in neutral territory first which isn’t what she said, she said that they could be introduced anywhere as long as it started with them contained. Which does fit the pre-bonding stuff but it’s not the same as an introduction. She wasn’t really clear about that part
  
  @BunNoob Well he couldn’t actually get to her, no, he was TRYING to and she wasn’t responding aggressively is how I meant to say it, sorry if there was confusion Hmmm though I guess when you say contained you might mean that he should have been caged if she was coming into the same room as him? I was holding her so as I said he couldn’t get to her, and she is calmer being held so that’s why I did it.
- 12/26/2017 at 2:46 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  @Wick Yeah I’ve just been reading and it says they can be introduced in neutral territory first which isn’t what she said, she said that they could be introduced anywhere as long as it started with them contained. Which does fit the pre-bonding stuff but it’s not the same as an introduction. She wasn’t really clear about that part
  
  @BunNoob Well he couldn’t actually get to her, no, he was TRYING to and she wasn’t responding aggressively is how I meant to say it, sorry if there was confusion Hmmm though I guess when you say contained you might mean that he should have been caged if she was coming into the same room as him? I was holding her so as I said he couldn’t get to her, and she is calmer being held so that’s why I did it.
- 12/26/2017 at 2:47 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  also I don’t know why that posted three times
- 12/26/2017 at 2:56 PM
  Deleted User
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  22064 posts
  Hahah, sometimes the site can be a bit buggy and post your replies several times.
  
  By contained, yes one should be in a cage or something. They shouldn’t be able to reach each other.
  
  Fights can break out in an instant, which is why it’s very important to do pre-bonding. This is getting them used to each other’s scent and helping to reduce initial aggression. They can live next to each other as long there is a barrier separating them so they can’t touch each other.
- 12/26/2017 at 3:00 PM
  Deleted User
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  22064 posts
  I think it’s a bit easier to bring a female home to a male. In the wild, the females burrow and have to defend their territory, so they get a little more pissy when there’s an intruder in their space.
  
  I tried to bond a few months ago. Unfortunately it failed, despite my trying for so long. When I brought the male home, my female went absolutely nuts. She did not like it at all. Eventually she calmed down. But I just mentioned it to show you how it can be different depending on if the resident bun already living at home is a male or female.
- 12/26/2017 at 3:04 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  @Wick and yes she is a rescue sorry I didn’t say so when you asked
  
  @BunNoob okay, well like I said the person we filled the adoption papers out with said after a few days we could have the contained stuff, and we’ve had her a week now that’s why we brought him into her room while she was in a cage. But I will do it more like you say, swapping toys and such. Also you say it’s a dominance thing? That seem uncharacteristic of him but I suppose that happens a lot with people who bond rabbits the first time He seemed really overexcited though his tail was wagging up and down I had never seen that on him. Rabbits sure can be surprising!
- 12/26/2017 at 3:11 PM
  Deleted User
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  22064 posts
  Most animals that live socially (in groups) follow a hierarchy. Think “pecking order” as in chickens. It is natural for one animal to display dominance, in fact it is actually very important in establishing their relationship is figuring out who is dominant. In rabbits, the female is the dominant of the pair most of the time. You haven’t seen him trying to assert dominance with you because you aren’t his species
  
  You can listen to me or not, but I’m just telling you that most people have no idea about bonding…so just because they told you do to it a certain way doesn’t mean that they are right…It also doesn’t mean that my way is the only way…but if you look around at reputable sources, (house rabbit society, rescues, etc) nearly every place will have some mention of prebonding before you just toss them together and hope it works out.
- 12/26/2017 at 3:30 PM
  PeachyCream
  Participant
  116 posts
  I realize that now, I feel bad that I went too fast… but I do think I got lucky because now they seem to be longing for each other after no time at all… he keeps trying to get to her room and when she sees him she is looking for ways to leave her cage… either that or they hate each other and I’m just totally oblivious yet again xD
  
  Thanks so much for your advice though something could have gone really nasty if I kept going at this pace :/
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