Bum Biting after successful introduction

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This topic has 3sd replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 2 months ago by Asriel and Bombur.

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- 09/13/2018 at 5:18 AM
  SpringfieldSanctuaryUK
  Participant
  2 posts
  Hi new here!
  
  I run a rescue in Banbury UK. We have two giant rabbits we are trying to introduce. Both have previously had partners. The intro was lively with nipping and circling and humping from both parties. Both relaxed after a while and ate together. They had been next to each other for a few weeks so knew each other. They went in together ok but the female hid a lot. The male was left outside the house most of the time. We noticed fur clumps one morning and found bites on the females bum. They were together on top of the house so seemed to be getting on. We left it another couple of days and the same happened again. We’ve separated them to side by side cages again but not sure what to do. We’ve introduced and bonded lots of pairs and groups before but never had this problem. Any advice?
- 09/13/2018 at 11:57 AM
  Asriel and Bombur
  Participant
  1104 posts
  Can you go through your bonding process? Because just from the way it looks, it looks like that you just had them in cages side by side and then just put them in one big enclosure? I’m just confused about that part. Because it sounds like they are actually fighting and need to really be taken slow.
- 09/19/2018 at 4:00 PM
  SpringfieldSanctuaryUK
  Participant
  2 posts
  They were side by side for long time at the Sanctuary. We did first introductions in out introduction pen and it went well. They settled after a some humping in the introduction pen after about 10 mins. As the introduction was positive we returned them to an enclosure together. They were lying together and grooming each other. It was a couple of days later the bum biting happened.
- 09/20/2018 at 7:21 AM
  Asriel and Bombur
  Participant
  1104 posts
  There need to be more than just positives to move them into the same enclosure. You really need to gradually work up the length of time they spend together. Especially if there was humping in the first session. Bonding takes multiple sessions or else the their issues will never resolve and any “bond” they form is more than likely to break very easily. Keep them separate and do short sessions leading to longer ones. You don’t just want to put them together because a session went well. This can lead to all sorts of issues. If you put them back in one of the others’ enclosures there’s also territorial issues that will be going on because one is invading the other’s space.
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