Hey everyone, i am having such a hard time bonding my 2 rabbits, Toby and Petunia and was wondering if anyone had any ideas as i am desperate at this point.

In December of 2008 we decided to adopt Toby, a male mini-lop rabbit at the age of 8 weeks. We had him neutered a few months later.

We adopted Petunia back in October of 2009, a female lion-head dwarf hotot mix. She was 6-8 weeks old, and at the age of 10 months i had her spayed (May 2010). 

I started out introducing them in neutral territory in July. I would put a blanket down on the couch in the evenings when we were watching tv (they are both litter box trained and do very well, but Toby will get lazy sometimes if he has to go and there is no box.) At first there would be some tension, but it would go away and i would always end off on a good note after about 15-20 minutes. We did this every evening, keeping them out longer each time. It got to the point where they would just sit there on the couch with us and groom each other and cuddle until it was time to go back into their own cages. Petunia would sometimes hump Toby, and once in a while Toby would hump Petunia, but i would stop them, and they would go back to cuddling. I then started putting them together in the playpen, without litter boxes. They would get along fine for about 15-20 minutes and then one would start chasing the other in an aggressive way and i would have to separate them.  If i wasn’t directly watching them, after the chase a full on fight would break out. This would only happen when they are in the playpen together, never on the couch. We have taken them for car rides which seemed to work at first since they get along great in the carrier, and i would bring them home, put the carrier directly into the playpen, open the door, and they would come out of the carrier and within 20 minutes one would start to chase the other again. Usually 80% of the time, it is Toby chasing Petunia, yet Petunia isn’t innocent either, she is very standoffish with him at times and at the wrong time if he even so much as hops her way she will let out one of those “oinks” she is famous for. At this point this is what i am working with. The humping is getting worse, now during our couch time they will groom and cuddle and it will end in Petunia humping Toby every time. If i stop her from humping, will just go back a few seconds/minutes later and do it again, and i will then just end up separating them. I read somewhere to let her hump for about 10 seconds and then stop her, or to let her finish and she will not go back to do it again. That didn’t work either.

Am i dealing with 2 alpha bunnies here? If anyone has any advice for me i would really appreciate any tips that you may have. My bunnies are always very affectionate and have great little personalities, i want the best for them!!   Thanks in advance from me, Toby and Toonie. 

Christina.