Advice on next stop for bonding please

[LolaBunny]

Hi everyone,

Lola is a 9 month old female, spayed in October, Bailey is also 9 months and a male and he and was brought home on 12th December and neutered on 14th December. Both have been living side by side for two weeks, absolutely no aggression. For the last 10 days they have been having 2 x 30-60 minutes bonding dates. No aggression at all, Lola grooms Bailey, but Bailey will not stop humping Lola. I have been dating them in the downstairs hallway, there was two days where humping subsided, but it has started up again. Lola does not get aggressive but keeps running away, sometimes she will stop and let it happen. I try to stop is escalating into running round and round but wonder if I should just let them run it out.

I am recovering from an ankle operation yesterday and have until Monday off work,  so was thinking I could really put some effort into cementing them over this weekend.  So today I tried them next to my bed in a pen, they lasted 1.5 hours together, but most of this time Bailey humped Lola, he did have a couple of minutes out with exhaustion. Lola did groom him after a couple of chasing sessions, but then stopped towards the end. They lay next to each other for a couple of minutes a few times. I ended the date as the getting up and down was hurting my ankle and Lola kept trying to climb out as she was getting fed up.

I don’t know what my next steps should be. I am thinking maybe more space might be a good idea to wear Bailey out and let Lola escape from humping? At the moment they are living in their separate pens in the spare room, Lola’s territory was the lounge, but I have banned her from it for the last 2 weeks and cleaned and hoovered and this is where I want them to end up.

 I wonder whether to try letting them out together where they are living in the spare room? Or I could try the landing upstairs, just let them run and him hump it out. Or I could move to the lounge and see what happens? They both love lots of space and binkying and I feel they won’t fight, but with a dodgy ankle I couldn’t sprint across the room to break it up, if they did, although I have a crutch I could bang.

Any advice most welcome

[tobyluv]

It is usually recommended that you wait at least a month after neutering before you attempt bonding. It can take that long or more for the hormones to be flushed out of the body. Rabbits can also sometimes have a post neuter “craze” due to fluctuating hormone levels. During that time, they may act more aggressive or may have more sexual urges than they did before the neuter. It’s good that this excessive humping hasn’t caused Lola to be aggressive herself, and for fighting to occur, but that may still happen if she gets really fed up, plus you don’t want her to feel intimidated. I know that you wanted the bonding to be complete before you have to go back to work, but it might be best to hold off on further bonding until Bailey’s hormones have leveled off.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Yup – ditto Tobyluv – the difference in my male between 4 weeks post op (crazy) and 6 weeks post op (less so) was visible.

You don’t want to turn Lola against Bailey as it seems as if things are going in the right direction = Bailey chasing and Lola running off.

Go slow (at their speed) and it will pay off… just a few more weeks…. try banana juice on their heads to help with the grooming if you think they are ready.

[LolaBunny]

Thank you to you both for your advice.

So you think the humping from Bailey is more hormone rather than dominance related? Thats what is hard to work out. I keep hearing people say that humping is normal and they need to get it out of their system. Its 3 weeks today since his neuter, so shall I just continue to date? Its so hard to work out when to move to the next step.How will I know, will he suddenly just stop humping as much?

Many thanks

[Vienna Blue in France]

Humping from non-neuteured boys will be sexual.

Humping from neuteured boys (post op 6 weeks) is likely to be dominance related.
Females can hump males in the seeking/getting dominance too, and males on males etc….. anybun on anybun

So as you’re only 3 weeks post (hormones still spiking and dropping like a roller coaster), it’s probably a bit of both and both Bailey and Lola are a bit confused and giving/receiving mixed messages… LOL

Which is why is would be good to slow down a bit until he is at least 4-6 weeks post op and as Tobyluv says, levelled out.

Def keep them in visual contact though during this time. Just cages far enough away so they can’t claw/bite through the bars to the other bun.

[Author]

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