Are my rabbits bonding or Fighting?

[jackandmillie]

I have two Rabbits, Jack who is 2 years old and neatured, and Millie who is 1 year old and NOT spayed.
Jack is a very sociable rabbit as he was an inhouse rabbit at first so around humans and myself all the time whereas Millie not so much. She is VERY friendly and sweet but always very scared. She is curious and will be more than happy to hop over to me out of curiosity, but if i reach my hand out to pat her or walk up to her she will run away.
So the problem is, i am not too sure if my rabbits are actually bonding or not? 
They are in their hutch throughout the night and roaming through the backyard throughout the day. They’re hutch is very spacious (two large hutches connected to one another with a tunnel we built)
I’ll walk down in the morning to let them out, and notice they are grooming one another, but once they spot me Jack will attack Millie (Millie will never attack Jack) by chasing her and nipping her on the bottom. 
Another example is Millie will hop in her hutch at night time to eat her dinner, Jack will come in afterwards and straight away hops over to her and she gets scared and quickly runs upstairs or the other side of the hutch.
Plenly of times i have witnessed them grooming one another and then suddenly jack will launch out and nip her.
Very comfusing as i always thought grooming was behaviour of two rabbits bonding, but clearly something is wrong if he continues to randomly nip her?

Any help much appreciated!!! THANK YOU!

[joea64]

First of all, you need to get Millie properly spayed because otherwise her active hormones will prevent real bonding from taking place and if it’s not done a nasty fight may break out sooner or later which could ruin their relationship.

[sarahthegemini]

Firstly, you should not be housing rabbits together who are not properly bonded. Secondly, your female needs to be spayed prior to attempted bonding.

Seperate them now, have Millie spayed and wait a month for her hormones to disipate. THEN you can start bonding. Bonding is a process that needs to be done correctly. You can’t just put them together.

[Deleted User]

As I stated in your other post, please educate yourself more on rabbit behavior and introducing two rabbits. Both need to be fixed, then you can attempt bonding. Keep them living together and you may wake up to a dead bunny. It’s not mean, it’s the truth, so take the advice given here and separate them.

[Dface]

If he’s attacking her at all, they should be seperated, bonding takes time and by the sound of it ,your two will be able to be bonded , just the process will need to be followed so there will be no more nipping. There’s a whole section dedicated to it only this forum

In regards to her not being neutered, I’m aware there are some situations where it is not feesible to neuter a female, and it will make bonding a lot more difficult, but it is certainly doable. I bonded my male and female before she was neutered, but females do need to be neutered to avoid their very high rate of cancer long term.

[Author]

Messages