Awkward question..

[sgregory]

I feel like this is such a strange question, but if I don’t ask it I’ll never feel comfortable bonding..

I’m getting a flemish giant in about a week. She/He’s 5 weeks right now. I went to go meet her/him and we tried to sex her, looks like she’s a she but you can’t be sure so young. Here’s the issue.. I have a female mini lop mix, she’s very small, only about twice the size as the baby flem is now. Obviously if the flem turned out to be a boy there wouldn’t be contact until he’s also fixed, but I know that even after spaying the male bun sometimes mounts the female..

So my question is, is it safe for such a larger male bun to mount a small female, or is it ikely to hurt her? I’m so worried for my baby, I just really need to know.

[RabbitPam]

I just did an online search to see if any info. on bonding F. Giants with other breeds was anywhere I could find, and I only came up with general bonding info. You can review our bonding info. here, as well as the House Rabbit Society’s info. on bonding just to get a good basic knowledge of how to proceed.

I understand your concern, and perhaps a member has experience with bonding a Flemmie. However, one good thing is that they are the most laid back of temperments of the breeds, so they are considered very Gentle Giants. That leads me to guess that it would be less likely to be humping from dominance than possibly your smaller rabbit would.

Being that young and questioning the sex, I think you could keep them separate initially until your new baby adjusts to you, the new home, and is seen by the vet for a check up. Ask your vet about the size issue in bonding. If you mini lop is not yet speutered, the I would wait to start bonding until a month after at least one of them has the surgery.

[Karla]

My male is really, really tiny and my female is huge next to him, and the mounting is really violent, so I am not sure if I would allow a giant Flemish to mount a mini lop. Also, my male has bitten off bunches of hair on my female and she has a bloody spot – I can only imagine what a huge rabbit could do.

But maybe the giant won’t have the urge to do it.

[Sarita]

Karla, I think if your male is biting the female to draw blood, that is not good! I would watch them much closer and not allow this to happen.

[Karla]

He is doing it to hold on to her when he is humping her…I found out too late. But she really doesn’t mind – though when he bites the same spot, she jumps away from him, but then lays down in front of him for him to hump her again. But after I found out, I separated them for the day.

[Sarita]

That’s good! It’s hard to know if they really mind or not, but you don’t want them to draw blood, that’s not a positive thing.

[sgregory]

Ughughughugh.
Anyone know where I could go to find out then? It isn’t an issue with biting I’m worried about. It was more of the idea of the size of a flemish giant’s .. parts .. in comparison to a smaller rabbit’s.

[Sarita]

I’m pretty sure that at Save A Rabbit they have had a Flemish Giant and a Netherland bonded.

Certainly there is always the chance that one rabbit can injure another so I don’t think you can ever rule that out.

[BunnyLiz]

You could ask Dana Kremples (sp?) at allexperts.com. Just a thought, she might know.

[Sarita]

Well you do know that it’s not always the male mounting…the female can mount as well.

Have you gone on-line and done your research on bonding? There is alot of good information out there and articles. I recommend that you do this before you commit to a rabbit unless you are willing to keep both rabbits separate if it does not work out.

[sgregory]

yes, since i have gotten my first bun i have done loads of research into rabbits as well as bonding them. ive read a lot of the threads in the bonding section of this forum, and ive found these to have the best info because its almost always different issues that people come across. and i also definitely plan to keep them both if im not able to bond them. its my fault if they dont bond because i decided on a bun i liked out of my own preferences instead of bringing my bun on dates. and i know females also mount.. its more often than not a sign of dominance over sexual urges – although it can be sexual too – and that is why im not asking about biting, etc. that is an individual bun issue and cant be asked. the size of a flemish penis is what i am worried about. i am terribly scared that if the male mounts my female bun he will be anatomically too big and seriously hurt mumbles.

i havent been able to find out if this is a real issue and that was why i was asking.
dont worry, im not an ignorant bunny mom.

im just worried. my bun wants the affections of another bunny, i know because she tries to groom and get groomed by my cat. i dont want to not try to bond them because of a silly fear if it turns out not to be based on fact.

[KatnipCrzy]

There is not a good way to put this delicately- but often with mounting- especially in a neutered male pet there is rarely penetration- just the mounting behavior.  I think that the female would have to be cooperative for the male to be able to enter her- I don’t think he would have much of a chance with a moving partner that is unwilling to “stand”- as mating females I believe lift their tails and instinct tells them to position for mating.  And a Mini Lop can deliver kits that are larger than a Flemish Giant’s private parts.  A neutered male could technically penetrate- but without the hormonal drive to mate and an unwilling partner- I would think mounting would be more of a dominance and misguided mating behavior than a physical mating.  For example- I don’t think BinkyBunny’s Jack has ever been able to catch Vivian.  And Rucy was a smaller bunny I think- and I think he was just humping not mating most likely.

And in such a mismatched pair with the female being much smaller- the mounting/mating risk I think would rely more on possibly pregnancy and birth than the actual mating.  As the kits would be too big to deliver safely.

I know this is weird- but you might want to call your vet and ask them just to be on the safe side.

[sgregory]

oh thank you so much.. your response made me feel so much better. i had no idea that domesticated rabbits rarely penetrated. and for whatever reason never even thought that a female bunny gives birth and kits are probably bigger..
ill definitely talk to my vet as well, thank you everyone for your help.

[Beka27]

I agree with what Katnip says. My lop humps my mini rex all the time, but from what I’ve seen, he has never been erect when finished so I do think it is just the humping motions, not the… complete act.

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