Baby Bonding

[Finn&Lou]

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new here; I have consistently come here for information but this is my first post. While I have read as much as I can about bonding and am fairly confident that I understand the process, of course every situation is different and so I have some questions.

My Holland lop, Finn, who I have had for approximately 3 years and who has been neutered for almost as long, has become lonely lately. He’s been constantly trying to make friends with the cats, flopping next to them, asking for grooming, etc. I used my instincts and decided that it was finally time to get him a friend (I had been thinking about it for a while). I went to the breeder that I got Finn from, and she suggested that Finn would probably get along best with a female baby bunny. While I have read about this type of bonding and how it is wise to wait until after she is spayed to even try to bond them because of the hormonal shift that could happen, I really think that Finn needs a friend now. My plan is to keep them together for about another month and then get her spayed and start the bonding process over.

While I appreciate opinions regarding the status of her spay, and the hormonal changes that occur, I have decided to start bonding them now and will greatly appreciate responses that acknowledge the problems I am having at the moment, not in the future.

Anyway, I brought our new little lionhead girl home, she is around 10 weeks. We named her Stella. We took Finn with us to see if they would get along (but I knew it wasn’t going to be the same reaction he would have when we got her home). He basically ignored her, and they just kind of chilled. I took them both home in my lap, and  they were fine. When I got home, I started introductions. I placed a towel in the bathtub, which is neutral territory, and everything went well. At first there was a couple lungy-type things from Finn, but he got used to her presence pretty quick. By the end of the night in the tub, he was humping her, which I was told by the breeder was normal and was a sign of dominance. The next day, I put them both in a large Tupperware container beside me while I did homework, because I was sick of sitting on my ass in the bathroom all day. They cuddled and groomed each other all day and Finn was constantly flopping down next to her, which is rare for him to relax that much anywhere. I took this as a very good sign.

I moved them into a larger area (this is the 2nd full day with the two of them spending loads of time together and no problems), which was my walk-in closet, also a neutral area. It seems as though whenever they get into a larger area, where there is space to chase, Finn will chase her and try to hump her. I know this is normal, but he won’t seem to stop and she seems like she’s getting scared. If they’re in a smaller space, he’ll hump her until he’s done and then he’ll flop next to her and cuddle. My problem is bringing them into a larger space together where he chases her just to hump her. Will the humping stop? What should I do? He will also dig in her fur and I don’t want this to hurt her.

One more question I have is that they are both fine with each other inside Finn’s cage. I know it was wrong of me to try and put her in there so quick but it really went fine. He humped her a bit but he flopped over right in his own cage next to her and they were sharing food and cuddling. I don’t keep her in there when I’m not around. However, when I tried to let them both kind of run around in free space in the living room (also Finn’s territory), he got territorial and lunged at her (but didn’t bite). Other times, he would just go up and sniff her. I’m wondering why Finn isn’t territorial at all in his cage, but is so territorial outside? I think it might just have more to do with the fact that when she’s not ripping past him, he doesn’t see her as a threat but he gets worried and still doesn’t know what to think of her when she’s running. He is outside of his cage most of the time, but I’m confused as to how I’m supposed to bring the bond that they already have in the bathtub, closet, Tupperware, and cage, to the free area in the living room. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thank you!

[FrankieFlash]

First and foremost, she needs to be spayed. Even if they bond now, when she’s spayed later they could break up.

I would also wait until she’s full grown. Kinda unfair to tiny bun to be humped and there is a possibility he could hurt her.

Chasing I was told is bad and you shouldn’t allow them to do that. I would say stick to smaller areas but wait and give her time to grow up and be spayed.

[RabbitPam]

I agree with Frankie, that by having a baby you actually need to wait quite a while before they can really be bonded. I’m so sorry the breeder gave you what I believe to be mis-information. The thing is, babies do not bond, and when they get their hormones active in a few months, they become more aggressive and need to be spayed or neutered, then settled for a month afterward before a true bond can be started. It’s not impossible, but for now, I would recommend that you set up a separate habitat for your new baby and be patient for a few months while she gets settled with you in your home. Finn can smell her, but the humping is not good between them and will not establish a lasting bond for them yet.

Meanwhile, he will get used to her smell in your home. You can even get a simple plush toy to put in her cage so it takes on her smell, then let him have the toy in his space so he gets to know her smell as well without actually touching or humping her.

Get her to your vet to be clear that she’s in good health, and you can make your appointment far in advance with your vet to get her spayed as soon as the vet is willing to do it. Some vets do the procedure a lot and depending on her size and your vet’s comfort level, may do the procedure sooner than other vets. But if you need to wait until the vet sees signs of her hormones are kicking in, be open to the vet’s preference. If at all possible, schedule an appointment now.

Once you set up life with both of them separately, start reading through the bonding info. and posts here so you can be ready to start the process after she’s spayed and recovered for a month. I’m sure Finn will be happy to cooperate after that.

[BinkyBunny]

It sounds like you do understand that there can be some issues with bonding at this time, and as others have reinforced some of those concerns. But if you decide to go this route, then I do believe there have been other members who have tried what you are doing, I am don’t recall the outcome. Maybe others can chime in if they have ever done this this way before. I think that the some bunnies can definitely be very humpy regardless of age during bonding and then settle down eventually, but what might happen in your case is just as things begin to settle down, her hormones kick in which may even get a neutered bunny excited and the humping start again. Time will tell.

I think for me, one of the concerns I would have is, say they bond now, and you trust them to be alone together soon. What if things change when she reaches her sexual maturity and you are not there if things then a fight breaks out. Or are you planning on waiting to house them together?

One thing you can do to help “exhaust” Finn’s humping is get a stunt double soft animal toy, get her scent on it and when he wants to continuously mount her, then start circling him with the stunt double. The circling will kick in his instincts to mount. Hopefully he will be too exhausted mounting the toy to bother much with Stella.

Whether you decide to continue bonding now or change your mind and decide to wait but just get them familiar with each other’s presence and scent, chasing is not necessarily a bad thing in bonding. Jack would follow/slowly chase Vivian — it was more in pursuit than it was an aggressive chase to fight. Tails up, ears flat down while chasing can be a signal of aggression that you want to watch and intervene if necessary. Also, there is a circling behavior that can mean one is about to mount, but it can also mean they are about to fight — we call it the death spiral and that you need to prevent. The circling to fight allows them to grab each other with their teeth to hold on to one end and then they use their powerful feet to kick and hurt the other bunny. And with Finn being larger than Stella, you definitely don’t want that to happen.

Also, IF do decide to continue with bonding and they do bond and then she goes into have surgery, I recommend that you bring Finn to the vet when you go to pick up Stella, so that they can ride home together. She will smell “funny” from the surgery and Finn may not recognize her, but the stress bonding method ride back home may help with that, as well as get her scent on him and vice versa so she doesn’t smell funny to him anymore.

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