Bonding

[Jayumz]

So we have two rabbits. We got Jasper about six months ago and decided to get him a lady friend. She got spayed a week and a half ago and she’s been in the house, same room but separated for two weeks.

So we just had our first attempt at bonding. Jasper tried to mount her a lot and they ended up sliding around on some mat that we put down, we then took up up. So it was just Jasper periodically mounting her, sometimes she’d struggle, sometimes not. After it seemed to die down, we separated them again and found two clumps of hair from the lady on the ground, but no bite marks.

So what does this mean? Do we try again tomorrow? Do we leave it longer?

Thanks,
James

[sarahthegemini]

Wait longer. Your girl needs more than a week and a half to recover from the surgery. Try again in a few weeks to a month. Has Jasper been neutered?

[Jayumz]

He has yes.
The vet said she’d be fine in a week, so we did it a little bit after that.
But are those signs normal? I did a load of reading there and it seems like the first meeting went okay

[Jayumz]

He has yes.
The vet said she’d be fine in a week, so we did it a little bit after that.
But are those signs normal? I did a load of reading there and it seems like the first meeting went okay

[Wascally Wabbits]

You’re supposed to wait 4-6 weeks. The vet probably meant you only need to limit her movement significantly for one week. Spay is a big surgery and a lot of soft tissues need to heal. Also her hormones will take a few weeks to subside. They can get acquainted through a double fence in the mean time.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Jayumz on 1/24/2017 2:24 PM

He has yes.
The vet said she’d be fine in a week, so we did it a little bit after that.
But are those signs normal? I did a load of reading there and it seems like the first meeting went okay

That’s a little concerning – I was advised to limit my girl’s movement for the first 5 days then after her check up he said I could increase her space a little but still keep her somewhat confined (she’s normally free roam) for a further 5 days. We didn’t start bonding her to my little boy until about 6 weeks after (he was neutered a week and and half after my girl)

 

You’ve got to remember that her insides need to recover too, it’s big surgery. Her hormones need to settle too. Bonding can also be very stressful and you don’t want to stress her out as she’s healing. Plus your boy mounting your girl could hurt her or damage her if he is particularly erm firm about it. 

Mounting is a totally normal sign when bonding but given your current situation, it could be harmful to your little girl.

[Mikey]

Also adding that fur pulling is not ok. It can lead to flakey, dry, irritated and/or scabbed skin. Rabbits skin is very thin so fur pulling can easily become a problem. I would keep them apart atleast a month like the others stated, and see how it goes after that. If your boy is still pulling fur after that, youll have to find out why so you can stop it

[Author]

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