Bonding attempt

[BunBunTrio]

I just started bonding my two male rabbits and it was like love at first sight! I started them off in the bathroom which is neutral territory. They snuggle, groom and relax with each other which is great but Thumper has a humping habit and most of the time Remington is okay with it but occasionally gets annoyed. Is there anyway to help stop the humping or does it just take time?

[missmissi]

My doe humped my buck even more than he humped her! Not helpful I know, just funny, I thought

[missmissi]

My doe humped my buck even more than he humped her! Not helpful I know, just funny, I thought

[Love4Bunny]

My opinion is that it sounds like your rabbits are still working things out (as in who gets to be dominant). It took 2 months for me to feel comfortable with housing my rabbits in familiar territory, and we’re still working on some areas that I feel could be better. I think being patient is the most important thing, as well as learning to read both rabbits body language so you can prevent fights (it took me a year for my first rabbit to really trust me but was worth the effort).

Neutral territory is great, and so is the bunny love! Just don’t do what I did and prematurely introduce them into the others’ space – you will have chaos and more stress if the existing rabbit decides to become territorial (which is super common).

They have to settle the score eventually, but you want to make sure they don’t angrily chase each other, or hump the others’ face, because everything I’ve experienced and read indicates that it leads to the dark side of the force You will probably have to do some more research on solidifying/ cementing the bond between both rabbits so you can have peace of mind when leaving them alone together. They may hump occasionally after bonded but if it’s a constant thing, do stress bonding. Don’t rush the kiddo’s, and trust your intuition. When in doubt, don’t take any chances by leaving the rabbits unsupervised, because a minor delay is better than a nasty and expensive injury.

Oh, the other thing I learnt was not to give them a large living space in the beginning, until they can co-exist without getting precious over territory.

Good luck with the bonding.

[Author]

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