Bonding Help

[JajaS]

Hello all,

I am new here, so apologies if something like this has been answered already.

Currently trying to bond two (potentially) dominant buns. Buster (7mths, desexed) would groom Betsy (3yrs, desexed) and when he shoves his head under her chin, she would 3/5 times groom him back.

He humped her a few times on our 3rd or 4th bonding session in a new pen and bathtub which she tolerated, probably because I was petting her at the same time and only let him do it for a few seconds. Recently, during free roam, she has been skittish and running away when she feels him coming up behind her, even trying to nip at him. They have also ran in small circles today in the pen, but I stopped it before it turns into a full blown fight.

Betsy also happened to wander into Buster’s pen whilst free roaming and plopped herself in his litter tray, to my surprise he did not mind and actually joined her. Some humping there, but quickly settled next to each other when I pet them.

No stress bonding has been tried at this point in time.

Apart from that, they don’t seem to dislike each other, but I hope he would stop humping her to prevent a fight and they can free roam together peacefully. I have seen somewhere that letting them fight it out might be beneficial so they can figure out the hierarchy themselves – should I be doing this?

Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

[GlennTheLionhead]

What your buns are doing sounds normal going off my experience and other people’s on here. Seems like the bonding is going well so far!

I wouldn’t recommend letting them ‘fight’ it out, that can be very dangerous, but if what you mean is more leaving them too it, this can really help things along, as long as you are constantly supervising them, this can help them establish who’s dominant and just bond better and sort things out!

However it’s important to know when you need to intervene and when it’s best not to leave them too it, which is usually any full of fights, also don’t let them circle eachother as this can often lead to fights and don’t allow any face humping.

All bonds are different and some work well doing this, others may need a lot more very strongly supervised sessions before it’s okay to let them just get on with things without human interaction, so just watch them carefully and judge whether this seems appropriate for them!
Good luck

[Sirius&Luna]

Definitely don’t let them fight! Rabbits don’t fight to sort out hierarchy, they fight to kill and defend their territory. Hierarchy is decided by grooming and humping.

It sounds like you’re letting them free roam together, even though they’re not bonded yet? I would advise against that as rabbits can often be territorial, and it’s more likely to end in a fight.

Keep up with the bonding sessions, and don’t let them spend time together outside a neutral area until you’re confident that they’re bonded.

It sounds like chasing and humping is happening because you’ve given them too much space too quickly. Everything needs to go very slowly with bonding, as the time alone helps them to build up trust. It takes many people over a month to bond bunnies. If they’re chasing in a larger space go back to a smaller one. Or add a big pile of hay for them to share. Try different things, but keep it neutral and slowly increase the time they’re spending together.

Did you do any prebonding? It’s also good to swap them between cages to get them used to each others scents and make them less territorial.

[JajaS]

GlennTheLionhead, thanks so much for the encouragement!
It is good knowing that what they are doing are normal bun things. I will definitely keep a close supervision on them and be ready with oven mitts (fingers crossed I’ll never have to use them).

[JajaS]

Sirius&Luna, thank you for the advice. They shared pens next to each other for about 2 months (while I tried to get Betsy to trust me and gather my courage to attempt bonding them). I also constantly swap food and water bowls, and litter trays. I tried swapping cages once and they were a bit restless so I switched them back after two hours or so.

Buster humps even in the bathtub and in the neutral pen, unfortunately I thought that if I let them roam, she would have more space to get away from him in case she felt cornered in the smaller space (neither had ever free roamed before either, so all the spaces are neutral). But, I will go back to bonding the two kiddos in the neutral pen and let them free roam at separate times. Can’t bear not seeing their binkies and zoomies when they free roam :’(

[GlennTheLionhead]

Try not to worry too much about the humping at this early stage in the dates as long as you continue to discourage it when it lasts longer than a few seconds.
I’ve just recently finished bonding mine and all Glenn would do for the first two weeks of bunny dating was constantly hump Maggie, non stop and it really worried me that this meant they would never bond, but it turns out all it took was a bit of patience, carefully following the advice of others on this forum and really just letting them take everything at their own pace without being rushed by me
Unless you don’t see any improvement in the coming weeks you probably don’t need to worry just yet.

A good trick to discourage the humping or any attempted chasing is to sort of gently force them they lay down next to eachother when you see this behaviour and try squish them side by side and just pet them simultaneously, from what I’ve read it’s quite a popular method and definitely chilled mine out a little.

[Sirius&Luna]

I think the fact that they were restless when you swapped cages is why you should continue! It may well make them uncomfortable and unhappy at first, but it is worth persisting as it means they do become much less territorial. While swapping litter trays and bowls helps them get used to the smell of the other bunny, they still retain a space which is ‘theirs’.

Of course still let them free roam but you don’t want it to become a stressful time for all of you! If Buster won’t stop humping Betsy, don’t be afraid to push him off and redirect him to something else, especially if it’s distressing Betsy.

Like Glenn said, forced petting also works wonders to redirect

[Author]

Messages