Bonding help needed!

[michelleann31]

OK, so here it goes! My hubby and I have 2 house bunnies. Our first bunny baby is Pepper, our little girl that we raised from a baby brought home @8 weeks old, is now 1 year, 3 months and we had her spayed in December of last year. She is our pride and joy,spoiled little diva! She is such a good little love bunny that we decided 2 months ago that she deserved a mate. So we went to our local animal shelter and adopted Dio, a neutered 3 year old very sweet rex male. We gave Dio about a month to settle in (set up an X-pen in our room) without any interaction with Pepper. She is a free roam bunny except for at night when she sleeps in her 2 story hutch in the living room, and we kept the door closed to our bedroom when she went into that part of the house as not to disturb Dio. After his first month, we started moving Dio’s x-pen closer to the living room and closer to Pepper’s hutch. It’s been about 7 weeks and his X-pen is now set up about 2 feet away from her hutch so they can see and smell one another. 2 weeks ago we started swapping out personal items in their cages so they could get used to each other’s scent. So since Dio has been moved to the living room we split their free range time in shifts, Pepper gets from about 9am to 3PM, then Dio gets from 3PM to about 9PM. At first when we let them out for their individual play time they would go up to one another’s cages and smell,watch, and act a little aggressive to one another for a second before the other ran off but it was never really bad. Then last week they began going up to one another’s cages while the other was in there and they now flop next to one another, stretch out and relax next to each other and they have groomed one another through the bars a few times. So my husband and I thought this was a good sign to start the bonding process. We started 3 days ago in the evening and put them in the bathtub. Pepper was kind of scared but not too bad and Dio went right up to her and started shoving his head under her body to snuggle for comfort. We pet them for a minute thinking we were off to a good start when he started trying to nip her under her side, her back legs, and by her tail. Of coarse we told Dio no, separated them by a foot or so, pet them for a minute and let them get close to one another again. They laid next to one another in the position that my hubby and I call the “bunny loaf” (because they look like a loaf of bread) for about 5 minutes while we pet them, Dio tried to nip her 2 more times that we stopped him from doing, and ended the session on a positive note after about 15 minutes total. Last night was session 2, a little longer and he only tried to nip her twice, and they first laid in the “bunny loaf” position his face near her bum and vice versa and then changed position to where they were laying side by side, faces snuggled right up to one another with no nipping and we ended it it there after about 20 minutes total so we really thought we were making good progress. Tonight’s bonding session was a totally different story! Dio was being very mean and kept trying to nip poor Pepper repeatedly on her butt, sides, and her face! She is being a very good and tolerant submissive girl, she could have retaliated but she didn’t and after he nipped her face the second time and pulled fur off her face we told him no, petted them simultaneously for about a minute, and put him back in his cage. It made me sad because he had such a mean look on his face and Pepper’s sad, shocked expression was heartbreaking, I thought we were making good progress but now I don’t know what happened and why he got so aggressive and was going after her like that. He has not tried to mount her for dominance, has not groomed her or requested she groom him. Should we do some stress bonding? What could have gone wrong? Any thoughts, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

 

[Sialia]

Hi Michelleann, I don’t have much advice since I’m still bonding my two neutered male bunnies (well, I think they’re bonded, knock on wood, but I’m not calling it that yet for a few more days so I don’t jinx it!).

I think, though, that Dio shoving his nose under Pepper was a sign of dominance, rather than wanting to get close. That kind of fits with how he’s been behaving since then.

It sounds like there have been lots of good signs (laying together, etc) and it’s just that Dio is figuring out how to behave with her. He might be working up to trying some mounting.

It also sounds like things aren’t escalating into all-out battles so you could just keep doing what you’re doing – bathtub dates with stroking them simultaneously, encouraging them to lay calmly together, separating them after very short dates so that you end on a good note, give treats during/after, etc. I don’t have any experience with nipping/biting, though, so hopefully someone else will jump in. My boys went from mounting/chasing/circling to all-out fur-flying battles, nothing in between.

I think you’re doing everything right and so don’t get discouraged. They’ve made great progress. I know how frustrating and heartbreaking it can be when things seem to be going badly (or at least, it seems to be going badly because you don’t want to see your baby stressed out).  Just stick with it and follow your gut.  They’ll work things out eventually.

[NuggetBuns]

You definitely started off on the right foot by doing all the pre-bonding steps =) If they are already grooming and flopping through the bars when they’re separated, your bonding process shouldn’t take too long. I agree with Sialia that Dio wants to be top bun and is trying to get grooms from Pepper by shoving his head under her chin. My pair used to do that all the time and neither would submit and both would become frustrated. It might seem like Dio is being mean, but he’s probably nipping her just to get her attention. Try rubbing Pepper’s favorite fruit or treat on Dio’s head (like banana or strawberry) and see if Pepper will “fake” groom him.

I always think of it as humans dating. It takes several dates to get to know and become comfortable with a stranger before you start licking them. I think you should continue bonding in the tub (like you are doing) and just wait until Pepper gets comfortable enough with him… it will happen, don’t worry.

[michelleann31]

Thank you guys so much for your responses! Good to know that this is normal behavior, and Pepper has been acting very submissive, last night my husband told Dio, “Just hurry up and mount her already, then give her kisses so you both can be out all day together!” I told him of coarse it takes time, and he knows that too, but it would be easier if Dio would just figure it out! Pepper seems very willing and ready to be his mate and to his advances, so I believe hey will get there eventually! The picture I attached below is their every day norm for the past week, they will lay like this together for at least an hour if not more, so I think we have good potential for a love match!

[michelleann31]

[Sialia]

Awww, they look so sweet. It does sound like they just need a bit of time to figure out their relationship and how to act with each other. I love your husband’s advice to Dio – “Just mount her and kiss her!”. Bun relationships are so hilarious.

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