Bonding help needed!

[H.G.Bunnies]

I have had my (neutered/vaxed 1.3kg) male Netherland Dwarf Eugene for a year and a half now, I recently got a (spayed/vaxed 850g) female Netherland Dwarf called Dolly, as a rescue and is estimated at about a year old.

It seemed to be love at first sight for these two, only taking a week in the bonding process to the end stage of moving into a free roam area together. Two days went by with no issues at all, kisses, grooming, cuddling, flopping and binkies. However, the past week ish, my male has been obsessed with my female. He will chase her (not in an aggressive way) and then try to mount her. This results in clumps of fur being pulled out as he attempts to hold on. The poor girl looks in terrible condition and has lost a massive 32 grams in the past week. She is only a tiny girl as is and I’m worried for her health. Eugene will disrupt her feeding and drinking to try and mount her.

Is this normal or shall I be concerned? They eat together fine when he’s not fixated on her. There is absolutely no aggression in their relationship but poor Dolly looks so exhausted as she is unable to sleep when Eugene gets in the mood, to note; she does not seem too bothered about his antics and does not re tolerate in any way but will just run off when she’s fed up. This mainly occurs at night and will cuddle and flop together all day.

Please, any advise would be great. I’m not getting any sleep as their free roam area is my room and all I can hear is Eugene running around making buzzing noises after her.

[DanaNM]

I think this is likely because you moved a bit too fast in the bonding process. That much mounting isn’t normal, as it’s interfeering with her eating and drinking, etc.

Can you move them back to a neutral place and work with them a bit more there? It may also be necessary to separate them for periods of the day to allow Dolly to eat and rest.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Ah, another Nethie lover! Welcome to the forum! I’d love to see pics btw 😍

I’m bonding two Nethie mixes as well at the moment. They’re pretty excitable and we have frequent mounting here too, but we’re still bonding.

Are yours excitable too? Nethies can be so energetic, stubborn and a little nervous. Tempers can flare a bit quicker than in other breeds, from what I’ve read. This is our first time bonding Nethies, and I’ve had Nethies for 9 years now. My boyfriend has had Nethies for 19 years. I absolutely adore those little balls of sass and rabbittude!

 

Owen and Molly have been in the same room since they were here, and we separated them when we saw the first signs of puberty. They could still see and sniff each other through the bars of their hutches, and they were let out to play in turns.

They’re brother and sister and have always been together. They seemed so comfortable together that we tried quick bonding too. It was progressing really well: they were eating a salad from the same plate, cuddling together and grooming each other.

We thought that they had bonded and let them out more and more. And then one day they turned into a bunny tornado and fur flew. They were still working out the hierarchy and got into a fight over it. We had to redo the bonding process 😔

They’re in separate hutches now and there’s a pen surrounding one hutch. They can groom each other through the bars and love to flop against each other through the fence. We switch spaces every two days to make them less territorial.

We’ve done a month of hutch swapping and we’re doing bathroom bonding now. Sometimes in 2 short sessions, sometimes in longer ones. We stop when they’re both too tired to move, pet them, and bring them back to the living room to catch their breath.

The longest time they’ve been in the bathroom together was 3 hours. Owen mounts too much and does it on the wrong side most of the times. Molly throws him off if he’s on her face, and he wants to try again. We’re basically waiting for the excitement to die down and waiting for them to sort things out.

Owen is so excited that he’s doing all the things that he did before his neuter: oinking, chasing, lifting his tail. This boy’s in love! Molly likes him too, but she would like him better if he’d quit humping her face 🤣 She grooms him a lot, and she sits still when he mounts her on the proper side for once. She’s also less anxious when he’s around, and loves to snuggle up to him 🥰

Here’s a pic of my two little monsters, Molly is the slightly lighter coloured bunny in the back:

I hope that taking a step back will make your bunnies less excitable. They can be so energetic and overenthousiastic.

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