Bonding Neutered M and non spayed female?

[elliott945]

Alright, first off, these two bunnies are amazing. They are litter trained practically 100%, they don’t chew on wires, and we let Gamble roam like a dog / cat, placing him only in her cage at night.

As for Leo, we got him yesterday. He is adopted from the Humane society, and already neutered. He is 4 months old.

Gamble is rescued from one of my survival courses (one of the lucky ones to survive). She is from a meat farm and is an absolute angel.

Now, this is where the problem lies : We introduced him to her last night in the bathroom, and all was well. No fighting, no overtly dominant symptoms. It seemed, however, she immediately wanted to play tag. She would run to the bathroom, see him, have her chase him, then run away, only to return again.

She did this many times until, eventually, he mounted her, to which she tried to fight, then gave in.

(He mounted her head?)

Now, since all was going well, we let them into the living room, to which they continue playing chase, and eventually, she started honking AND thumping.

Since then, we separated them unsure if this was a ‘im rather angry’ sign, as she NEVER thumps. But she was honking too?

So, anyways, this morning we took them on a second date, moving them to our bedroom, and trying to get them to eat together. They didn’t like that, him going as far as spraying her and the wall with urine.

He DID not get physically aggressive though?

So, took turns letting them roam, and she is able to relax in the cage with him outside. However, he seems very dominating for being Neutered : rubbing up and down the cage, etc. . . 

And when he approaches Gambles cage, she jumps to either corner, but they will also periodically touch noses?

Is she just trying to play? or is she fearful of him?

I guess I’m just asking if this is all normal. We are getting a cage for him today and are deciding to let them out one at a time, and keeping the cages adjacent to one another until they are comfortable.

We just don’t want to distress our bunnies lol.

[Deleted User]

I think you’re moving really fast. you need to let him settle into his new environment and let your girl get used to the idea of a new bunny being in the house. If he’s 4 months he must not be neutered very long, in which case you need to keep them separated and not doing any dating as males can still impregnate a female for up to 1 month after their surgeries. He’s also probably adjusting to the new levels of hormones, which is called a post neuter craze. You can stress both of them out very easily by not letting them adjust.
Both bunnies should be spayed and neutered before attempting any bonding. Your male could remain “hormonally” driven while a hormonal bunny is in his presence. unfixed bunnies only have two desires, breed and fight. After having both fixed, you need to prebond for 1-2 months by swapping their items between their enclosures and swapping them between the enclosures to get them used to each others smells.

[elliott945]

I just got this now.

As of today, they are grooming one another and are very calm in eachothers presence.

We keep it to about 15-20 minute dates, and make sure there is no humping involved. (lol?)

I guess we got lucky?

[Sirius&Luna]

You might think you’ve got lucky, but this really isn’t a safe way to carry on.

Often if you start bonding a brand new bunny, they are naturally submissive because they’re in a new environment. However, a month later when they feel confident in their environment, they might decide to challenge the dominant bunny and you could have a huge fight on your hands.

It really is most sensible to pre-bond them for a month, let the new bunny settle in before attempting actual bonding.

[Sirius&Luna]

You might think you’ve got lucky, but this really isn’t a safe way to carry on.

Often if you start bonding a brand new bunny, they are naturally submissive because they’re in a new environment. However, a month later when they feel confident in their environment, they might decide to challenge the dominant bunny and you could have a huge fight on your hands.

It really is most sensible to pre-bond them for a month, let the new bunny settle in before attempting actual bonding.

[Manda]

Hi Elliot I feel your pain! I got a new bunny for Mr Buns and things looked like they were really going well and I thought maybe I would be able to bond them before she got spayed as she would grow up with him(she is 10 weeks now, he 5) but I decided to wait until she was spayed. She was doing the same thing- she would run up to him and then run away as if she was terrified and then do it again but one time she binkied as she was running away so I know it wasn’t fear. In the wild the female bunny wants to be chased and she has the male chase her to the den where they mate so that is their thought process.
I think some bunnies settle into a new environment quicker than others (Petunia took over the house day 5) but still there’s a lot going on in their little brains so I would wait AT LEAST two weeks for Leo to settle in.I think it is awesome of you that you adopted! It is so hard to be patient- I know!
About 14 years ago- my Cinni had a friend named Thumper (who was really a humper) and they fell in love at first site and I ended up getting Thumper neutered. All was fine and dandy with that but he really enjoyed humping her even months after his neuter and poor Cinni had a false pregnancy. So as soon as she recovered from that I spayed her andshe never had a false pregnancy again AND she became a much nicer bunny. My Cinni lived to be 13 years old and i swear the spay helped.
I say give some more time to get used to each other. I think it might have something to do with hormones- even if you eliminate one or the other I think it is important both rabbits are fixed. Plus it makes them live longer! Good luck

[Manda]

Hi Elliot I feel your pain! I got a new bunny for Mr Buns and things looked like they were really going well and I thought maybe I would be able to bond them before she got spayed as she would grow up with him(she is 10 weeks now, he 5) but I decided to wait until she was spayed. She was doing the same thing- she would run up to him and then run away as if she was terrified and then do it again but one time she binkied as she was running away so I know it wasn’t fear. In the wild the female bunny wants to be chased and she has the male chase her to the den where they mate so that is their thought process.
I think some bunnies settle into a new environment quicker than others (Petunia took over the house day 5) but still there’s a lot going on in their little brains so I would wait AT LEAST two weeks for Leo to settle in.I think it is awesome of you that you adopted! It is so hard to be patient- I know!
About 14 years ago- my Cinni had a friend named Thumper (who was really a humper) and they fell in love at first site and I ended up getting Thumper neutered. All was fine and dandy with that but he really enjoyed humping her even months after his neuter and poor Cinni had a false pregnancy. So as soon as she recovered from that I spayed her and she never had a false pregnancy again AND she became a much nicer bunny. My Cinni lived to be 13 years old and i swear the spay helped.
I say give some more time to get used to each other. I think it might have something to do with hormones- even if you eliminate one or the other I think it is important both rabbits are fixed. Plus it makes them live longer! Good luck

[Manda]

When you are ready there is a really great bonding instructions on House Rabbit Society- worked for me every single time and it explains a lot of behaviours you see during the bonding process

https://rabbit.org/articles/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Bonding-Bunnies-PPforrabbit.org_.pdf

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