Bonding with a humper?

[SimplySweetness]

My darling bun was lonely so I brought her home a friend over the summer. It didnt take long for them to love each other, though BunDude did get sick a few weeks after Minis arrival… but after the vet trip, meds and some rest – she was better and I went back to bonding. BunDude is about 5 or 6 years and Mini is 4 and a half months. 

Things were going well until MIni started humping BunDude a few weeks ago! Her butt, her face… her side. I had noticed Mini trying to get Bun to groom her by sticking her nose under Buns face or side and really thought nothing of it. Then out of nowhere, humpity hump! 

Question is – do I just let Mini hump Bun and eventually get bored of it or do I keep them seperate until I can get both fixed? Do you break up humping? I have never dealt with this before so I am curious on what to do

[Mandyyy]

If you fix them the humping would probably stop… issue is if you separate them, you may have to retry to bond them and the out come could be different then when you first did it.

I would suggest you get them fixed once they are age appropriate. :/

[SimplySweetness]

I have read that females become sexually mature at 4 months, but most vets won’t fix them until they are around 6 months? I wouldn’t have long for Mini to get fixed, if that was the case.

My older bun is well over that age but we never had a reason to get her fixed, since she was the only rabbit at the time and she is always so gentle and loving that i’d honestly feel bad. That and she would need an exam to make sure she is healthy enough for surgery :/

[LoveChaCha]

Is your male fixed?

I have a single gal, and she is almost 2, and is fixed. Getting females fixed is a must need – due to the high % of reproductive cancer. My bun is actually a lot more calm after she was spayed

The reason that a vet prefers having an exam before the spay is to make sure there are no health issues prior to surgery. Many buns have been successfully spayed without issues – the key is a good rabbit savvy vet.

[Monkeybun]

Separate them until BOTH are fixed + a month after that. Too risky otherwise, both for health reasons,a nd the fact that often, bunnies are misgendered, by breeders, pet stores, and sometimes even vets. Don’t risk babies! And even if they are both female, girls can be extremely territorial, and hormones make it even harder. Not worth the potential vet bills and injuries.

[SimplySweetness]

 As far as I know they’re both female

BunDude… well we used to think she was a boy until the vet told us otherwise after she developed her dewlap!

I will more than likely make an appointment with their vet next week to see about getting them both fixed. I feel bad for my older bun when Mini mounts her face, lol.

[LoveChaCha]

I wouldn’t let your bunny mount the face.. the rabbit being humped can get angry and will bite the genital area

I would seperate them until the vet can see them.. them being together is too risky for the time being.

Unbonded / Unaltered females and males can and will fight and one or both may get hurt

[LBJ10]

I could be hormonal or it could simply be a dominance issue. So having them spayed may or may not fix the humping. I agree with the others though, it really is in your rabbits’ best interest to have them spayed.

[bunnyfriend]

I would separate them because hormones can cause sudden aggression, and definitely check to confirm their genders. Both should be fixed especially if they are girls, as LoveChaCha mentioned, the cancer rate is very high. Females are said to be the hardest to bond because of aggression, now that’s not an exact science plenty of people have had easy bonds with girls, but the risk of them getting hurt is too important.

[SimplySweetness]

Thanks, guys! I have the appointment for the physicals next week and we’ll go from there

[Bunnehs]

My bunnies live together and the male is neutered but the girl bunny isn’t. Only some days of the month she will do stuff to him but otherwise they are normal. They happily live together but I seperate them the days she does things… She is soo gross but I’m getting her spayed in December.

[Whiskey&Melvin]

the bunnies could just be working out who’s the dominant rabbit. I have a spayed female rabbit and a neutered male rabbit. When Whiskey (the female) met Melvin (the male) she sorta humped him a lot. As long as the rabbit on the bottom is ok with it, and the one on top isn’t biting it really isn’t that bad. If it goes on for a while i would sorta nudge the one on top off just because you don’t want to promote the behavior. Hope i could help!

[piperknitsRN]

Neutering really is one of the best things you can do for your rabbits, and it looks like you are making plans to do that.  When they are healed and the hormones have dissipated, you will have a better chance at bonding if there is going to be one.  Some buns just don’t “take” to each other.  Others, like mine, ignored each other on neutral territory, then fought (on non-neutral territory–my fault) but bonded relatively quickly with one another (took about a week).  My male bunny tried half-heartedly to mount Olive when he first met her at the shelter, but she wasn’t having any of that.  She mounted and humped him a few times in the “getting to know you” phase–definitely an act of dominance.  Funnily enough, she is the one who winds up grooming him most of the time now that they are bonded!  Bonding takes a lot of patience and preparation for set-backs and the “long haul.”  Mine had such a wicked fight that I thought for sure they weren’t going to bond, or it would take months.  It wasn’t smooth sailing, but it went easier than I expected.  (See my bonding thread in this forum, called “bonding bunnies”).  

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