Bonding with a size difference

[Kaylan]

My husband ad I recently made the decision to bond our female bun Charlie with a shelter bun Willy, whom we feel in love with when we decided to donate some bunny food. At first, I was a little skeptical – I didn’t really want to share Charlie’s love and attention…BUT the more I read, the more selfish I felt. I think pretty much everything I researched on the topic stated that bunnies live happier lives if they have somebunny to be with 24-7.

So, we adopted Willy about 3 days ago and things have been pretty good. Charlie has generally been the only aggressor, humping Willy and nipping at his ears when given the chance. I did some bunny “smooshing” to make them cuddle and that actually seemed to work a bit – Charlie went from nipping his ears to sometimes giving them kisses. 

Yesterday, Willy discovered that Charlie is a lady and has been somewhat relentless everytime we try to put them together. I’ve had Charlie since she was an itty-bitty and had her spayed around 6 months old. Willy, who is believed to be a little over a year old (same as Charlie) was only neutered a month ago on Oct. 5th. His left over hormones should be gone right? I’ve been assuming this is a dominance behavior. 

HOWEVER, my real concern is that Charlie is 6.5lbs while Willy is about 12.5lbs. I’ve heard that it doesn’t matter if you bond buns of different sizes, but I’m a little concerned that he could hurt her. Is that a possibility? His huge weight on her tiny bunny body?

She also is not very fond of him pursuing her in such a way, and is very obviously uncomfortable whenever it happens. Generally she’ll run, he’ll chase, and he’ll pin her down while he gets his business on. (SIDE NOTE: All of this happens in the bath tub). We’ve been generally intervening after about 10-20 seconds before we intervene. My BA Charlie turned into a frighted thing who just thumps, runs, and jumps into my lap (my heart!). 

Is this normal and what should we do? Do we just let it happen, or are we correct to discourage him (aka shoot him with the spray bottle)? Could this be due to left over hormones? Is this potentially dangerous due to the weight difference?

[Roberta]

Hormonal behavior can take up to six weeks to completely start to abate… I really can’t say if he will stop this behavor or not, I am about to embark on my own bonding adventure very shortly so I’ll be watching this thread with interest.

[Author]

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