First time bonding! Need Advice.

[Lola the Bunita]

Hi All,

I am new here, and was trying to find other bonding stories to help decode what is going on with my own pair Lola and Dexter. I have a couple of questions and I would greatly appreciate it if I could get some advice. 

Background on Lola:

She is a small but feisty white and grey spotted dwarf. I saved her from a neglectful owner. She is anxious over everything which makes her short tempered sometimes. It took us a long time, but we finally got her to trust us a bit.

Background on Dexter:

To help Lola’s anxiety, we decided to get another rabbit. We fell in love with Dexter, (who is the dark brown otter pattern bun in photo below) when we went to visit a nearby breeder, and decided to take him home. He is the sweetest and calmest bun, and will let anyone pet and love them as much as they please. 

We decided to get both the buns fixed, and it has been 3 1/2 weeks since they have returned from surgery. They are healed 100% and we received the green light from the vet to start bonding. 

We have pushed their cages together in our new apartment so that they can get used to each other’s scents. We have let them play together in a neutral area and all that seems to happen is that Dexter will try to mount Lola the whole time. Lola will run away and he will eventually corner her and she would give in, and also groom him afterwards, which makes me believe he is dominant. Today though, Lola is the one mounting Dexter and also grooming him too! He just sits there calmly and squints his eyes so i’m not really sure what that means. They aren’t mean to each other at all, and seem to be fine other then that. 

I don’t know if I should intervene any of the mounting, especially because Lola does not seem very happy about it. 

Also, today they have also been locked in a sort of “grooming stale mate” where both buns press their heads together and stay like that for a couple of minutes before the other bun gets bored and walks away. 

Please let me know of any of this is good, and if I should do anything else to help them bond! It’s only been three days, and I know it will take time, I am just new to this and want to make sure I am being the best bun parent I can be! 

Thank You

[LuckyBunny]

Mounting in rabbits, as in dogs, is often just a sign of dominance. They’re figuring out each others place and as long as they aren’t fighting mounting is perfectly natural. Mutual grooming is a good sign the bonding is going well

[flemishwhite]

About humping.

We have two Flemish sisters.  One is dominant and slightly heavier.  Notwithstanding, we have seen the submissive sister humping her dominant sister.  Both rabbits are neutered.  Actually my opinion is that I think humping among rabbits can be a sign of  friendlyness. 

The aggressive sister is definately a bully, when we give them treats, we have to separate them.  The aggressive sister will wolf down her treat and then run over and take the treat away from her sister if we don’t separate them. Actually, they love each other.  They sleep side by side almost all the time, and you can see them spending a lot of time grooming each other. 

 

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