Growling, grooming, and flops during bonding

[MiniMel]

1 Male Nuetered 2 years ago, Female Spayed, 4 months ago.

Housing
Currently in a small half bathroom for 24/7 bonding. Both bunnies have free-roamed their section of the house prior to bonding.

Bonding background
First bond attempt failed, male was too aggressive. I kept them separate for about 6 months with access to each other through a gate, they would often puts heads downs asking for grooming through the gate and lay next to each other.

7 days ago, I took my rabbits to my parents house to bond them in a neutral territory. It took them three days to start grooming each other with 24/7 bonding. They have been in a small half bathroom 2×4 with a litter box. I have not separated them since starting bond.

The strange thing is they both cuddle, eat around, and groom each other, but the male rabbit will continue to growl and “prepare to lunge” at the female rabbit. Then after growling he will immediately start grooming her.  The female rabbit is un-phased. She will just continue doing what she was doing, and has even flopped when he growls at her, and she just lies there like in never happened. He doesn’t hurt her, but occasionally does a quick light box, which she again, ignores and will continue to eat or lay next to him. This has been going on since day 3, and we are now on day 7. I’m not sure if I should keep them in the small space for a longer amount of time until his growling stops. It’s been so long and I feel bad that they are in a small space for so long.

Side Note: The male rabbit had a head injury when he was small (jumping off furniture, hitting his head and seizing). I’m not sure if this has affected his behavior or if this could be why he’s being strange.

I just want to know if this is normal and if I’m taking the right steps.

 

Thank you for the help!

-Mel

[GlennTheLionhead]

Hey!

So what you are describing does sound fairly normal during bonding. The male is showing a bit of aggression because he is probably feeling territorial and is not ready to accept the female entirely just yet.

Bonding can sometimes be quite difficult and take some time before the rabbit establish their hierarchy. Is it true boxing you are seeing, i.e the male up on his hind legs boxing her or is it more of swatting? Boxing as far as I know its more of a male – male behaviour but also signifys the initiation of a fight. This may not always be the case, I am not entirely sure as boxing isnt something I’ve ever dealt with during bonding personally or really heard of in domestic rabbits. If it is just swatting though that is also known in bonding and its his way of trying to establish dominance and ask to be groomed. The grooming and flopping next to eachother are very good signs!

Theres a few things you can do to help push past the stagnate period. You could try increasing the space they have a bit, this might give the female a better chance to run away if the male is bothering her, sometimes bubs just do better in bigger areas. It may also do them some good to have a break for a day or so and then resume. Bonding can be stressful for rabbits so a break could bring tensions down a bit, this shouldn’t affect their progress. Also some rabbits do better with dates rather than marathoning or a combination of both. Is it possible for them to have some long supervised dates daily for a week or so before trying to marathon? This might just help being tensions down and get the male used to the female without him becoming too stressed due to not being able to get away.

[MiniMel]

Hello! Thank you for advice!

I actually have expanded the space and it seems like the male rabbit is way less stressed. They are spending some time apart, but will lay next to each other too.

The growling has not completely stopped, and yes I think you’re right, it’s not full boxing, just swatting when he growls. A new behavior has emerged too where the female rabbit has started to chase and make attempts to mount the male. He runs away, but has not become aggressive to this.

I believe this bond will take time and I may try the longer bunny dates. I think this will be less stressful for the male since he is the one most bothered by having another rabbit around him. He bonded with my dog, and prefers him over anyone else in the house 😛

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