Hump Day!!

[Amyelizabethp]

So peanut and pumpkin have known eachother for about 48 hours now.

During their first official bonding meet in my bathroom. Peanut (my 8 month old neutered male lop,) wouldn’t quit humping pumpkins (new 10 week old girl) back, sides, face, whatever he could get to! The poor thing.

I kept them in separate pens next to eachother last night, and tried again this evening.

Not a hump in site, a lot of lying down together, they even shared their food both from peanuts bowl! I’ll keep them apart again this evening, but for now, pumpkin has been happily following peanut around the pen, copying his every move!

I’m pleased with how it’s progressing, the only thing I’m noticing is that peanut will groom pumpkin, but he then bows his head and tries to get her to groom him. 80% of the time she’s having none of it and hops off. Leaving poor peanut looking very sorry for himself, like he’s been rejected, (cue strokes and cuddles from me!)

Has anyone else noticed this with theirs?!

[JackRabbit]

I would strongly suggest you do not try to bond them until Pumpkin is spayed. Not only will you risk fights when her hormones kick in (any minute now if not already), but you are at high risk of her becoming pregnant.

[Amyelizabethp]

I did query this at the vet/pet store when I initially got her. The vet said he has known lots of bonded pairs with a neutered male and unspayed female.

I do however plan to get her spayed when she’s old enough for the pertinent health reasons!

[Kitkat]

Those are some very positive bonding signs although I agree with the others, do not bond them yet. Not because of pregnancy (since Peanut has been neutered) but because of Pumpkin’s hormones. She will begin to get extremely sexually frustrated and trust me, that’s not something you want to aggravate by poor Peanut being displayed right under her nose!

Before Bella was spayed, she was kept in a completely separate room from Nelson but even that wasn’t enough. Nelson was neutered and was none-the-wiser to Bella’s situation. Just the smell of Nelson would send Bella into fits of stomping, honking and running in circles around my feet… for hours on end. It was extremely unpleasant for her but also for me because there was nothing I could do until we got that vet’s appointment for spaying! Bonding right now or not, you will experience that behaviour from her as she matures but you can see why she shouldn’t really be paired with a handsome young stud whilst she feels that way. It will no doubt result in fights and once that happens between a bonded pair, it can be very difficult to re-bond them!

I would say wait until all hormones are out of Pumpkins system (3-4 weeks after spaying) and then attempt bonding, this way you are increasing your rate of success!

[JackRabbit]

Oops — didn’t see that he was neutered!

[MoveDiagonally]

I agree with JackRabbit. Waiting until both rabbits are altered + 4-6 weeks for hormones to die down is what’s recommended.

It looks like your female bunny is quite young. Baby bunnies usually like everyone but bonds they build when they’re young don’t often survive puberty. As she becomes more hormonal you might see more and more issues that could lead to fights. Once she’s spayed her smell will change which can lead to fighting (they don’t recognize each other) and a broken bond which can make them more difficult to re-bond. There’s more risk and no tangible benefit to bonding before both bunnies are altered.

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