Humping after neuter?

[dawn & daisy]

Hiya everyone, I have two outdoor bunnies – a male and female – who are both around five-ish months old. They have both just been neutered a few days ago and are both doing amazing luckily. I’ve separated their hutch by tieing the ramps up so they get one floor each as my vet recommended they stay away from each other for a while. However, it was a very long process to bond them so I didn’t want to keep them away from each other two long in case the bonding went backwards so I decided to put them both on the grass whilst I cleaned out their hutch. As soon as they were on the floor, they ran to each other and began grooming each other but after a while my male bunny began humping my female one on both ends. A few times she ran away but she didn’t seem to mind too much and continued eating grass whilst he was on top of her lol. They’ve never humped before and in the early days of bonding, they would establish dominance by circling each other and almost fighting instead which of course I didn’t allow. I’m an experienced bunny owner for many years (both house bunnies and now, outdoor buns) but have never had bunnies that were humpers although I know it’s common. I would have assumed that the castration and spray would have got rid of any sex-frenzy that would be there but it doesn’t seem like it. Is this a sexual thing or is it to do with dominance? And would it have hurt my doe whilst she’s still recovering from her spay? Although she is running around and enjoying herself like nothing is wrong so that’s nice. Thank you!

[sarahthegemini]

Your rabbits were not bonded. They cannot be bonded til both have been spayed and neutered and hormones have disipated. They can form friendships but as soon as hormones come into play, that all goes out the windows so it’s not an actual bond.

Now, they need to be separated and then bonded properly. You need to wait at least a month for their hormones to settle, possibly longer before you start this.

Your female has had very invasive surgery. Your male humping her can possibly cause issues with her insides as she hasn’t healed yet.

Also, bunnies do not circle and fight to establish dominance. When you are bonding, do not allow this.

[dawn & daisy]

Thank you for the info. They are both rescue bunnies and although different breeds, they were raised together and so have always had a friendship. Perhaps it’s not real bonding since they didn’t have any hormones but as their ages are estimated, it was hard to decide when they hit puberty. I will obviously see how they go in terms of bonding after their recovery and continue the process. My bucks balls only dropped last week so he’s likely to be younger than I was told.

When I first got them and introduced them to the new environment slowly, they circled each other a bit and after looking at other people’s posts on this forum regarding circling, i found that this was to do with establishing dominance. They have a large hutch and joined run which they’ve shared with no problems. As soon as his balls dropped, I seperated them and they’ve remained separated until just today where I put them together only for a few minutes. As soon as he humped her, of course I separated them and put them back in the hutch.

I was only asking if it was likely to be dominance related or sex related since it’s after the neuter and not before?

[Deleted User]

I think it could be either or. He’s so soon post op, and they generally have a surge of hormones following the procedure before their hormone levels start to dwindle. So to me it’s hard to tell if his humping is hormonal or dominance.

As far as I can tell, circling is not something that should be allowed. I was under the impression that it is basically an aggressive stance that warns the other of attack. So I don’t think circling is a dominance thing, it’s more like a defending territory from intruder type thing.

You’ll need to wait a while to try bonding, as sarah said. It can take 1 month (or longer) for hormones to dissipate and they’ll need to stay separate and be prebonded, which you can start while you wait for hormones to decrease.

What cute bunnehs by the way! I have a dutch female, I just love the look of a tiny little dutch!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By dawn & daisy on 9/27/2017 7:54 AM

Thank you for the info. They are both rescue bunnies and although different breeds, they were raised together and so have always had a friendship. Perhaps it’s not real bonding since they didn’t have any hormones but as their ages are estimated, it was hard to decide when they hit puberty. I will obviously see how they go in terms of bonding after their recovery and continue the process. My bucks balls only dropped last week so he’s likely to be younger than I was told.

When I first got them and introduced them to the new environment slowly, they circled each other a bit and after looking at other people’s posts on this forum regarding circling, i found that this was to do with establishing dominance. They have a large hutch and joined run which they’ve shared with no problems. As soon as his balls dropped, I seperated them and they’ve remained separated until just today where I put them together only for a few minutes. As soon as he humped her, of course I separated them and put them back in the hutch.

I was only asking if it was likely to be dominance related or sex related since it’s after the neuter and not before?

After being neutered and spayed, some bunnies experience a sudden surge in hormones so it could be hormonal or dominance. 

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