humping during the bonding process

[Rex]

 I have been trying to bond a new bunny to my old one for almost 12 weeks now.  They are okay for about 30 minutes on dates in the kitchen.  Coffeebean is very territorial over our apartment and doesn’t want Tealeaf near his cage or  his territory (which is basically the whole thing, including me).  When we went to the adoption event to have him pick a girlfriend, he seemed to get along really well with Tealeaf, and humped her a couple times over the course of two hours. 

The first month he was very aggressive with her – apparently we did not have permission to bring her home.  He is nowhere near letting her join his living space, but he is much better on dates.  The last few weeks, Tealeaf has decided that she is tired of waiting around for Coffeebean to take charge and that she is now boss.  She has been humping him a lot and if we don’t stop her, she will do it so much he gets angry and attacks.

How much humping should we allow on dates?  I have been letting her hump him for a couple seconds, then taking her off and putting them side by side for cross petting.  Today, she just hopped back on after a few seconds, so I ended the date so Coffeebean wouldn’t pick a fight.

Also, they both request grooming from each other, but neither one wants to be the one to do it.  Is there a way I can trick them into grooming each other?   

 

[Deleted User]

I like those names you picked for them. You are on your way to getting a bond together. You can use some mashed banana and rub it on their foreheads to see if they will ‘groom’ it off of each other. If they don’t, no worries, with time they will get to grooming one another. If the denied grooming request does not lead to fighting, just let them sit it out. If there is aggressiion because of the denial to groom, you might try imitating the grooms on them using your fingers. About the humping, just continue on as you have, allow it to a certain degree: when it gets too annoying for the one rabbit, stop it.
Do you have a unit of space for them that neither of the two has been in? You must allow their new budding relationship to develop first in a neutral location, in a cementing phase, as neither bunny will likely allow the other to just invade their turf. Where have you held the dates?

[Rex]

 We give them their dates in the kitchen, on a blanket, as Coffeebean hates linoleum and never went in there on his own.  The only other place we have that is close to being neutral would be the bathtub, but it has a sliding door setup that would make it difficult to break up fights quickly.  Coffeebean seems to be okay with having her in the kitchen now, but not in any of the carpeted areas.  We are saving those for after they bond.

I will try the banana idea 

[Author]

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