Humping in Female Rabbits.

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 5sd replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 8 months ago by tanlover14.

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- 07/20/2013 at 2:56 AM
  IsabellaAndDiggersMum
  Participant
  3 posts
  I have 2 Dwarf Netherlands. Both are female. One is a little over a year old and the other is approx 15 – 16 weeks. Before we bought Bella, (our youngest), Digger, (our older bun,) had never shown aggressive behaviour (lunging and mounting etc). We moved house and built a new cage which the bunnies were introduced in. For the first 3 weeks they got on fine, no negative behaviour at all. Recently however, they have started circling and mounting each other. Digger has also bitten Bella and Bella now has small wounds on her sides.
  
  I will be getting them desexed. I have been advised that Digger can be desexed now, but Bella should be desexed once she is 5 months old.
  
  basically what I would like to know is: will getting them desexed stop the behaviour?
  
  as they mutual groom and cuddle and generally love each other, and they were fine to start with. Will they revert to this behaviour? I am happy to try anything! I just want my darling bunnies back!
  
  and how should I treat Bellas small cuts? Is there a way I can protect her from Digger?
  
  Many thanks in advance!!
- 07/20/2013 at 4:49 AM
  MoveDiagonally
  Participant
  2361 posts
  Female bunnies are notoriously territorial and humping is a display of dominance. Spaying can help reduce these behaviors but the bunnies will need to be properly bonded once they are both spayed.
  
  If they are hurting each other they should be separated.
  
  Here’s the bonding info page:
  https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx
- 07/20/2013 at 12:31 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17233 posts
  Get them spayed and then start the bonding process again. Hormones can make them aggressive with each other, so bonding isn’t going to happen if they are unspayed.
- 07/21/2013 at 3:21 PM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  I agree with LBJ10. Even if they are getting along, hormones can make things dangerous and if they have a fight, someone could get hurt. You would need to rebond after spaying anyways.
- 07/21/2013 at 4:54 PM
  hannaroo
  Participant
  317 posts
  Bunnies can hold quite a grudge so seperate now to insure they don’t fight again. If they do they.May be very reluctant to make up in the long run
- 07/21/2013 at 6:20 PM
  tanlover14
  Participant
  3617 posts
  Agree with everyone. It sounds like although your older bunny never has shown a lot of these behaviors your younger girl is coming into her hormones full blown. That is almost definitely what is causing the fighting between the two.
  
  As the others suggested, you will want to separate. Hormonal bunnies can be very dangerous to each other when fighting. Any rabbit can be but I’ve heard horror stories about bunnies that haven’t been neutered/spayed fighting and creating very bad situations. Dangerous and deadly injuries so separate for sure!
  
  Once they have been spayed, you can begin the bonding process. To help with this process you can swamp litter between the two so they remain used to the others scent and flip-flop towels for them to lay on (and get their scent on) and put the other in the others cage. This will also help keep them used to each others scent which can help making bonding easier in the future.
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