Male humping female non-stop during bonding sessions

[edikit]

Firstly, apologies if a similar scenario has already been addressed. The search feature is currently down, so I wasn’t able to search the forums for similar topics. Anyway, on to it.

We adopted a female about two weeks ago (spayed 1/17/18) to bond with our male (neutered 5/31/18).

When we took him in for the speed-dating session, it was very clear that she was the one for him and he was the one for her. We kept her completely separated from him (but in the same general space) for about a week and have just started to try out very short bonding sessions (5-10 minutes).

He. Won’t. Stop. Humping. Her.

Everything I’ve read has advised to just let it happen and not be too “handsy” about it, unless face humping or aggression occurs. However, it doesn’t read to me like territorial humping, but rather sexual humping. He actually climaxed at one point. Also, I thought the female is generally the primary humper. She hasn’t tried humping him at all, not even once. She doesn’t seem to be too bothered by him humping her. She’ll sometimes run away, other times just lay there, but I’m a little concerned that she’s just too terrified to run away more than anything at that point. She’s quite a timid rabbit.

There hasn’t been any aggressive behavior on either side and I’ll even sometimes catch them laying next to each other when they’re separated (and she’s not hiding). She seems to already turn to him for comfort, she’ll pretty much bury herself into him in any semi-stressful situation when they’re together, so it makes me a little sad that all he wants to do is hump her and not snuggle back.

Is this okay? Do we need to wait longer before introducing them to one another unseparated? Should we try more stress bonding first before doing just the “neutral territory” bonding (we did take them for a car ride and it went really well, no humping and lots of huddling together)? If not, should I let him continue to hump her uninterrupted? Will it eventually die down? Is there any possibility that he’s still hormonal? It’s been over 2 months since his neuter, so I wouldn’t think so, but I’m not sure what to think at this point.

Thank you for any and all insight!

[Sirius&Luna]

If you’ve only had him home for a week, you’re moving very quickly.

We would advise letting the new bunny settle in for two weeks, then prebonding for a month. Prebonding is when you swap them between hutches to get them used to the scents of each other, and lose a sense of whose territory is whose. It’s a very important step in the bonding process, and makes face to face bonding easier.

I don’t really know how you can tell the difference between dominance or sexual humping… I think they would look the same. It could be that he’s trying to assert dominance because he’s very overwhelmed by the new situation. If he was neutered over two months ago he shouldn’t still be hormonal.

If he’s very humpy, you might also want to try giving him a stuffed toy, which might make him less humpy when he meets her in person.

If she’s a timid rabbit, then she probably won’t be doing any humping as its a dominance behaviour and she may not want to be the dominant bun. If you think his humping is distressing her, then push him off, but again, I suggest waiting at least a month before any more actual bonding.

[edikit]

Sorry if I wasn’t very clear about the timeline. We’ve had him for about a year. We brought her home about 2 weeks ago. For the first week we were just letting her get acclimated to the space, started prebonding during the second week, and started the bonding sessions a couple of days ago.

We’ve been following the timeline (moving a little slower even) that we were told from the woman at the shelter that we adopted her from, but now reading this, it sounds like we’re just moving everything along too quickly in general. In that case, we’ll stop the bonding sessions and go back to prebonding for a while.

I guess I don’t have any definitive reason for why I feel like it’s sexual rather than dominance. I was just under the impression that dominance humping tends to be in shorter bursts. He’s also not much of a territorial/humpy rabbit in general (we do have a stuffed toy for him, he just gives it chinnies every now and then and otherwise ignores it) and his behavior toward her has been otherwise very loving (he even licks her while humping). Also just the fact that he experienced an orgasm. Does that happen with dominance humping?

Appreciate the advice, sounds like we just need to slow things down.

[Nutmeg]

Hi! And congrats on the new addition!
I agree with S&L that, while I know you are excited, you are moving too quickly. Imagine if you got adopted from one strange place, put in to another strange place and were told that you need to start liking this guy who’s going to live with you….. and he’s going to hump you lol.

She could be acting more shy and scared and hiding right now because she’s still getting used to things… she may let him do it now, while she just sits there, but once she gets more comfortable she may stand up for her self and a fight will break out when she’s sick of it. So you could go on thinking everything is fine with them only to come home to one dead bunny – and I am not just saying that as a worse case, that is very possible.

You need to have them both comfortable in their new home before you get them comfortable with each other through pre-bonding first.

And S&L’s tip for the stuffed toy is also a great idea! Use the stuffed bunny for both of them… let the girl hang out with it for a bit to get her scent on it.. then give it to him… He humps the bunny – if its for dominance he then realizes that the other ‘bunny’ isn’t retaliating and starts to do it less, but that gets his scent on it.. then give it back to her… she realizes his smell doesn’t always mean humping too.

I’m in the middle of this myself as well. There first time face to face he instantly humped her face!

[DanaNM]

There is also a slim chance that his neuter was not completely successful…. sometimes if they miss just a few cells it can cause hormonal behavior. I think it’s pretty rare, but it might be worth discussing with your vet if the humping doesn’t calm down after more prebonding.

I’m also curious about you saying he actually achieved orgasm? This shouldn’t happen if he’s been neutered, how could you tell this happened?

I’ll also add that there can be lots of humping during early sessions. Since she isn’t fighting or retaliating, that’s a good sign. Assuming his neuter was complete, the idea is that he will eventually trust that she is submitting to him, and then he won’t feel the need to hump any more (or at least not as often).

Usually the rule with when to intervene is if the one being mounted seems overly stressed. You can push him off her, and then pet them both side by side to see if that will calm him down. If she tries to move away while he’s mounting her, stop him from chasing her.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[edikit]

Once again, I’d like to thank everyone for their responses! It sounds like I’ve just moved far too quickly and need to dial things back. I’ll try not to worry too terribly much until I’ve given both rabbits more time to settle in to the new living situation, but I’ll give our vet a call if excessive humping (or any more orgasms) occurs after they’re truly ready to start bonding.

There first time face to face he instantly humped her face!

No class!

The first date between our boy and girl was actually very sweet. They just touched noses and groomed at each other and he was very gentle toward her. But of course, this was on her territory. Everything changed when he got back to his turf.

There is also a slim chance that his neuter was not completely successful….

This is honestly what I’m afraid of. I mean, obviously she can’t get pregnant, but if he’s going to be perpetually hormonal, it’s going to make the bonding nearly impossible, and I’d hate to have to put him through another surgery.

I’m also curious about you saying he actually achieved orgasm? This shouldn’t happen if he’s been neutered, how could you tell this happened?

Well, he was humping her, then all of a sudden we heard kind of a “whoosh” noise and a grunt, and he fell/flew backward. And then he was kind of twitching his head for a moment afterward. At first I thought that he was having some kind of seizure, but I researched what a rabbit orgasm looks like and it was pretty much exactly like what I saw, head twitch and all.

[DanaNM]

Whoa crazy!

Well hopefully it calms down with time, and if not, hopefully the vet can do something about it!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Nutmeg]

hahah yup – my boy has no romance at all LOL I honestly think he was just trying to hump the first part of her he could get at. He’s stopped humping the stuffed bunny toy as much now, so I think his hormones are starting to settle after his neuter – so hopefully this will get better on my end.

I’m curious about your guy though… I mean I know a guy who has had the “snip snip” can still orgasm even when shooting blanks… But I don’t know how that translates for male bunnies.

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