Neutered male rabbit humps other neutered male

[Bentolove]

Hi, I’m new here so I’m not sure if this is where to post but I have two male rabbits who are both neutered. Jeffery was born back in January and was neutered in May, and Bento was born in February and Bento was neutered in August. A Couple days ago I let them see each other face to face again, a few seconds later Bento started thumping Jeffery for dominance I believe. I separated them after this happened. Jeffery didn’t seem alarmed by it but I didn’t want either of them getting hurt. I don’t know if his humping will stop eventually or if he’s always going to try to dominate Jeffery even though Bento is quite smaller than him. Should I let them try to get along again and will they end up fighting? They have gotten into a small fight once but I broke it up before any bad scratches happened. I need some more tips and ideas for bonding them, please help, I want them to be friends some day

[LongEaredLions]

Humping is a very common behavior while bonding, it is a dominance behavior—they are trying to figure out the hierarchy, so to speak. You can allow some humping, as it is how that sort things out, but if either bunny seems particularly agitated or it goes on too long you can push the top bunny gently off to the side. Do not allow either bunny to hump the others face, as this can lead to nasty bites, as you can probably imagine.
You can begin bonding by allowing them to visit in a neutral space for short periods of time, increasing the time as they get more used to each other. Stress bonding can be great—car rides, laundry basket on top of the drier, running the vaccum nearby, etc. I have a tendency to be extra careful when bonding, as i’m so scared of anybun getting hurt, but you really do have to let them sort things out (reasonably). Good luck—keep us updated.

[Author]

Messages