Recently spayed female bonding?

[Emilykatelyn]

My female bun was spayed 3 weeks ago. She is fully healed and back to her normal self. I have two other bunnies, both male rescues who are neutered. One of the males was an abandoned barn rabbit who is very skittish and has a difficult time with any human contact. My other male is quite submissive and just naturally more gentle and shy.

Today I put the female and the submissive male together in an open pen in my living room. The female wouldn’t stop chasing the male and trying to bite him/mount him. He didn’t seem to care and was just allowing her to do this although at some points he would try to get away from her and she would chase him.

Is it too soon to be bonding my female rabbit? I can’t tell if this is just how she is with the biting and mounting because she is naturally more territorial and dominant. Any tips on what my next step should be to bond these two buns? Will this pair not work if she keeps biting him and chasing him around?

[Mikey]

I would suggest waiting another week atleast before trying to bond them, just in case

After the last week, keep doing what you are doing. If you are going to bond the three as a trio, it is recommended to put them all together for all bonding sessions so they can decide who they like and who they dont, which should help with bonding as a whole as the alpha will likely stop any dominance fighting. General rules being: interrupt chasing with food or a toy, stop mounting after about 10 seconds so the bottom bun doesnt get stressed out, allow nipping but not biting for fur pulling, if they start to fight after a set amount of time dont have sessions for longer than that time for a few sessions, end all sessions on a good note by putting everyone next to one another and petting them all for about a minute

[Emilykatelyn]

Thank you! Another thing that kept happening was if she did mount the male he would thump. What warning signs should I be looking for when I do put them together so I know when to intervene?

[Emilykatelyn]

So I waited another week, and attempted to bond my submissive rabbit with my female again. The same thing keeps happening. He is very sweet to her and doesn’t bother her at all. He will go up to her and put his head down to her and not bite or mount her at all. She will allow this for a short period, especially if they are face to face but then once he turns around to do his own thing she immediately attacks him. I’m not sure if this would be considered biting or nipping. It comes off extremely aggressive, usually around his side and she pulls his fur out every time. I tried putting them together multiple times this weekend and every single time it results in her ripping out his fur. If after she rips his fur out I let them continue in the pen she just keeps doing it. He won’t bite back but he will thump and run away and then she kind of chases him for a second until I turn the vacuum on to scare them. What is the next step I should take? Right now their cages are directly across from each other and I’ve taken them for a car ride where they will snuggle and be close but then once we’re not driving anymore she will rip his hair out again. Any next step I should take?

[Mikey]

If she is pulling fur, shes bitting. Nipping is a quick little peck, so to speak

It seems to be a dominance thing. She wants to be the alpha, and she wants to be shown that she is the alpha. When he puts his head down in front of her, he is asking to be groomed, which is his way of claiming dominance over her (thankfully he doesnt care about mounting or anything worse). But, she doesnt like that. You can try to rub in a bit of apple juice onto the fur of her head, or mash in a bit of banana to the fer on her head. This should get your male to start grooming her, which will hopefully make her feel more secure in being the boss over him

The only other thing i can think of is that her hormones havent drained yet. Females can take up to six months for their hormones to fully drain from their body

Google says you can try distracting her. When she bites him and starts to pull his fur, move him away from her, pet them both for about a minute, them give them both different toys, preferably wood or cardboard

[Emilykatelyn]

Okay thank you so much for answering me! I will try that today. Should I worry about his safety when she is ripping out his hair? He’s a rex rabbit and his coat is pretty thick so far there aren’t any bald patches or broken skin but whenever she rips his fur out I pull her away from. Am I supposed to let this behavior just play out?

[Mikey]

Yes, always. They have very thin skin that can easily tear when fur is ripped out. You also have to watch for flakes coming from any future bald spots as their skin can easily dry out, and thats not good either

I would not let her continue so she doesnt get into the habit of doing it. Specially because your male is thumping, meaning that she is hurting and/or scaring him

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