Stale mate

[Bishopboo]

Hi All,

We have Bishop who is about 1. He was our primary rabbit before introducing him to Queenie (about 9 months). She came from a shelter. They did well on the first coupel introductions at the shelter. We went through many semi-neutral (Bishop believe the whole condo is his) dates to help build trust between them as well as setting up Xpens close to each, switching out their cages, feeding them together. The trust appears to be there as they both display very relaxed behaviors (grooming, eating, laying on the floor) with each other. Where we can’t seem to get past is establishing who is domiant. We’ve had them together for approximately for approximately 2.5 weeks. Theyve managed to spemd hours (up to 6) together. However, they will talk with each other and both lower their heads requesting groom and Bishop may nip at her but she will typically stand her ground or just move away a bit. Bishop is the primary aggressor. He will nip and chase but it is very brief. She has never tried to nip him. What is most surprising to me and my husband is that neither one of them will try mounting thw other. Its just alot of faces together or Bishop nipping.

Anyone have success in bonding two rabbits that never mounted? Or anyone have suggestion or strategies to move forward?

We have tried various spaces in our condo and all see to go about the same where he nips and shes just very interested him bit no one is initiating mounting. We’ve tried smallwr spaces and larger spaces. But we just feel like we are at a stale mate because neither one of them will mount the other.

A little history about Bishop. We had him bonded with another female; however she died suddenly from GI complications. Their bonding was very easy and she was the forst to groom Bishop bit she was also the first to mount Bishop.

Thanks in advance!

[Sirius&Luna]

I don’t think they need to mount to establish dominance.
My male rabbit mounted my female rabbit once while they were bonding, she nipped him and that was that. I have seen him mount a couple of times SINCE they were bonded, but I’m pretty sure he’s not the dominant one, so I think its sexual rather than dominance based.

The faces together is a grooming stand off, so maybe you could try the mashing bananas on their heads to trick them into grooming each other?

I don’t think the lack of mounting is a problem, but the lack of grooming is. It’s still early days though, and it sounds like they’re relaxed around each other, so I think they just need a bit more of a push. Can you leave them together for longer than the 6 hours or overnight? (supervised)

[Author]

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