Submissive/Dominant bonding HELP!!

[Shelberto23]

So we have two rabbits, Peanut (2 years old, recently spayed) and Hazel (3 months old, can’t be spayed yet), both females. Well we got Hazel a month ago and have kept the rabbits separated by a baby gate in our room. We’ve kept them separated but they still have gotten to see/smell each other and we switch their spots and toys every week, and we’ve been doing this the past month we’ve had Hazel. Hazel is really sweet, really nice when it comes to us. We recently started bonding them. We bonded them in our guest bedroom, a neutral territory. Peanut, our order bun, will nip and hairs will fly and it’s scares the death out of Hazel. She gets so scared, she’ll lay down and stay there, shaking and if Peanut even gets close to her she’ll thump and run and try to nuzzle behind anything g she can. It doesn’t seem to phase Peanut. She’ll lay down around her, clean herself in the cage with her. I know her nipping is normal but Hazel does not know how to take it. We thought we could start bonding since she can’t be spayed yet. We thought they had enough separated time to get to know each other. We have tried one form of stress bonding. But Hazel is very, very submissive and will automatically get scared of Peanut, so their bonding is pretty much stress bonding for Hazel automatically. What should we do???? They have been together 3 separate days, same behavior every time. We don’t want to give any of our buns away. We know they would each like a friend.

[Sirius&Luna]

You shouldn’t start bonding until both bunnies are spayed. Peanut is probably attacking Hazel because she can tell that she’s hormonal. Hazel is probably submissive because she’s tiny and doesn’t know what to do. At some point, it’s likely that Hazel will start displaying hormonal behaviours and attack Peanut back, which could result in a nasty fight and injuries.

Please put bonding on hold until Hazel is spayed. While you’re waiting, you can continue prebonding, but I would swap more regularly than once a week. After she’s spayed, she’ll need a month to recover and for her hormones to drain, THEN you can start bonding.

Oh, and if Peanut is only recently spayed, its likely that she’s extra hormonal herself 

[Author]

Messages