Totally different this time

[Willow Lien]

I am pre-bonding (I guess) my 4 year old neutered male Wabbit and my 6 month old baby girl Butterscotch. When we lost Bellatrix, the whole plan changed. Wabbit was bonded to Bellatrix and was pretty sad after. I moved the baby (that’s what we call her) into his room and separated them with furniture and gates. She is not spayed yet.

This tremendously helped Wabbit get over losing Bellatrix. After a couple weeks I started having play dates with them. We worked up from ten minutes to an hour over a week and everything was great.

Everything is still great. They are now together without gates as long as I am home and awake. Things are really different from the Wabbit/Bellatrix experience. I don’t see any real bonding, but they sure like each other. I have seen them groom each other and laying close (about 6 inches apart) to each other. Mostly, though, they just leave each other alone. Each just seems really happy when the gates are removed. They play and eat each others’ hay and binky, etc. There has been NO humping at all. Wabbit and Bellatrix humped each other unrelentingly for weeks during bonding and never did stop. I would see one or the other do it at least once a day up until she died. Bellatrix was spayed but was always very grouchy.

At this point Wabbit and Butterscotch get mad when I put the gates back up but eventually chill out. This past week I have seen Wabbit return to himself again after losing his bondmate. I cannot tell you how happy I am. He was beginning to lose weight. They use each others’ litterbox and there are no territorial issues between sides of the room. 

The baby is set to be spayed in two weeks. She is not terribly hormonal for being unspayed. She is a mini-Rex and has a pretty sweet disposition and a LOT of energy. 

My questions:

Is no humping weird? 

How do I promote actual bonding after the baby has recovered from the spay? Wabbit and Bella pretty much bonded instantly and were constantly touching, lying next to each other, grooming, etc. I know taking them for a car ride together can help. Since they essentially already live together, do I need to do the neutral territory bonding? 

[Mikey]

“I don’t see any real bonding, but they sure like each other.”
Because shes not spayed. Rabbits in most cases can only bond if both are spayed/neutered. They will make friendships, but they wont actually bond.

After her spay, youll need to keep them apart for two months to six months. Up to six months after her spay, her body will be regulating hormones which may cause spikes and drops that will cause her to act out aggressively. You dont want them together at this point, because if she does act out hormonally, there is a high chance for fighting, and its much harder to bond if two buns have fought already.

Actual bonding will be how you said you started. Start with quick sessions and slowly increase until theyre perfectly fine living together without any signs of aggression

[Author]

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