Two submissive bunnies – Bonding – Please help.

[bonilla&BUB]

Hello all! 

I have been trying to bond my bunnies for 5 days now. But I think they are both submissive – it’s like neither wants to be dominant. 

I have a spayed female (5 months) and a neutered male (4 months). Every time I do bonding sessions they are very long – 2+ hours but the same things occur throughout. Thumping at the beginning, eating, flopping, and touching noses. Both put their faces down together – facing each other. Neither one has groomed or been groomed! The doe shoves her head under the males tummy but this is always ignored by him. 

There was one small fight during one bonding session, and circling on the first meet, as well as today. Very minor, and stopped immediately. 

They are happily co-existing it seems… but at the same time sort of ignoring each other. I’m stuck with what to do. Is is possible that neither bun wants to be a dominant bun? That just seems bizarre to me. 

Any suggestions of how to move forward with bonding? Is peanut butter safe for buns to initiate grooming? 

[bonilla&BUB]

Well I take that back. I lifted my male and literally placed him on top of my female… which stimulated humping..which was good but then an aggressive fight broke out. I separated them and placed them back into the bonding area and the male groomed the female’s (peanut butter smeared) face for a few seconds.

I ended the bonding session after this and will try again tomorrow.

I am sad – I hope I didn’t interfere in a negative way with their bonding process.

[Mikey]

You shouldnt have put one on top of the other. It can and will lead to fights. You also shouldnt be using peanut butter as its very hard for rabbits to digest and its really not good for them. If you want to help with making them groom one another, use no sugar added apple juice, or mashed bananas Also to note, ignoring one another is a good thing! Ignoring one another means that they trust the other not to attack them. That they feel slightly comfortable with one another around. To make them interact, put them in a smaller area (tote box, bath tub, large box, ect)

[Vienna Blue in France]

Let them go at their own speed. The only ‘way’ you should help things along is to either reduce space, add a bit of banana mash of both buns. let them decide who will be top bun. and also you can remove a bun if they are humping too much and stressing the other one out , not the case with your two at the moment.
The rest should come naturally to them. Five days is not long. Keep at it and gently and you should be fine.

[bonilla&BUB]

I’m worried about the fruit idea because they are so young (not that peanut butter was any better). I know they aren’t supposed to have fruit until 6 months – they are Holland Lops.

Thanks for the advice

[Vienna Blue in France]

Mash a pea sized amount of banana diluted down in a tiny bit water (you can have the rest! But you might have to mash a bit more than that to then get a pea sized blob for each head and side of body (I say that because that was the first ever lick of one of my buns on the other, on the side not on the head !! !! LOL) …. that’ll be a good start atleast to see if they catch on to the grooming thing…

[bonilla&BUB]

Hey Vienna Blue in France, that worked like a hot damn. Chuck, my buck licked her face for a long time. Not sure how long but it felt like ages. She loved it. Ended the bonding session shorter this time, 50 minutes. No fights today.

I really appreciate this. I will not be interfering and let them go at their own pace – it does seem like it is going well, even it takes longer than I had hoped!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Rofl !!!!!!!! Not sure what a hot damn is but it sounds good !!!! Lol

Don’t forget to put it on both buns and they’re not bonded bonded until they are BOTH doing it to each other without the presence of narna !!!

[bonilla&BUB]

Vienna, I read most of your blog from your bonding journey – did one of your buns ever end up mounting the other?

My buns have been doing really well I think and are eating, grooming (still with banana), sitting side by side, laying down 1 ft ish apart, and running towards the other if I make a loud noise. Do yours follow each other around constantly? I know I still have to wait for grooming and for them to lay down side by side, but what else could I look for that yours do? My buns haven’t been fighting so I plan on doing a marathon bond this weekend if they aren’t bonded by then.

Thank you!

[Author]

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