After some bonding feedback!

[megsandadam]

Hi Guys,

We have a desexed 2 year old male dwarf lop called Miffy. His sister sadly passed away last summer. It's been a year since she passed and we have in the last couple of days acquired a 9 week old female dwarf lop called Thumper .

After much research we just had a bonding attempt in the bathroom and was hoping for some feedback on their behaviour.

Initially they ignored each other and Miffy just flopped down on the tiles. After a while he went up and sniffed around. All looked like it was going well. He then attempted to mount Thumper a number of times, and Thumper hid behind the washing basket, kind of frozen still.

Then Thumper came out and Miffy then thumped his hind feet at Thumper and tried again to mount her.

Near the end, Miffy tried to chase Thumper a few times and mount her. Often he tried to mount her face. Each time I seperated them (with a blanket over my arms).

Now, I'm new to the whole bonding thing, and I assume that Miffy is trying to assert dominance over Thumper. My questions are:

- Is this a bad thing, Miffy trying to mount Thumper, and Miffy thumping his hind feet.

- Is Thumper to young to be a bonded mate for Miffy? Should I wait until Thumper is older, and able to be spayed and try again? It concerns me that Thumper is little, and that the mounting attempts may hurt her.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Megs

 

[Tweetiepy]

Here's what I read: you can bond a young rabbit to an older one, but there is a chance that once the younger one reaches adolescence, she'll get territorial and the fighting will start. I read that it's best to wait until they are both fixed to try to bond them successfully and for the long term.
I'm in the waiting phase until I can get my younger one fixed to try to bond them. Right now their cages and run areas are within sniffing distance but not within touching distance.

Maybe more experienced folks can help more. Good luck

 

[elrohwen]

The humping and chasing is a totally normal behavior for two rabbits who are in the bonding process.

However, I do think Thumper is too young for this. She will go through puberty and cause issues (most females are dominant in the relationship, so she might decide she wants to change up the hierarchy as the gets older). I would wait until she is older and spayed before introducing them.