Bonding two males.

[Devi]

Ok, I started bonding two neutered males yesterday. I picked a neutral area for them both.
My 2 year old lion head mix BunBun with a 5 month old lion head Cotton Puff.

Their first meeting went with a lot of sniffing each other, both circling each other to while sniffing both had their ears up and slightly forward, some mounting by cotton puff which I didn't allow to go on for more than a few seconds and it went with no signs of issue from BunBun with this, followed by grooming demands from cotton puff which BunBun ignored, more mounting from both sides again no more than a few seconds neither showing issue with it. this was once more followed by a grooming demand/request from Cotton puff which again was ignored, And at this point cotton puff decided to start chasing BunBun around the small enclosure and that is where I decided to end the meeting for the day. During all this their ears was fully up no growls, lunges or any sign I could see that was aggressive. In fact cotton puff was mad the session ended and thumped a few times in his cage, while BunBun flopped on the side of his pen closest to Cotton Puff.

I will film the next session and post it. But any feed back, tips and Advice on this session would be great.

 

[Chester_and_blueberry]

Ummm..no you're doing everything right

 

[BlazeBunnies]

Your doing great😊 good luck with them

 

[MiniLopMad]

Good luck! I had two bonded males and they were best buds! Hope all goes well for you and your buns.

 

[Chester_and_blueberry]

I also have 2 bonded males they are just inseperable ^_^

 

[Devi]

Thank you everyone.

Update on the pair.

Second session we had a little set back as cotton decided to get rough and it resulted in a small squabble but we quickly separated them before it got to bad.

The third session went much better they ignored each other besides the occasional sniff in passing and this went on for ten minutes till Cotton decided to start trying to put his head under BunBun's stomach from the side then from the front when BunBun went up to groom himself, the reason for that I have no clue if anyone knows why another rabbit would do that I would be grateful so I can understand what cotton was trying to communicate. But this resulted in bunbun trying to thump cotton so I ended the session.

 

[BlazeBunnies]

My two boys did this and everything worked out and they are inseparable. I don't really know what they are doing I'll do some research and let you know if I find anything interesting! In the 4/5 session I added a little bit of hay and or pellets on the pen and watched them eat together and they were fine with that I also have done little tests like using the litter box and toys and stuff like that😊

 

[BonnieBoyyss]

Rabbits which are both male will fight but usually only over females, IF you have not got females and one of the rabbits is still a child then it should be fine. But make sure they are both neutered and slowly introduce them. So they can get use to one another.

 

[Blue eyes]

How long has it been since the 5 month old was neutered? It can take up to 8 weeks for hormones to fully dissipate.

When a rabbit puts its head down in front of another rabbit, it is demanding to be groomed. The one doing the demanding is trying to be dominant. If the other one does not comply, then in time, one of the rabbits could get frustrated with the other and lash out. Usually once grooming starts, they are well on their way to bonding.

 

[Chester1_andblueberry]

Doing great

 

[Devi]

It's been over 8 weeks since he was neutered Blue eyes. BunBun ignores all grooming demands from Cotton, he will hop over cotton's head or just move away from him period when he demands grooming. I been thinking of putting some banana on Cotton to just jump start some grooming but I'm not sure if I should give it a shove at this stage. Cause Cotton yes is trying to be the dominate one while BunBun isn't ,but BunBun isn't accepting Cotton's dominance either.

 

[Devi]

Update: bun bun shows a lot of fear toward cotton now. Bun bun will do everything he can to stay and get away from cotton. Any advise to progress their bonding or is it a wash?