Bunny Bonding Frustrations

[Sweethoneybunnies]

Hello, I am a new member to the site and I come for some advice on my two rabbits. I have a mother, Kimchi (about a 1 1/2 vet estimated) and her son, Tofu (8 months) both of them are fixed. After Tofu had started displaying signs of sexual behaviors I separated them right away. I made two pens right next to each other for a few months. I had recently started to bond them. Kimchi was a pretty submissive rabbit and all she ever asked for was a groom here or there, which Tofu would love to give. The only thing was Tofu's humping. I was working with all different techniques and came to a point were they could be in my bathroom all day and all night with no issues. I thought I was safe to put them in their new home. It was a large puppy pen in a space they had never been before. Then the humping started again. This time it felt even more aggressive. He would hump her and rip out clumps of fur when he was done. I stopped it after a few secs each time. She took it well until he started get worse with it. She kept running for him and was very shaken up. I got to a point were I got really stressed as well and knew the bunnies were picking up on it. I had moved Tofu's pen and only had Kimchi's still up. It was really late so I left Kimchi in the new pen and put Tofu in hers. I have very bad anxiety which made the event even worse. Any advice on what I should do from here?

 

[JBun]

How long ago was he neutered?

 

[Sweethoneybunnies]

Tofu was neutered over a month ago and Kimchi's been spayed since Nov.

 

[Crazybunnylady27]

Are your rabbits allowed to free roam of do they have a larger outside pen? I find that although rabbits are said to be social animals they also love their own space. Mine all have their own nighttime pens and are only happy to share a space if it's large and not their cage/hutch. Are you wanting to house them together because you are worried they'll be lonely or because of space?

 

[Sweethoneybunnies]

Are your rabbits allowed to free roam of do they have a larger outside pen? I find that although rabbits are said to be social animals they also love their own space. Mine all have their own nighttime pens and are only happy to share a space if it's large and not their cage/hutch. Are you wanting to house them together because you are worried they'll be lonely or because of space?

Yes, they get hours out at home and are in the pens when I am sleeping or at school. I want then to be in a bigger pen while I am gone and they love each others companionship most of the time. I think I'll go back to a smaller space again. I may have push them before they were ready.

 

[JBun]

You may need to wait a few more weeks before attempting bonding. It can sometimes take up to 8 weeks for those hormones to completely die down.

It could also be that he is just getting overly excited or is a very dominant rabbit. For that it's going to take constant supervision while bonding so that you can deter any excessive humping behavior. And hopefully it calms down once he's been with her long enough.

If you do short bunny dates and it seems to be causing issues with him not settling down and being fixated on humping, you may want to consider doing the fast track method where you keep them together until bonded, as this eliminates the issues that can be encountered with repeated introduction and separation that happens with the short bunny dates. Also be aware that once they seem bonded, any changes in their environment or too much space given too soon, can both spark the start up of territorial and dominant behavior. So if you bond them in one space and then move them to another space, this could spark the excessive humping behavior again.

When you attempt to start rebonding again, I think you might be better off just doing the bonding in the space that will be their permanent enclosure. That way once you get them bonded you won't have the issue of moving them to a new area sparking off the humping again. If it's a larger space, you may need to reduce that some while bonding, then gradually expand it. You just don't want to do it too quickly as a sudden increase in territory could set off the humping again.

If you haven't looked over these bonding links, I've found them to have helpful info.
https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together
http://www.saveabunny.org/rabbitcare/bonding-guide

 

[TreasuredFriend]

Another quick and easy reference page to Bunny Bonding is published by Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society. You can google Bunny Bonding Basics. Rabbit Care, mncompanionrabbit.org / Pg. 2 - Dos and Donts.

Hope this helps.

 

[Sweethoneybunnies]

Thank you all for your advice! I'll try it all out and see how it goes!