Bunny Bonding (Humping!)

[debs]

Hello,

I got a new female rabbit yesterday and she is living in a segregatedoff part of the hutch as my other male rabbit but they can still seeand sniff each other.

When I let them meet for the first time outside of the hutch in neutralground they avoided each other to start with and then my male rabbitpounced on the female and started humping her head!! Needlessto say I think she was quite taken a back by this!! I pulledthem apart but he kept going back for more. Is thisnormal?? He was only neutered 3 weeks ago, could he still behormonal?

Thanks

Debbie

 

[naturestee]

It could be hormonal, but rabbits will alsomount each other to show dominance. Keep putting them inneutral ground together, but pull him off of her after a second ortwo. I always wonder if the bottom-bunny can breathe likethat. She'll probably start letting him know that she doesn'twant that- my girl did. She was too fast to let him mount soshe would dance aside, then snuggle up against him to show him what shedid want.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

You just got the rabbit yesterday and alreadyput them together? That is not a good idea. You should keep themseparated for 2 weeks to ensure that the new female is not sick. Somediseases can show up 2 weeks later when they've had them all along andyou didn't even know it. You wouldn't want your male to get sick wouldyou? A member recently got 2 new bunnies and on the last day of their 2week quarentine, one of them started showing signs of a contagious andsomtimes deadly disease -- commonly known as Snuffles.

After that time is up, I highly suggest putting them in the hutchbeside eachother for a 1-2 week time frame to get used to eachotherreally well and then you can try putting them together in neutralterritory.

As for the humping, that's a dominance thing as stated above. But becareful, a male can still impregnate a doe up to a month after a neuter(I believe).

 

[debs]

Thanks for that information. They aren't intogether at the moment. They are in a hutch next to one another and thepet shop has had her quarantined for two weeks. We only let them outtogether for 20-30 mins of supervised play at the same time on neutralground. Should we separate them if he tries to mount her or let her tryto fend him off?

 

[debs]

Hello again

My male rabbit is still trying to mount my female one and he justdoesn't seem to be calming down. She does keep running awayfrom him but he just isn't taking the hint and keeps following heraround. Another thing he has started to do is nip her, Idon't think it is meant in a harmful way but I think she gets quiteannoyed with him doing this.

Has anyone else experienced this when putting two new rabbitstogether? I really want them to get along and stay togethereventually.

Thanks

Debs

 

[jordiwes]

Hi,I had a very similar situationwithout the nipping, but there was a lot of chasing. I got a new boyand he always wanted to hump my girl. It gradually stopped as thehormones dissipated. One thing that helped is having their cagestouching so that they can sniff each other when they are not playingtogether. Then, let the boy out for a long run before you let the girlout. This way he is tired and let inclined to chase. Give them treatstogether and try to distract them from the chase scenario.

 

[Kricket]

I'd be worried about your male. He canstill get her pregnant. Like another member said, up to 4-6weeks after a neuter they can still impregnant a female.

 

[Saffy]

Mookie and Benji have been caged side by side for the last fewweeks .. and when out for a break in the garden, their runs have beennext to one another, so they were able to sniff each other, but not getnear enough for anything else.

They "met" accidently .. when Mookie decided to try "The GreatEscape" ... Hollie went out and couldnt see her, and lo and behold,there they were, running round the garden together.

We try and put them together every few days now, watchedclosely ... and we too were quite :shock:when Mookie decidedto mount Benji !! Poor little thing had such a:shock::shock:expression on his face afterwards ... whereasall we could do was hoot with laughter! I've noticed he is verysubmissive to Mookie, though she doesnt try and dominate him, in factshe often goes up to him and dips her heard under his chin too ... butshe is definiately the dominant one ... (which makes a change, asbefore his neuter Benji was HE DEVIL himself)