Dominance issues

[TinysMom]

I brought our lionhead babes home today and Tinywent crazy - he was doing binkies around their cage. Thebabies were doing everything they could to get out to see Tiny....so wedecided to let them out for a few minutes and see whathappened. After all, Tiny is usually so gentle - and he'sbonded himself (so it looks) with a Netherland Dwarf.....

Well - Tiny tried to "mount" the male and ... do more than just mounthim...(I'm not sure if I can say the word here). Weused a spray bottle to break it up - and the lionhead tried to get awaybut he didn't seem overly scared - just not interested.Tinyalso was interested in thefemale - but hedidn't try to um...well..anyway. He was mainly concernedabout the male.

We finally put Tiny in his cage because he was just being a pest andtrying to hold the male down bytheneck while he came up from behind.

My question is - is he simply trying to establish dominance?Should I not let him near them until AFTER he'sneutered on Friday (and healed, etc)? Or is this just fairlynormal and the little lionhead will let him know if he's upset.

Tiny wasn't trying to "hurt" him or fight him....at least the little one didn't look scared.

Anyway, Tiny is very upset now because he can't have his usual amount of playtime...

Peg

 

[Stephanie]

Mounting is usually a dominance issue and it sounds to me that's exactly what he was doing.

In the meantime, I'd keep them separate, but able to see each otherthrough cages, and to let their scents mingle in the general sharedfree space. Once he's fully healed, then you can try to bond. It willstill take a couple of weeks for his hormones to settle down, so I'dkeep a close eye out.

 

[RusselandRoxy]

my 2 males do the same thing - i'm not sure why! its probably dominance but i have to break it up anyway!

Leanne

 

[Buck Jones]

Bonding two males can be a difficult thing toaccomplish and some people believe there are some bunnies who will notbond with some other individual bunnies no matter what you maydo. Most successful bondings occur between male and female,female and female, and male and male, in that descending rank order ofsuccess.

Access more information regarding bonding by clicking of a "Cheat Sheetfor Rabbit Care" on the topics pagel and scrolling down to bondinglinks.

Buck

 

I think itstime to neuter all the males , untill youget this done your going tohave th is issue , that many males andonly one female is going tomake a nasty situation in a short periodof time .

 

[Stephanie]

If you follow the instructions in the link Bucksuggested, I'm confident you'll have success with your bunnies. I havethree rabbits all sharing the same cage, all happily bonded (two bucksand one doe).