Help! Bonding troubles !

[Kijotenshi]

Hi
I am new to owning bunnies and am a little scared of what's happening. Want to know if this is normal or some major warning signs.

We adopted a bunny about two months ago. He's a happy male that is neutered. We begin reading that a companion can make him live longer and happier so we went to find him a friend. We find a spayed female and introduced them. At first he was scared but they were curious about each other. After a little scruffle, he pinned her head to the ground. Since then, she always lowers her head around him. She will freeze for minutes at a time, her head pressed lowly to the ground in his presences. Usually he just leaves and she resumes what she was doing. When we supervise things are great. They graze together, lay down in close proximity to each other etc. They are a tad jumpy and cautious but no fights happen when we are in the room. However, when it comes to night we lock them up in different sides of the room using a playpen. Every morning (3 mornings now) either she jumps the playpen( we think that's how she gets over to his side ) to him or if we release them, they fight. Handfuls of fur go flying, mostly his. We are confused if this means they don't like each other considering normally they are okay with each other. should we give up on the female ? We don't want either to get hurt. Should we be patient ? Any advice would be wonderful !
thanks in advanced

 

[Aki]

I don't know if you get this, but the female lowering her head is not a submissive behavior at all. She is asking him to groom her head, which is asking for a sign of allegiance. Besides, she is right: in the rabbit world, females are generally more territorial and dominant and warrens are normally organized in matriarchies. The problem is that he is not complying. This is not necessarily a problem - my female is really dominant and her consort is kinda lazy (he hates licking fur, even his own) so they fought a bit until he decided to give in by just giving a perfunctory quick lick once in a while and she settled for it. They get along really well now, but the first 3 months were difficult ^^.
If think that you have a problem of territory, which you created. By separating them and having parts of the room which are theirs separately during the night you are provoking a turf war. You NEVER give part of the territory to single rabbits on the territory you want them to share because they will feel compelled to protect and conquer. A shared territory should be a NEUTRAL territory (by that I mean a territory with no smell, that you vaccuumed thoroughly, spraying perfume might help too and giving strong smelling vegetables like celery) where the bunnies are released simultaneously. The thing is : the rabbits are clearly establishing the beginning of a hierarchy and sharing a territory during the day, but you are re-setting the thing every night. I would take the rabbits out of the room, take off the playpens and clean everything until it's neutral and set things up the way you want them to be in the future. then, you put the rabbits together with food in another territory, like the bathroom, to 'introduce' them to each other. If they get along, you put them TOGETHER in a carrier and release them together in their room. Make sure there is no place in the room where one of the rabbit will be able to corner the other. And then, you leave them be. Your female will probably end up top rabbit. If fur flies a bit, it's fine. A bit of humping is fine too. If they get along, you just leave them together for the night (I don't know how your flat / house is but just leave the door open, blocking the bottom part so you will be able to hear if there is a big commotion... or sleep close by). Of course, if a major fight occurs, separate them, but if not you have to let them settle their matters between themselves. Just... be generous with the good food for a while and give them two big cardboard boxes with one hole a wall so that they can isolate themselves if they want to. Seriously, I think it should be fine - the fact that they are cohabiting during the day is the sign that the territory is the problem, not the fact that they don't like each other.

 

[stevesmum]

Don't let others be too hard on you. She is putting her head down to demand he groom her. The fur pulling and fighting happens because one ends up in the other's territory. Bunnies are often very territorial. So somehow you have to stop the escape artist. Also, something I read recently says the single most important thing you can do is switch them in their enclosures every night, even if you don't do a date that day. That way they get used to each other's smell and it's supposed to reduce the territoriality. If you want to read the whole thing it's here: http://rabbit.org/articles/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Bonding-Bunnies-PPforrabbit.org_.pdf

 

[Blue eyes]

Fur flying is never a good thing. If it has been too serious of a fight, they may need to separate completely for a couple weeks and the process start anew.

If chunks of fur are being found, that is not a good thing. I'd be very wary. Territory really is a big deal when it comes to rabbits. It is so important to have neutral territory for bonding. It is also important that the area that you eventually want them to share be as neutral as possible also. This means re-arranging, cleaning, and changing that area to make it as unfamiliar and "new" as possible for when the time comes to let them there together permanently. Until that time, they should be somewhere else and doing their bonding sessions in a different neutral location.

Oh, and I agree that this female wants to be dominant (demanding grooming by lowering her head -- that's what the top bun does). The male is also trying to be top bun by his actions. Hopefully one will submit. (Though it is true that not all bunnies will bond.) Keep the rescue you got her from informed in case an exchange needs to be made.