Submissive Suddenly Turning Dominant WHILE Bonded?

[Yield]

So, Solara and Sabriel had been doing fine. Living together, everything. Solara has been the submissive one from the very beginning of the bonding sessions.

Sabriel had started chasing Solara this morning and so I seperated them for a little while.

Well... I was holding Sabriel, and as soon as I put him in the cage, Solara started sniffing the arch of his back.. I didn't suspect anything cause she has groomed him there before.. BUT SHE STARTED HUMPING HIM.

She has not once ever even ATTEMPTED to hump him. I pulled her off after a few seconds, and then seperated them for the moment.

What do I do? Does this mean we have to go back to bonding sessions? I'm definitely not having them sleep together at night anymore because they chase each other so much...

Ugh. It was going so well and now this.

 

[kirbyultra]

It doesn't sound like Solara and Sabriel have 100% worked out their dominance issues. She may have been annoyed and is now defending herself and acting out. I would step it back to long bonding sessions under supervision. If they are not *fighting*, it might be ok to let them be overnight, but see how they feel after a day or two of supervision. There are pairs where both buns hump each other with the "submissive" one simply doing it as a defense mechanism and say "hey, stop picking on me". Sabriel was quite the persistent humper wasn't he? Maybe she is bothered.

 

[tonyshuman]

My Muffin used to be submissive, but now both humps Tony and grooms him, and Tony grooms her too. It wasn't a sudden change, though. I say let her hump him if she wants unless it causes a fight. I agree with what Helen said too, though.

 

[elrohwen]

This happened to me exactly. My boy never humped my girl during bonding sessions, but as soon as I moved them in together he started humping her every day. It took them a month to figure out who was dominant (my girl ended up winning that battle - not sure what Otto was thinking when he decided he was dominant ;-) )

The chasing is also normal and my guys are still working that part out. After a few weeks of living together, Hannah chased Otto to the point where he turned around and tried to bite her to get her to stop. They ended up having a few scuffles - no injuries, but definitely working up to a larger fight.

Putting my two in small cage at night has eliminated the chasing that caused a few fights. I hate putting them in a 3.5'x1.5' cage at night, but I figure they have so much room during the day that they'll be fine. There isn't enough room in that cage for my girl to chase, so they are peaceful. It's been 2 months living together, and about a month since the last fight and we're just now considering moving them to a bigger cage at night 4'x2', then moving them into the whole pen. The end of bonding sessions doesn't necessarily mean they are "bonded" and a new bond can go through phases over the next few months while they really solidify things. Sometimes this means extra supervision, especially during their active times of the day.

I would recommend you keep them together at night if they are not fighting, even if you have to sleep on the couch, or not sleep much at all, because it's the fastest way they'll get over the hump. You can do longer bonding sessions again if that will help you get comfortable with their dynamic, but they may return to the chasing and humping once you move them in together again. Each new situation can cause new behavior. I got very little sleep for the whole first week my two moved in together, but it's worth it now.

 

[Yield]

Thank you guys for the tips. What I'm gunna do is let them play together in the pen, supervised, and let them figure out the dominance thing. They will not be sleeping together but they will have their cages close enough that they can feel like they are sleeping in the same cage, just with bars seperating them. She humped him 2 more times but now they're laying comfortably together.