Neutered Male Still Humping....viciously!

Hi! :wave:

Firstly, thanks to anyone who answers! I've had my rabbit Winston for about a year now, and I had him neutered about 3/4 months ago. He lives with a guinea pig (female) and they get along well, except for the occasional squabble. A bought another young male lion-head rabbit today, and the pet centre said that they would be fine together, but that he might also need to be spayed if he become boisterous in later life.

So the problem is that since I put the new lion-head into a new, bigger cage along with the Winston and the pig, Winston has been humping both of them pretty much nonstop! They are separated now (2 tier hutch) but I'm just wondering how to proceed...is it normal dominance related behavior (he's been doing the leg thumping as well) or do I need to take the new one back to the pet centre? Oh and the lionhead and the guinea pig are getting along really well.

Please remove the guinea pig as rabbits and piggies shouldn't live together for a number of reasons:
1. Piggies need a diet high in vitamin C
2. Your rabbit might hurt the piggie as rabbits tend to jump around alot.

As for your new rabbit it should have been kept seperate from your current rabbit for a few weeks incase the new rabbit has an illness.

Then when you introduce the 2 it should be done on neutral terrority and done gradually and ideally theu should both be neutered.

Please seperate all your animals and take some time to do some research about bonding them.

Thanks for the quick reply! The lion-head is only a Kit so he's too young to be neutered, and in the case of my older rabbit, it doesn't seem to have done much good anyway! Is it likely to settle down, or will they always have to be kept apart? I've done this previously (bonded young males with neutered males) and they have always bonded well and straight away, which is why I was so surprised!

I've kept rabbits and guinea pigs together for years, and never had any issue in doing this. They seem to get on better than they do with members of their own species! They both get plenty of Vitamin C (cabbage, carrots, supplement) and I feed them both Guinea Pig Muesli and Rabbit Muesli, along with Rabbit Pellets (which the guinea doesn't eat).

I agree with the above post. They shouldn't be kept together, espec if you are planning on putting another rabbit in there. Rabbit can really hurt g.pigs even if they don't mean to by flicking out there legs etc.

As for the humping rabbit, he is prob humping for dominance cos the rabbit is new and he is trying to be top boss. If you have put the new bunny in his cage he will be even more vigouris with it and may even hurt him cos he'll see it as his cage=his territory.
You MUST SEPARATE them. Wait till the second bun is old enough, have him neutered and then bond them on neuteral ground. There is loads of info about bonding on here and on the interent. Good luck

I know it used to be done, but nowadays it's advised to keep piggies separate from bunnies, as they can injure each other and need different diets, even if they appear to get on fine. The humping behaviour alone can really injure piggies

I would also separate your two boy bunnies, as the unneutered male will probably with Winston (possibly causing very bad injuries). Get the Lion-head neutered, and then reintroduce them to each other on neutral territory.

If you do a search on here about bonding you will find some great advice and also some more info about why rabbits and piggies are best not kept together.

Welcome to the forum :wave:

Another reason for separating the buns and guinea pigs is that rabbits can carry
a bacteria-bordetella bronchoseptica ,which although it doesnt normally affect rabbits can make piggies very ill and die

Thanks for all the advice everyone

Set the new lionhead up in the old cage (after a thorough scrubbing of course!) and everything is calm, thank god! He's quite a little character, though I think he was bullied at the pet centre because he has been eating a lot since I got him, and I know you're not supposed to give them too much to eat on the first day, but he's really thin

Still, I've got the worm medicine on stand-by just in case, and will have him fit and healthy (and neutered!) in no time. I'll start the bonding process after c-day, and will of course post some pics when he's a bit more settled! Now, to think of a name - I'm calling him 'squall' for the moment, after the sea-storm not the final fantasy character, because he looks like he's been blown around in a storm with all that messy hair

The pet centre shouldn't have advised you a baby male rabbit was a suitable companion for a neutered male, particularly one living with a guineapig! You are very luckily it didn't go very seriously wrong.

The humping you saw wasn't sexual behaviour is was Winston establishing the pecking order.. even neutered rabbits do this. Luckily the new male was young enough and probably nervous enough of the new surrounding not to argue. Had he decided to argue you would have had two rabbits trying to shred each other. In a confined area that can lead to serious bite injuries (eg torn ears, noses and groin injuries). They will also take out aggression on any nearby companions (like being mad and hitting the person that gets in your way instead of the person your mad at) which could have caused serious harm to your guinea pig.

Leaving aside the guinea pig and the way you introduced them, even two male rabbits introduced on neutral territory is still risky. Even when they get along they often fight later. To prevent this you would have definitely needed to neuter the new boy (before introducing them) otherwise rather than being "boisterous" the fighting I described above would have been the first sign of an issue. Imagine if that happened when your were out and not there to seperate!

The advice the pet centre should have given you was not to introduce another rabbit to a rabbit/guinea pig pairing as introductions between rabbits are much to rough to involve guinea pigs in. To consider separating the two and providing a guinea pig companion for your guinea pig and rabbit for your rabbit. And that when matching up two rabbits, the best match for a neutered male is a female.

I would suggest writing to complain to the pet centre manager for the appealing advice they gave you which could have put your pets in danger of injury.

In future it's generally best to double check any information given out when you buy a pet, some places are really good but other awful. They'll say anything to sell you something!

I'm glad you've got them separated and they are all okay

Yeah, they weren't really fighting, Winston was mounting him, but the lionhead was accepting of it, and I took the guinea pig (moogle, but she's Jewish so we call her Schmoigle ) out of the cage instantly, quickly followed by the lionhead!

Tried to get a companion guinea for moogle, but long story short, it didn't work! I got her first, in a sibling pair, but she and her sister didn't get on! Tried to slowly introduce her to another guinea pig another 2 times, but she wasn't having any of it! After much thought, I decided that I didn't want to leave her on her own, so i decided to try a rabbit, having had success with this in the past (1 rabbit and 2 guinea pigs together for 4 years, without a single injury!)

They both get on well, and the piggy has a separated area of the hutch, with an entrance that is too small for the rabbit to get into, so when he is jumping around she has somewhere to escape to. I'm well aware of the different dietary requirements, and these are both catered for. They have a large 5 x 6 x 5 ft, 2 tier hutch so the rabbit has plenty of space to run around, and there are plenty of hidey-holes for the piggy, and they both get basically free run of the living room when someone is in there to keep an eye on them!

He has never tried to mount her (until I put the new rabbit in, but this stopped as soon as I separated them, which was straight away) so he has never hurt her in this way. I appreciate that there is a chance that she may inadvertently get hurt when Winston is kicking around, but he is generally careful around her, and I decided to see if it would work out considering that it was either this, or keep her on her own for the rest of her life. They are friends, and they love grooming each other, and snuggling up together to sleep, and if anything she is the boss of him! It's quite funny to watch actually :lol: and there hasn't been injuries yet.

I'll get some pics of the 3 of them up later!

i did not know rabbits and guinee pigs cannot live together and our petshop recommended a guinee pig as a good companion for our rabbit?

You shouldn't get a guinea pig as a companion for a rabbit for a number of reasons that have allready been listed. Another rabbit is the best companion for a rabbit.