Not in love?

Right, I have a half brother and half sister rabbits: same size, breed and age. They are both neutered and have fully recovered. They are in hutches with attaching runs side-by-side, and have been for 4 weeks now. I swap them over every few days.
For 24 evenings I put them together for an hour in neutral places, and they were fine. When I put them in a neutral hutch, they were fine. Except when they both went into the bedroom, the female shot out, with fur flying.

This is the problem: the female loves him. She's always licking him, trying to groom him, sniff him, snuggle up next to him, puting her nose under his belly and offering herself to be groomed.
The male does not care at all. He stomps and walks off in a huff, ignores her or (I swear :shock he ROLLS HIS EYES in a pathetic disgust. He has no time for her!!
There's been no mounting, no aggression, nothing.

And she is so-so-so eager to be friends with him.

She is a hyper, lively and happy bun, whereas he is a lot more laid back and down to earth. He was very in love with his sister, but unfortunetely poor, poor Deliah escaped on the one night that there was a fox in the street :'( I don't think the boy (Dino) has gotten over the loss of his sister, whereas Rosy has no such concerns and makes friends with any rabbit she meets; male, female, neutered, not-neutered...
I once had a boy + girl pair of large, both neutered lops, a young, un-neutered male dutch and a spayed Rosy hopping around the garden in complete harmony with each other! In fact, Rosy was trying to make friends with all of them despite the fact that she rejected each time :lol:
Dino is aggressive when he meets another male, but that's understandable as males fight more.

Any ideas? Do I continue introducing? Do I step it up?

thanks!

Right, I have a half brother and half sister rabbits: same size, breed and age. They are both neutered and have fully recovered. They are in hutches with attaching runs side-by-side, and have been for 4 weeks now. I swap them over every few days. For 24 evenings I put them together for an hour in neutral places, and they were fine. When I put them in a neutral hutch, they were fine. How long have they permanently been living together 24 hours a day? Until they have been together like this for at least a week without any chasing, nipping or humping they are not bonded. Date bonding or bonding side by side has to be followed by a 'proper bonding' session with someone able to supervise them for at least 48 hours, maybe longer if required. Unless they have been permanently introduced and remain together for at least a week it is not possible to say that they are bonded. Then when they are settled you need to start slowly increasing their space by a very small amount every 48 hours, if they are not settled you should not expand the space.


Except when they both went into the bedroom, the female shot out, with fur flying. Not knowing the full story behind your bonding I would guess that they are not an established bond AND have been given too much space too quickly before they have actually accepted each other, another option is that the one or both of your rabbits has been in your bedroom before and it has not been neutralised properly.

This is the problem: the female loves him. She's always licking him, trying to groom him, sniff him, snuggle up next to him, puting her nose under his belly and offering herself to be groomed.
The male does not care at all. He stomps and walks off in a huff, ignores her or (I swear :shock he ROLLS HIS EYES in a pathetic disgust. He has no time for her!!
There's been no mounting, no aggression, nothing. My interpretation would be that they are not bonded to an acceptable level.

Any ideas? Do I continue introducing? I would suggest neutralising your place, making up a pen which is about 4 x 2 foot and when you have at least 48 hours to supervise them every minute of the day bond them properly. When they are settled after about 4 days slowly increase the space into totally neutral space.

Do I step it up?
Sorry I dont understand what you are meaning

janice said:

Right, I have a half brother and half sister rabbits: same size, breed and age. They are both neutered and have fully recovered. They are in hutches with attaching runs side-by-side, and have been for 4 weeks now. I swap them over every few days. For 24 evenings I put them together for an hour in neutral places, and they were fine. When I put them in a neutral hutch, they were fine. How long have they permanently been living together 24 hours a day? Until they have been together like this for at least a week without any chasing, nipping or humping they are not bonded. Date bonding or bonding side by side has to be followed by a 'proper bonding' session with someone able to supervise them for at least 48 hours, maybe longer if required. Unless they have been permanently introduced and remain together for at least a week it is not possible to say that they are bonded. Then when they are settled you need to start slowly increasing their space by a very small amount every 48 hours, if they are not settled you should not expand the space.


Except when they both went into the bedroom, the female shot out, with fur flying. Not knowing the full story behind your bonding I would guess that they are not an established bond AND have been given too much space too quickly before they have actually accepted each other, another option is that the one or both of your rabbits has been in your bedroom before and it has not been neutralised properly.

This is the problem: the female loves him. She's always licking him, trying to groom him, sniff him, snuggle up next to him, puting her nose under his belly and offering herself to be groomed.
The male does not care at all. He stomps and walks off in a huff, ignores her or (I swear :shock he ROLLS HIS EYES in a pathetic disgust. He has no time for her!!
There's been no mounting, no aggression, nothing. My interpretation would be that they are not bonded to an acceptable level.

Any ideas? Do I continue introducing? I would suggest neutralising your place, making up a pen which is about 4 x 2 foot and when you have at least 48 hours to supervise them every minute of the day bond them properly. When they are settled after about 4 days slowly increase the space into totally neutral space.

Do I step it up?
Sorry I dont understand what you are meaning

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.
They haven't permenantly lived together for 24 hours. It was an hour to two hours every evening for 24 days.
Concerning the bedroom I meant the bedroom in the hutch. It was a top story of the hutch they would be living in, completely neutralised, with a high ceiling and two rooms: the bedroom and the living area. It was within the confined space of the bedroom that they fought.
I'll try the pen idea when the holidays start on Tuesday. We don't have that much free space inside, would an outdoor enclosure be okay?
By step it up I meant increase the lenght of the meetings.

Sorry I've never bonded rabbits before and the vet said to put them in 'bunny dates' for an hour every evening, until they were fine together, and then put them in a neutral hutch.

They haven't permenantly lived together for 24 hours. It was an hour to two hours every evening for 24 days. If your rabbits have not lived together for at least a week they are not bonded, therefore it is important before you start moving them about to bond them properly. When bonding rabbits they require stability as each time that they are moved they will end up having to re establish their hierachy, if they have not an established bond moving them / allowing them to go on non neutral territory / increasing their space too quickly can destroy the small part of the 'relationship' they have developed.

Personally I would stop putting them together for shsort dates and wait until you have adequate time to bond them in a period where you have at least 72 hours off together, then you can bond them properly.

In the meanwhile have a read of my posts in these threads and ensure that you have done the necessary preparation prior to trying to bond them together

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=275355&highlight=bonding

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=262676

I would not recommend setting a pen up outside for them unless you are prepared to spend at least 72 hours day and night next to them

It's not possible to have a pen inside, from 1 o'clock yesterday I put the rabbits in a hutch with a run by the back bay window. My mother was by the window all evening working, able to clearly see and hear the rabbits. I then stayed up until 1 in the morning, going out every hour to check on them. My mother checked on them at 6 o'clock this morning before she went out, and I am currently by the run now. The run was beneath my father's bedroom and his window is always open, so he would have heard any noises or banging in the night.
There's no fur at all in the run, they ate their meal happily together and there is minimum arguments and chasing.

Thank you for the replies: the bunnies have both been checked out by the vets, have their claws trimmed, have been neutered, etc. The hutch was neutral.

So do I now leave them together with close supervision? Would that be safe?