Yet another bonding thread! sorry.

I'm currently in the process of bonding the bunnies, they have had a couple of 'dates' on neutral territory and it seems promising.

A little humping and light nipping but other than that they are pretty indifferent to each other.

My question is, they keep offering each other there heads for grooming obviously neither of them want to give in. I know my bun bun needs to be the dominant one and she was in her last pair so how can i get him to submit and groom her head?!
She's given him a little groom and keeps approaching him, giving a gentle thump and offering her head.

I've researched fully and have searched many threads looking for a similar situation but cant find anything to help me.

Can anyone offer some reassurance/advice?

Should i be leaving them too it or trying to intervene to encourage the bonding?

I would say just be patient They need to figure it out themselves because if you intervene you might get it wrong which might make it less likely to succeed. Hopefully they will figure it out soon and be happy together

thank you, siince i posted that he's started grooming her but then doing alot of quite rough fur pulling and humping but she's sitting still and accepting it to a point, when it gets a bit much she moves away and i stop him at that point (is that correct?) so maybe im wrong and she will be the submissive ?

Yep that sounds about right, sounds as if it's all positive behaviour along the lines of what I'd expect I'd do what you are - let them hump but when the signs are that the bun being humped is getting fed up with it, gently lift humpy bun off and distract with some fresh hay or a little scattering of food. You can sometimes encourage grooming by putting a bit of something tasty on their heads, so something like a bit of mashed banana, or a little smear of some fruit baby food (apple, apple and pear, pear and banana, that sort of thing). That way, they lean across to lick the food off and then it can carry on with a groom, or at least the other bun thinks that it is being groomed! As with all things, you do need to exercise care, though. Sometimes an over enthusiastic eater can accidentally tug at the fur while they're eating and that upset the other bun instead. If things are going fairly normally, which they seem to be, then I would hold fire on something like this for now and let them sort it in their own time.

I find that dominance in buns only really exerts itself during bonding, and the level of dominance of a bun from one bond to another can vary as the dynamics of each pairing varies so much, so personally I wouldn't get too hung up on hierarchy...the dominance issue only tends to become a problem if they're both trying to assert their dominance and neither will back down!

i've just seperated them as he humped her head which is stopped straight away but i think she's nipped his penis off to the vets i go

Oh no! Naughty bunnies, hope he's ok, I should imagine a bite there would be pretty sore!

sooo i had to take a break from bonding because of minor penis injuries!

So in the past week they've had about 30mins of contact with each other through a stair gate and swapping into each others areas a couple of times too.

Today i've got my dogs crate up in the living room, lined with newspaper and hay and have chucked them both in.....

SO far so good in that theres been no humping which is important as sammy's penis has only just stopped being red! theres no fighting/thumping at each other nothing..... theres been a little bit of grooming and they have sat together but thats all.....so is this indifference to each other good or bad?

just as i've wrote this sammy's started approaching bun bun with a little thump now and then........


ETA - god i've actually cursed it! he now is attempting to hump constantly!

Will they be able to sort dominance if i dont allow any humping at all?

ok so hopefully someone can advise me as i always move things to fast and it goes wrong...
Current set up is living in same room, with a dog crate in. One of them is in the dog crate all day and the other running round the room then i swap them round so they both get around 12 hours in the room and 12 hours in the crate. They choose to sit next to each other by the bars most the time and groom through the bars. SO one of my questions is do i need to neutrilise everything before trying them in the room together as techincally both there scents should be in there so neither should see it as 'their' room or is my theory wrong??

I've been dating them in the bath for the past few days with just a small bath mat to sit on and so far theres not been a single problem, no humping or nipping and i've had them in there for around 1 hour 30mins max as i just dont have the time to sit in here with them for any longer and i daren't leave them alone even for a split second. They flop next to each other and do a little grooming and eat hay from the same pile. sooooo do i dare try them in there room (obviously on a day where i can be here all day and night)? or should i wait and keep dating a little longer?

thank you for any replies!

I would advise against using the room they have free ranged in, as it is not neutral territory if either of them have been free ranging in it. They will both view it as their territory which can actually be worse than if it is one or the other's! If you daren't leave them alone while bonding for 1.5 hours in the bathroom then it's definitely a no-no to let them out in the lounge at this stage.

It sounds as if they have been getting on well but you really do need to find some time where you can spend a whole day (and ideally night) with them in the same space. Often they will lay about together for short periods of time but you are likely to find that it will change and get to humping etc possibly after several hours. You could use a neutral pen set up in that room (e.g. cardboard over the floor of the pen to disguise the familiar smells) which would be better than the room itself, but it really does need to be somewhere else until you're absolutely certain that they are fully bonded, which can't be guaranteed at the moment if they've only had short periods of time together.

I've had this exact problem before only my two were males and I thought it was only a male issue. Well for the two boys it was very bad the fighting escalated till complete separation and then neutering the most aggressive. But for a mixed couple you may not want to go for that option? Or perhaps there's ways around it. But you've got to be careful to watch very closely when they're together. NEVER let them pull out each others fur this can cause quite nasty injuries and upset but also it's an act of dominance that must be quelled. Also if you see whisker biting that'll lead to a fight make sure they don't do that it's very much about dominance and the one will the shorter whiskers is considered 'lesser' in bunny land.

This I found before on the internet doing research to bonding my 2 boys and I found it worked amazingly but some people might not like this: bring them on a drive together, they huddle together for protection from the motion and the effect sticks. I'd read this but was unsure of trying it until they needed to go on a trip at very short notice and it was a short distance. Also if it's to a close by new place (as i brought them to a friend's house while mine had a viewing) they won't be territorial in the same way as at home and pull together for reassurance even though it was only about an hour. I was actually shocked on how more acceptable they were with each other once they got home.

Thank you for your replies. All food for thought.

I can let them together on the bathroom floor which i generally do for a short while after being in the bath, but its got a few corners (like beside loo) that i cant block off and i dont want one of them pinned in a corner so i still have to sit with them and block that off myself.

When i say i daren't leave them its not because they are showing any signs of aggression just because i know it can all change in an instant and neither of them where tolerating any humping what so ever last week so i had to be there to stop it instantly (they had a mini scuffle last week after some humping hence why i daren't leave them alone) but they havent been trying too this week so maybe if they are ok for an hour or so together tomorrow on there next date i can start pottering around the house rather than sitting on the hard cold bathroom floor :lol:

We are moving house next week, i think i shall increase there date time more and more over the next few days and see what happens then when we move, as they are going into new territory i can put them straight in together.

I do know that when i put them together for good ill need atleast 24hours at home keeping an eye so dont worry i plan to do that

Santa said:

I would advise against using the room they have free ranged in, as it is not neutral territory if either of them have been free ranging in it. They will both view it as their territory which can actually be worse than if it is one or the other's! If you daren't leave them alone while bonding for 1.5 hours in the bathroom then it's definitely a no-no to let them out in the lounge at this stage.

It sounds as if they have been getting on well but you really do need to find some time where you can spend a whole day (and ideally night) with them in the same space. Often they will lay about together for short periods of time but you are likely to find that it will change and get to humping etc possibly after several hours. You could use a neutral pen set up in that room (e.g. cardboard over the floor of the pen to disguise the familiar smells) which would be better than the room itself, but it really does need to be somewhere else until you're absolutely certain that they are fully bonded, which can't be guaranteed at the moment if they've only had short periods of time together.

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thank you for clearing this up for me :thumb: its the main thing i wasn't sure about.