Bonding/humping...ideas?

Over the weekend I bonded rescue bun Harvey with a lovely white lop Pig, went well obviously like each other and they spend lots of time grooming and snuggling...however Harvey will not stop humping Pig almost constantly at night..they are back with the owner now and it's still the same, fine during the day, hump fest overnight. She's at her wits end as she hasn't slept. They have been together since Saturday but it shows no signs of slowing down. He was neutered in July.
Any ideas on how to calm him down? At the moment Pig is taking it well but I worry she'll get fed up and go for him. I don't want to give up as they are soo sweet together the rest of the time.

Oh no I was so hoping that this would be calming down now!

Is she still sleeping in the room with them, poor woman must be so sleep deprived by now! How about something really random like buying a daylight spectrum bulb and putting it right next to them and leaving it on until late into the evening (or all night - would that be really wrong?) to see if that particular type of light subdues his humping? Car journey - although the Pig doesn't travel well, does she? Add a cuddly toy to hump? Or something totally counter-intuitive like moving them to a different base, maybe instead of feeling the need to hump if they are moved to a new territory, he might be excited enough to explore other things...risky though, I know. I'm clutching at straws really, so hopefully someone who has experienced this can shed some light...

Yeah I have suggested a car ride before bed, maybe giving them more space as wrong as it seems, if he is distracted he stops so maybe more space would give more interest for him.
I was really hoping for better news today

louise and Gus said:

Over the weekend I bonded rescue bun Harvey with a lovely white lop Pig, went well obviously like each other and they spend lots of time grooming and snuggling...however Harvey will not stop humping Pig almost constantly at night..they are back with the owner now and it's still the same, fine during the day, hump fest overnight. She's at her wits end as she hasn't slept. They have been together since Saturday but it shows no signs of slowing down. He was neutered in July.
Any ideas on how to calm him down? At the moment Pig is taking it well but I worry she'll get fed up and go for him. I don't want to give up as they are soo sweet together the rest of the time.

Click to expand...

Could the owner separate them at night and then wait for 'Spring Fever' to die down. Maybe try them together again overnight in a couple of months time.

Obviously this might result in daytime humping, but may be worth a try. At least that will give Pig a bit of peace and quiet overnight.

How old is Harvey ??





Must say the thread title gave me a much needed giggle.................

I would probably do what Jane said - I know we aren't meant to break up a bonded couple, but I think we should look at individual cases.

Assuming they are in same place 24/7 & not being shut up or moved overnight which is causing dominance issues?

Yep they are in the same cage all day/night... So frustrating as they really are happy together the rest of the time...
If tonight is no better I may suggest separating overnight :s

Harvey is a young chap, just about a year I think, pig is older, 5 or 6

louise and Gus said:

Harvey is a young chap, just about a year I think, pig is older, 5 or 6

Click to expand...

These young 'uns:roll:

Lou if she wants to give that a go and needs to borrow another cage (or perhaps some panels so they can still sit right side by side at night) I'm happy to oblige..

Probably a stupid question, but Pig is spayed I assume ??

Another thing to try is to clean Pig's scent glands. Once de-gunked apply a very very tiny amount of vaseline in the crevices of the scent glands. It is best to then keep Buns apart for an hour to let the pungent SG smell die down.

I never bond by the book so if it was me I would give them more space, lots of things to do, toys to chew, maybe a treat ball, things to keep him occupied. But feel free to completely ignore me :lol::lol:

Yeah she's spayed, will sugest that too

Hugo's There said:

I never bond by the book so if it was me I would give them more space, lots of things to do, toys to chew, maybe a treat ball, things to keep him occupied. But feel free to completely ignore me :lol::lol:

Click to expand...

Well this was what Alison and I were discussing and I think she'll try it today, distraction does stop him so more room/interest could help

louise and Gus said:

Well this was what Alison and I were discussing and I think she'll try it today, distraction does stop him so more room/interest could help

Click to expand...

I have had bunnies get "cabin fever" if kept in a bonding cage too long so I am happy to give them more space otherwise they get humpy and grumpy and start to fight and then the bond has gone before its even started. So personally i would move forward rather than backwards by separating

How are the humpalots doing now, Lou? Does it seem to be calming down?

what is their enclosure/cage/pen etc... Like? Are there things near by that would cause dominance issues? is there enough room as I found yuri humped yuki often before I expanded their pen then she calmed down after

Well we decided to break the rules a little bit as Liz was saying. Totally not reccomending this by the way, but they have been going in a run in the garden during the day and that run is then being moved inside at night, so they have more room and are being moved! Totally against all bonding advice but it seems to be helping, much better last night, even in a larger area they are choosing to sit together and lots of flopping and grooming! I think Harvey was a bit nervous inside and bored in a small space.... Hopefully this is a turning point a they clearly adore each other, pig needed a groom so was taken out briefly, Harvey kept looking for her and tried to climb out of the run to get to her

louise and Gus said:

Well we decided to break the rules a little bit? Totally not reccomending this by the way, but they have been going in a run in the garden during the day and that run is then being moved inside at night, so they have more room and are being moved! Totally against all bonding advice but it seems to be helping, much better last night, even in a larger area they are choosing to sit together and lots of flopping and grooming! I think Harvey was a bit nervous inside and bored in a small space.... Hopefully this is a turning point a they clearly adore each other, pig needed a groom so was taken out briefly, Harvey kept looking for her and tried to climb out of the run to get to her

Click to expand...

Brilliant I actually find this happens a lot. I have even bonded bunnies in massive spaces and then slowly had to reduce it down to get them able to live together in a smaller space such as a shed or playhouse!

I had to do the extra large space thing last week with Connie and Jethro to make it work. Broke all of my own rules but it did work and they are now at home and happy. They spent daytimes in the run having fun and night time in my back passage. I think they fact that they could escape from each other meant that neither was fazed by the close contact. (Connie barged her last partner to the point of splitting them up and was trying it with Jethro too, but was 90% of the time very happy and groomed each other).

And, now I am having the same thing with Stanley and his two potential wives. He has super mounted every lady I have tried him with to the point of making his winkle sore.

so this time he has two ladies to distract him. He was groomed for the first time in his 5 years of life within 5 minutes of being with the girls and they all did happy flops together, but then he gets randy and won't stop trying to bonk. Again - like your two - in the evenings.

I'm actually trying side by side to try and take away the excitement he seems to be experiencing and I think that it might be working. So tomorrow I am also going to try giving them much more space so that the girls can escape. I'm hoping it will wear him out and he'll also get bored. There has been no aggression at all so think it might be a way forward.

I shall watch with interest how it works out for Pig and partner

So, I've been using the 'large space with lots to do' method of bonding this afternoon for Stanley and it seems to have worked so far. He's had far too much to do to be bothered with his two new playmates. He has however got a licky head from both ladies now so I think that it's a done deal!

Makes me very happy.

How's it going Louise with your bonky bunny?