will he ever stop humping her?!

Hi,
Parsnip and Honey have spent a week living side by side and have done some neutral territory dating. Honey is very keen, she keeps tucking her head under his chin and follows him round quite a bit. Parsnip had kept hopping away.

They were getting on well, a bit of grooming and no fighting, so today we put her in with him. He did not like it one bit and attacked her. So we took her out. Side by side again they were being nice, so we went back to neutral territory. Now all Parsnip will do is hump her!! Forwards or backwards,he doesn't seem to care! She runs away, he chases. If he doesn't chase she goes back to look for him. She lays down next to him and all his does is mount her again!!

Is this normal? He's nuetered. Will they become friends, or does he just want to get his leg over?!

Is she spayed? If not, you shouldn't attempt any face to face bonding until at least 6 weeks after her spay op. Also, how long has he been neutered for? It can also take 6 weeks for the male hormones to calm down.

When introducing bunnies face to face, this should be done in an area which is completely neutral to both of them. Because you placed Honey in Parsnips territory he would have seen this as an invasion of his home, hence the attacking.

I would definitely get her spayed, wait at least 6 weeks for her to heal and her hormones to calm down, then try again somewhere where neither bunny has been before.

Good luck! :wave:

I wouldn't attempt bonding until she has been spayed - if things go wrong now you may never be able to bond them.

It's normal during bonding, and if you're bonding in short bursts it is more likely to continue for longer. How often have you been putting them together in neutral territory and for how long? I would never suggest putting one bunny into the other's territory until they are firmly established as a pair and have been together 24/7 for at least a week - and even then it needs to be neutralised and changed before they go back in it.

I would suggest doing all the bonding on neutral territory until you are 100% happy with the bond, no chasing or humping, and lots of laying down and grooming for several days before neutralising and putting them into one house. Keep on putting them together and separating them again will make it take longer because they almost have to start again every time you put them together. Some bunnies are very humpy during a bond and you may need to adapt a neutral bonding pen to give the other bun somewhere to hide, but it very much depends on the dynamic and whether the humping is territorial or just dominance. My Bertram was very humpy when I bonded him with heather, it took about 10 days of them being together before it really settled down, but they never fought at all, I just needed to give her places where she could retreat and get a bit of peace from his advances, and eventually he gave up. It's important to be very vigilant though as it can easily escalate into a fight and he could get his bits badly bitten if he gets on the wrong end.