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Bonding advise pleeeease!!!!

Kim_w

Mama Doe
Hello,
Some of you might have read on some of my other posts that I have adopted a bunny from a rescue home ( i brought her home yesterday!!)
I took my male bunny for 3 bonding sessions and everything seemed to go well, the 1st one was quite uneventful and there were sat next to each other being stroked, the second one went pretty much the same then towards the end of it she started to bonk him and he just lay there squashed down if anything a little frightned. The last one was yesterday and again everything went well and she only tried to bonk him a few times at the end of the session but stopped when we clapped.
Last night when I brought her home he was sat next to her and they were sniffing through there cage bars and when I went to work this morning I opened his cage door as usual so he could have the free run of my bedroom, when I got home from work I opened her cage to feed her and she jumped out, she had a little hop around then started eating her tea (outside her cage) he sat next to her and was sniffing her, everything seemed fine so I popped her back in her cage to end on a good note (thats what the rescue home told me to do!! I have not long put them together again in the spare room (somewhere neutral) for another bonding session they were both hopping about then all of a sudden he started trying to bonk her!! I clapped at him but he wouldnt stop so I got him off her and he kept doing it again and again!! So I got him off her (because they had both pulled a chunk of fur out of each other!!) and his willy was out, he was neuterd mid Nov. At one point I think she was about to mount him.

Were they just seeing who was boss or were they about to fight?
Should I have left them?
Rupert is currently pasing his cage with his tail up and thumping!!!

I am going to ring the rescue home tommorow for some advise but I would be very greatful for anyone on heres advise!!!
Thankyou!! :shock: :( :shock: :( :shock:
 
That's pretty normal :lol: Its mainly a dominance thing, working out who is goiing to be top bun! You can just let them get on with it really. If either tries to mount the other's head then its a good idea to take them off, but no need to separate. All just part of the process :D
 
Ill try again in the morning!! If they start mounting each other again will they eventually stop when they have sorted it out? At what point should I intervien?
Thankyou!! x :shock:
 
JUst ignore the mounting..it's a rabbity thing and all part of the process. Even after they've been bonded mounting will still happen from time to time..it's a dominance thing. But as Space girl said, it's probably a good idea to intervene if head mounting's going on in case teeth come into the equation!!
 
i would only intervene if it looked like it was going to get really nasty eg drawing blood,

the humping will stop but you have just got to let them get through it.

some people believe that when your bunnies have been together if all is calm at the end you shouldnt seperate them. if you have got a large enough neutral territory it may be best to leave them toghether for a few days just be on hand if WW3 breaks loose (which im sure it wont)
 
Kim_w said:
Ill try again in the morning!! If they start mounting each other again will they eventually stop when they have sorted it out? At what point should I intervien?
Thankyou!! x :shock:

They should eventually stop! Sometimes it will be a few minutes, sometimes it will go on for a few hours, it may just happen from time to time. But it is completely normal vonding behaviour.
When bonding it is best to leave the rabbits to get on with it as far as possible, although obviously you should observe in the early stages. If they start to chase each other and end up twisitng round and round in a circle then you should carefully break them up (make sure you are wearing thick gloves!) and the same if they try to mount each others heads! It is normal to see some chasing and nipping and a bit of fur pulling. You should only separate them if there is outright aggression or one of them becomes overly distressed. You obviously don't want anyone to get hurt.
Good luck - let us know how you get on.
 
These are a few pics I took before when they were sat together happily!!!
Thankyou for all your advice!! x

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I was lucky and took Pippa to the rescue to be bonded with MJ and it took about an hour :D On coming home he did chase her a bit to try his luck but that's calmed down now and they're happily in love.

I have read though that once bonding is underway don't seperate them as you're basically taking two steps back everytime. As it's coming up to the weekend maybe you should just put them together and as everyone says only seperate if it gets nasty. Humping, chasing etc is normal to establish dominance.
 
Im off work tommorow morning so I will just leave them to it for a bit but will stand in the corner just incase I need to referee!!! :shock:
 
Aaww, they are beautiful buns - I'm with kayjay on this one - in my experience with bonding I have found the best method is the all in method, to keep seperating them just puts steps backwards in the process. The behaviour you've described sounds normal and I'm sure if you leave them together (supervised initially obviously) you'll have a happy bonded pair of buns in no time! :D Good luck!!
 
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