4am 'scuffles' in recently bonded pair

[BevBunny]

I have a bit of an issue I could do with some advice on. Theres a lot of background so this will be long, sorry.

Lavender (5 yrs old) lost ther husbun 5 weeks ago, so 3 weeks ago we took her to meet Darwin (almost 1 yr old, he'd been neutered about 3 weeks previously I think). They got on well at the rescue so they went to the bonders house for about 5 days where things went well, except on the last night, at 4am ish they had a 'scuffle' - but not an agggressive one. Basically we think that he gets amorous, mounts her, she's having none of it and trys to get away from him - resulting in scuffle and fur loss, but she doesn't seem scared and two minutes later they're snuggled together.

We/the bonder decided it was ok to bring them home as they're definitely friends, they sit together, groom each other, snuggle up etc etc. But that first night they did it again - 4am, he mounts her, she tries to get away, huge fur loss. I stopped it, put them back in their crate, and 5 mins later it happens again. So I let them out into the lounge and slept in there with them.

The next day I have a better look at Lavender and her now huge bald patches, she now has a few scratches on them where he has obviously grabbed her in the same places - I decided I really can't let it happen again as he's going to hurt her. So, for the last 2 weeks they've been separated at night - him in dog crate, her in puppy pen on the front of the dog crate, so they only have one set of bars between them. In the daytime they're together (either in or out of their crate), they snuggle and groom each other, and theres never any sign of either being uncomfortable.

So, this weekend, we decide to try them overnight - Friday night, they are both put in their crate, me and OH sleep on the sofa's. No problems, am happy camper yesterday thinking its all sorted. Last night, put them in dog crate, go to bed with the lounge door open and my bedroom door open so I can hear them - 4am it happens again! grrrrrr! As I type they're in a big fluffy heap together, so they want to be together, just a bit too much perhaps!

What do I do wrong? Did we put them together too soon after his neuter? What do I do now? Will it just take time?

 

[Hart]

I think it takes about a month or so for a male's hormones to die down completely. I'm not sure about this though. Would be interesting to hear others advice as I'll be going through this bonding process with 2 girls and a boy soon!

 

[BevBunny]

Hart - I'm guessing no one really knows as I've not had any responses, so I've done some more digging around on the internet. People seem to say that after castration hormone levels remain high in males for between 2 to 4 weeks, a couple of places have said up to 2 months.

I also read some things about courting behaviour which got me thinking - Darwin keeps circling around my legs, ie he's courting with me too, so even though its probably 6 weeks since he was neutered then he's obviously still being affected by his hormones.

So, I'd give it at least 4 weeks if I was you, and see if you can notice any subtle differences in his behaviour (like him no longer circling you) before you introduce him to your doe.

I'm not going to put them together again over night for at least another month - I got to have a proper look at her bald patches this morning, one of them has a really nasty scratch on it :shock:! I feel awful, she stamped her feet when I put her in the dog crate with him, I should have listened to her!