Vegan_Bunny
Warren Veteran
Hello, as some people may know I recently adopted a magpie harlequin (Xena). She is a dominant bunny but is very passive. I have bonded her with Fiver who is also dominant but is quite aggressive. I had them in an enclosure on neutral territory and things have gone ok but not perfect. The first thing Fiver did was grab Xena by her scruff and hump her. He didn't do any damage apart from pulling out a mouthful of fur, this only happened on the first day and afterwards he stopped "holding" her and just humped. She would growl the whole time but didn't do more than wiggle free and run off (with Fiver in pursuit).
Things improved over the next 3 days and Fiver started grooming Xena but she has not once groomed Fiver, which is fair enough. Fiver stopped chasing and humping Xena and then seemed to settle down quite nicely. They are now in the bedroom together and are living together quite happily after some initial chasing from Fiver, which didn't even result in fur pulling and it calmed down after the first night. Xena has since humped Fiver a few times and he has spun around and tryed to nip her bum as she hops off. They have been laid next to each other but Fiver has been laid turned away from Xena with his ears back, obviously he is not too happy. She just ignores him unless she wants to be groomed and tends to avoid him unless they are eating or happen to cross each other's paths. Fiver seems to get quite frustrated over the fact that Xena will not groom him, but if he is grooming her then surely he has accepted that she is dominant? They both try to put their heads under the others chin and usually Xena wins and Fiver grooms her ears then hops off or lays down next to her or they both ignore each other and groom themselves instead.
Can somebody please just tell me if I am doing things right? Should I take them out of the bedroom and try them in the enclosure again? They have never fought or even looked like they were going to, however, Fiver has shown some aggression (ears back and tail up) but Xena just hops off to avoid any conflict. Will they "fall in love" or is this the best I can hope for for 2 dominant buns? I am very worried about this and was worried before I tried to bond them as I knew they were both dominant.
I hope this isn't a bad thing and is part of the bonding process.
Things improved over the next 3 days and Fiver started grooming Xena but she has not once groomed Fiver, which is fair enough. Fiver stopped chasing and humping Xena and then seemed to settle down quite nicely. They are now in the bedroom together and are living together quite happily after some initial chasing from Fiver, which didn't even result in fur pulling and it calmed down after the first night. Xena has since humped Fiver a few times and he has spun around and tryed to nip her bum as she hops off. They have been laid next to each other but Fiver has been laid turned away from Xena with his ears back, obviously he is not too happy. She just ignores him unless she wants to be groomed and tends to avoid him unless they are eating or happen to cross each other's paths. Fiver seems to get quite frustrated over the fact that Xena will not groom him, but if he is grooming her then surely he has accepted that she is dominant? They both try to put their heads under the others chin and usually Xena wins and Fiver grooms her ears then hops off or lays down next to her or they both ignore each other and groom themselves instead.
Can somebody please just tell me if I am doing things right? Should I take them out of the bedroom and try them in the enclosure again? They have never fought or even looked like they were going to, however, Fiver has shown some aggression (ears back and tail up) but Xena just hops off to avoid any conflict. Will they "fall in love" or is this the best I can hope for for 2 dominant buns? I am very worried about this and was worried before I tried to bond them as I knew they were both dominant.
I hope this isn't a bad thing and is part of the bonding process.
