Bonding of 2 Male Rabbits - Final Chance :(

[d2007ave]

HI

I was wondering if you might be able to help us, for the past month we have been attempting to bond our 2 year old male neutered rabbit with a rescue bunny we took from a friend (also male neutered)

Its our first attempt at bonding any rabbits and generally id have to say it has gone well. Neither rabbit is aggressive, they are starting to groom each other but there is one big problem -- constant humping of one rabbit by the other (its not returned)

My friends rabbit barely gives 5 minuets peace to our rabbit and we are beginning to think we cant keep him after the 4-5 weeks of trying to bond them. Its such a shame as he is a nice rabbit. but just humps all the time. Our rabbit runs away when he can but doesnt always escape. He doesnt even give a nip to say stop... (they have daily bonding sessions lasting up to few hrs)

any advice on this greatly appreciated, id rather not say goodbye my friends bun, but dont know what i can do more.

 

[RogerRabbit999]

I had exactly the same with my 2 bonded boys Buster and Paddington. But then somebody very experienced who runs a rescue local to me, explained that this will be on-going until they are just left together, because every time you take them away, every time you then put them back together again they will need to go through this humping behaviour, which apparently is not actually sexually based, but him kind of saying 'hi, it's me again and I'm here for you'. Does that make sense. I then just put them both in my lounge as they are house bunnies anyway, made myself up a bed on the settee for the night, and she was right, and it has stopped. Don't get me wrong Buster will still very occasionally hump Paddington, but no more than normal as my other bonded bunnies still do the same, but it is more about a reassurance thing that they are there for each other.

 

[Amy104]

The mounting is their way of displaying dominance. The bun on top is effectively saying I'm in charge here. As long as the other bun is amenable to this behaviour and doesn't get upset/stressed it should soon die down if left together long enough. If there is no aggression I'd try leaving them together longer.

 

[Lady Logamorph]

My boys have times of lots of humping a bit of spraying each other with wee and then it stops again. I wouldn't worry about it unless your bunny gets upset by it I would carry on and see what they are like when they are permanently together