Rabbit bonding help sudden change in behavior

[Frostylemons22]

Male and Female rabbit both around 2 years old.
Both have been fixed for 6 months or longer
Started bonding them over 5 weeks ago and get anywhere from 4 hours to 14 hour bonding sessions depending on the day.
Their pen is over 6ft by 6ft and has been for almost 2 weeks. It has a litter box, stacking cups, and some chew toys.

Hi, so I've been bonding a male and female for over 5 weeks now and things have been going really well. I got to the point I trusted them completely alone together and started a 48 hour trial run two days ago. Everything went fine until the second night when the new cat tunnel I ordered came in and I added that to the bonding area. After about an hour of them playing in it and having no negative signs my female rabbit started humping and chasing the male rabbit. She has never done this before, at the start of their bonding he humped and chased her but hasn't done so since about 3-4 weeks ago. I separated them last night and first thing this morning the female rabbit started humping and chasing, after 15ish minutes of stopping her from chasing but not humping, she settled down and they went back to their peaceful existence. They were fine until about 10 hours later when she started doing the same thing again and again it didn't last all that long as I stopped the chasing parts quickly. My current plan is to continue their normal bonding until they have several days without negative behavior before adding the cat tunnel again. Is this the best way to proceed? I really thought they were bonded enough to keep them together permanently and this is the first time she has had this behavior. I wonder if it's because she has always had a cat tunnel since I got her 1.5 years ago and it triggered some territorial behavior? Thank you in advance for any help or advice you could give me for this situation.

 

[Omi]

Hi and welcome to the forum :wave:

From what you've described, I think you have assessed the situation correctly. Very often introducing anything new into their area will cause one or other bunny to get territorial and then the new item needs to be removed and they need to be watched carefully as you are doing. Basically going back to how things were when they were OK.

I would proceed exactly as you are doing. Keep them together without the cat tunnel and watch them carefully for signs of trouble. I would leave it for a while of calm behaviour before trying to re-introduce the cat tunnel.

Good luck

 

[Frostylemons22]

Thank you for the welcome and the advice. It's nice to have some reassurance. Also, one more question if you don't mind. How will I know if they are fully bonded? I really thought they were until the cat tunnel and since the female rabbits home will become the home for both of them (aka my room lol) after they are bonded, I'm now worried that she will get territorial when I move them. Even after cleaning the entire room to remove her smell and moving all the furniture around, will she do the same as with the cat tunnel and get territorial?

 

[Shimmer]

I think you just need to allow more time - weeks rather than hours / days for any changes. Go back to when things were OK and just leave it for a while.

 

[Zoobec]

I agree with what has been said already. In addition, I’d normally keep them together once bonding has started, and keep a close eye on them, it gives them chance to cement their bond and they aren’t having to start again each time they are reintroduced.

 

[tulsi]

Agree with Zoobec. Best of luck.

 

[waggtails]

just to say when bonding you don't add toys quickly to the situation , usually its a neutral area 6ft by 6ft is a little large for a bond of a few weeks but i accept all bonds are different . I hope all is going well now ?

 

[Frostylemons22]

When you say keep them together, do you mean 24/7?

 

[Frostylemons22]

just to say when bonding you don't add toys quickly to the situation , usually its a neutral area 6ft by 6ft is a little large for a bond of a few weeks but i accept all bonds are different . I hope all is going well now ?

It's going about the same. I did shrink the bonding area yesterday to see if that will help get rid of the negative behavior. Then once I trust them unsupervised I'm planning to leave them together for a week or two before trying the cat tunnel again.

 

[Omi]

When you say keep them together, do you mean 24/7?

Yes, but you will need to monitor them if they are still unsettled.

 

[Frostylemons22]

Funny enough before the cat tunnel I trusted them together without supervision. Right now I'm too worried about leaving them overnight or while I'm at work because the female is humping and chasing the male. They work it out themselves and I haven't intervened in days so I think it would be ok, just on the cautious side atm.

 

[Frostylemons22]

Unfortunately, the female rabbit was relentless in chasing the male early on today and I had to stop them as they got to the circling phase. Is this a good plan, I'm going to take another week of my normal bonding then next friday night try to stay up all night with them, maybe catch a few minutes of sleep in the recliner, to hopefully get past this behavior? It's been over a week now and the chasing and humping hasn't stopped, I lowered the size of the pen by nearly half already but I'm thinking maybe I'll lower the size again?

 

[Omi]

Are you still putting them together and then splitting them up? Is the area, where their pen is, completely neutral to both rabbits?

 

[Frostylemons22]

Are you still putting them together and then splitting them up? Is the area, where their pen is, completely neutral to both rabbits?

Yes, every day I put them together as long as possible(while I'm home and awake). Today is a 12+ hour bonding session. And yes, they are in a neutral area.

 

[Omi]

Yes, every day I put them together as long as possible(while I'm home and awake). Today is a 12+ hour bonding session. And yes, they are in a neutral area.

So when you say you had to stop them earlier today, because the female was chasing the male again, did you split them up early or split them up and then continue with the session?

I would split them apart, holding them apart if necessary, and then continue. Then if it happens again, I'd do the same. I think keeping them together all the time and staying up with them next Friday is a good plan.

Unfortunately, you will find that different people have different methods of bonding rabbits. A very small enclosure is usually recommended, although I have always considered that the rabbit being chased (which is usually the female) should have somewhere to run to. How large is the pen now?

 

[Frostylemons22]

So when you say you had to stop them earlier today, because the female was chasing the male again, did you split them up early or split them up and then continue with the session?

I would split them apart, holding them apart if necessary, and then continue. Then if it happens again, I'd do the same. I think keeping them together all the time and staying up with them next Friday is a good plan.

Unfortunately, you will find that different people have different methods of bonding rabbits. A very small enclosure is usually recommended, although I have always considered that the rabbit being chased (which is usually the female) should have somewhere to run to. How large is the pen now?

I was able to stop them by moving them apart a bit but left them in the pen. So far they haven't done anything bad enough that I've had to stop them since then, and that's usually how it seems to go at this point in their bonding.

The pen is about 3.5 x 7 feet I think it was 5.5 x 7 before. I've been using the bonding guide from a facebook group and it was going perfect until that cat tunnel. I do agree that I need to have them together 24/7 and I was hoping this set back would have resolved itself by now so I could do that again but maybe I need to start back at a much smaller area and just kind of restart.

 

[tonibun]

The female could be chasing the male because she is scared (fear /aggression). This is why I always prefer a large bonding area so the girl doesn't feel as threatened. Obviously not everyone has such a space. So you just have to keep going until she learns that there is nothing to be frightened of.

 

[Frostylemons22]

Quick update in case anyone is interested. I started 24/7 bonding last night. I also shrunk the bonding area again and it seems to have helped with the chasing and humping. I am starting to trust them unsupervised and will put that to the test tomorrow during work. I do worry I will end up in the same position as before where they don't have any negative behavior but they aren't bonding either. I think last time they co-existed but weren't growing a bond so when I put the cat tunnel in it broke that peace. But my plan is to leave them together for a long while before increasing the pen size or adding anything else to the area. Not really sure what to do if this doesn't work.

 

[Omi]

Quick update in case anyone is interested. I started 24/7 bonding last night. I also shrunk the bonding area again and it seems to have helped with the chasing and humping. I am starting to trust them unsupervised and will put that to the test tomorrow during work. I do worry I will end up in the same position as before where they don't have any negative behavior but they aren't bonding either. I think last time they co-existed but weren't growing a bond so when I put the cat tunnel in it broke that peace. But my plan is to leave them together for a long while before increasing the pen size or adding anything else to the area. Not really sure what to do if this doesn't work.

This sounds positive Your plans are what I would do and in my view it should work. The longer you can leave them without any change the better.

Thanks for updating

 

[Frostylemons22]

Well I thought it was going really well, I hadn't seen any negative behavior for two days, felt comfortable leaving them alone. Then I took out their litter box to clean it and the female humped the male and this time he pushed back a bit. No fight and the female stopped after falling backwards. Unfortunately I can't call out of work today so I'm just going to hope for the best and that they will be ok. I can tell 24/7 bonding is helping and I hoped the 4 day weekend would be enough to find a peaceful ground so I'm just going to monitor them on camera when I can and hope they will be ok. Is it possible they will never fully bond? Like if the female keeps this up, does that mean she doesn't want a friend even though they have been grooming and cuddling with each other a lot more since I started 24/7 bonding?