Bonding - does the humping ever stop??

Hello

Just a quick question about my new bond and where it is going... Monty and Delilah got back from the initial rescue bond on Sunday morning and since then we had some settling down issues. Monty is our mini lop and Delilah is a French lop girlie who came from RSPCA.

Apparently when the buns were at the rescue getting bonded a lot of usual chasing and fur pulling ensued, and Delilah was definitely a boss. After that things calmed down and buns started enjoying each other's company and came back home after two days.

Since then they have been placed in Monty's last accomodation which we halfed in size and thoroughly rinsed with white vinegar. Although there hasn't been any fights between them Monty has constantly been humping, circling and chasing Delilah trying to be the boss this time. He even does this weird scratching thing - looks so annoying, poor Lila! She normally ignores him or runs away in the corner - she is still quite shy and scared. We are planning to wait before we enlarge the space till they figure out the pecking order...but humping seems ceaseless... When it does stop they cuddle, Lila even gives super needy/excitable Monty some grooms.

Can we do anything to reduce the humping?? Sometimes it escalates into little chases till Delilah gives Monty a little nip. I don't want to separate them not to break te bong but I am a bit scared to leave them alone when I leave for work. Any advice?

Hi, I have no good advise as I'm a complete novice trying to bond my 2 bunnies too. The behaviour you're describing is exactly how my two are at the moment and we are into the 3rd week of the bond. I thought it would be much quicker but I guess it just takes some pairs longer. Sorry this isnt much help but you're not alone! Good luck.

Thanks for your support! Oh dear, three weeks?? I really hope they will sort their 'who's boss' issue by then! Hate them being locked up all the time...someone explains to them that they will get all the freedom they want once they become a unit!:roll:

Five days in and still no change - all Monty does is hump/chase Delilah - does anyone know how long could this possibly take? He was never like that with any other bonds we tried. Delilah is all stressed and grumpy, she started stomping loudly to express that... Monty doesn't seem too happy either, all flustered and anxious, constantly on edge/overexcited.

Should we try making the enclusure bigger/even smaller?

Will he come down or should we think about taking Delilah back?

How long have they been neutered?

Monty has been neutered for over 1,5 year and Delilah only a couple of months I think... We always tried with relatively newly spayed females and Monty was never so relentless/pest-like!

I think I would give them more time to settle, rather than take her back.

You're right, we will give them another week or two to try and work it out.

We made the enclosure bigger and the mounting reduced a bit, they seem to cuddle a lot less and sleep away from each other now though

Their toilet habits are all over the place as well now... should we reduce the space again?

I was so close to splitting my girls up as the humping was seemingly non-stop and I was really concerned at one stage as Poppy seemed to 'latch' on to Parker by grabbing fur and Parker did start to get a tiny bald patch (luckily no skin was broken and it didn't persist else I would've split them up) but I am so glad I persevered as within a few weeks the humping had stopped completely and there has been none whatsoever since.

So I guess the only advice I can offer is to really try and see it out (I hated seeing it and got really frustrated thinking it would never stop and was I doing the right thing keeping them together!) and as long as there is no aggression or injury that it may eventually pass. (Fingers crossed!) it's such a joy to see them now as best friends and true companions.

Hiya, didnt want to read and run.. I've never been brave enough to bond my own buns..

Good luck

Fee xx

Hello

Thanks s,,o much for the advice and encouragement! It was getting a bit too much with Monty getting all nervous and hectic and Delilah being super fed up.

She doesn't let him hump her anymore and runs away, not sure if it's good or not. They clearly have some work to do regarding the whole 'who's in charge' still! But I will try and give them more time.

Also, I didn't realize how different having a big rabbit is! Delilah is a French lop who doesn't even realize how big she is, slipping on lino as she clumsily jumps on/off things! They did't fit in any of the litterboxes, pet beds/houses we had for Monty - need to go shopping if this works out!

I can only tell you how it was with my most recent pairing. Flora was 9.5 years old and Benji, the newcomer, was 5 and only recently neutered. There was no aggression at all but Benji was just humping continually to the point where Flora was clearly getting annoyed. Increasing the space from a smallish 2x5 foot area only made it worse because Flora started to run away, which started a chase and then nipping. I actually forced them into a very small space and I know not everyone agrees with that. However, it's what has always worked for me.

So I placed them into my smallest puppy crate for 24 hours - it was really not much bigger than a very large litter tray. They had space to lay stretched out and comfortably turn around BUT they couldn't get away from each other and couldn't run. Because Flora couldn't run away, Benji could actually lay next to her, which is what he clearly wanted to do but as she'd normally run, he'd grab her and hump instead. Once she didn't run, he'd still hump occasionally but in the main, he just sat with her. And in turn, once Flora realised that if she actually sat next to him nothing bad happened, she stopped running and accepted his company. After 24 hours, I put them back in the 2x5 foot enclosure and almost immediately, into their kennel/run. There was no looking back.

Benji still had a few humps, especially during the first 2-3 months, but it soon became almost non-existent. So don't give up. A lot of humping is normal. You just need to try to stop the humpee running away from the humper (as long as it's not stressing them too much) because it's the running away that normally starts a fight.

Thank you for your advice!

Monty recently got worse again, humping like his life depended on it, Delilah is so fed up, running into a box and stomping loudly... We decreased the area by half tonight and we'll see how it goes!

I think it's a bit different in our case as Delilah is very content to just lie down next to Monty, he's the one starting to mount/scratch/circle Delilah till she gets up and runs dismayed. Really getting fed up with it, there's no proper contact with those two, wish they figured it out and relaxed a bit... Stressss!