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bonding neville - absolute newbie to this.

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That looks like it is all going really well. I left mine all together day and night, but they were in my bedroom so I could easily hear if anything was going on.
 
That looks like it is all going really well. I left mine all together day and night, but they were in my bedroom so I could easily hear if anything was going on.

They groomed on their first meeting :)

Susie has done a bit of grooming now and they've been laying next to each other. She's also scented Neville's face lol.

Neville is really annoyed at being in such a small space though, he woke me up rattling away!
 
Ah! they look lovely together! :love: Mounting is normal, I am sure they are going to be fine. If you really feel he is not happy being cooped up you can expand. I have bonded many in a 12 x 8 shed so it can work. Sending special bonding vibes.
 
Well... The pair are doing well I think. They will eat, lay and groom each other. The only bother is that Neville is obsessed with mounting poor Susie, and she's not to keen on it. She mounted him this morning for the first time. Nev's mounting (and honking too) is when things get a bit edgy. I've also noticed that Neville will groom her quite a bit and she'll go to him for grooming but when he goes to her for grooming, she doesn't always comply.

Is this a struggle for dominance? I thought Neville was dominant but now I'm not so sure. I hope someone takes the position!


Here are some pics:

This was cute, til Neville decided to hump!

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Susie too busy for groom requests!

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Then gives in

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You have got 2 well loved up bunnies there! Don't worry about them, he humps her 'cos he really likes her and, if he could, he would be doing the real thing! I am so happy for them! Humping usually calms down around the 3rd day.
 
Susie flop :) Neville's under the logs so they're face to face here.



They've been good this afternoon, very loving! Fingers crossed it continues :)

And this is gorgeous Susie. She's 3 yrs old (possibly 3.5) and came from a show breeder who didn't have access to good veterinary care for rabbits (no nasty comments please, there's lots to the story) so she handed her in to the rescue as she had a growth in her abdomen. Susie had an ectopic pregnancy that was fully contained in a sac and very large. She wasn't expected to live after it was removed! But here she is :) she's very sweet and loving and has been licking me a lot:

 
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Oh dear, another frantic 5 mins with Neville chasing trying to hump (the wrong way too :() and Susie looking quite unhappy and making some little noises.

Can anyone advise on when to step in? I'm stopping him a lot but I'm wondering if it's prolonging it? It's just he keeps going at it the wrong way round!
 
Oh dear, another frantic 5 mins with Neville chasing trying to hump (the wrong way too :() and Susie looking quite unhappy and making some little noises.

Can anyone advise on when to step in? I'm stopping him a lot but I'm wondering if it's prolonging it? It's just he keeps going at it the wrong way round!

If he's humping her the wrong way around you do need to step in because it would be very easy for her to bite him and cause serious injuries.
 
I have been stopping it, if he'd do it the right way around I would allow it for 10 secs or so. Want him to get it out of his system but not at her expense and at his own risk!

Bunnies eh.
 
Oh and to add - with this in mind, would you split the pen overnight?? I'd rather go slow than have them fall out or get hurt...

I'm sleeping in the same room.
 
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Oh and to add - with this in mind, would you split the pen overnight?? I'd rather go slow than have them fall out or get hurt...

I'm sleeping in the same room.

Only just seen this, sorry. I think I would be tempted to split them overnight unless you felt that you would wake if any humping occured ... Guess you have already done so (or not) by now. Hope its all going well with your little sweeties. x
 
Thanks tulsi! I split them - felt safer doing so. Neville has been less humpy today, however Susie has humped him a couple of times, once was when I was giving them veg. Methinks there's a boss here and it's not Neville. Hoping he accepts.

I left them for an hour earlier (with FaceTime surveillance lol) and they were fine. Even after Neville binkied around the pen, over Susie's head and all!

They're in 6x2 pen now too. Ahhh I've got everything crossed as I've really fallen for the little lady, she's so licky and pretty confident :) you wouldn't know she's only been here 3 days.
 
Aside from anything else, I would be wary of increasing space to early. And when you do, increase very, very minimally. We usually section off with propped up cardboard as a divider - very makeshift, so supervised.

It sounds to be going well for you - certainly compared to some of my bonding rabbits! Good luck :)
 
Aside from anything else, I would be wary of increasing space to early. And when you do, increase very, very minimally. We usually section off with propped up cardboard as a divider - very makeshift, so supervised.

It sounds to be going well for you - certainly compared to some of my bonding rabbits! Good luck :)

Hi

I'm not planning to increase now for a while. Though Neville is waking me up every morning biting at the bars! I'm worried he'll hurt his teeth.

I bit the bullet and didn't split them last night... I woke up to see them sitting together. Just going to check them over now for injuries...
 
Both are fine and well!

Can I ask for some specific advice? I'm back in the office tomorrow and I really don't want to split them...

My only concern is the humping and the humping that's the wrong way around. I've watched them since Saturday now and from what I can see, they don't react aggressively to either issue, they just run away. Neville does seem to give up after a while.

Would you leave them together? They will have had 5 days of being together but split (only by wire) for 5 hrs at night and 48 straight hrs of being together. No aggression shown so far.
 
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