HippieDalek
New Kit
Back in April my wife and I got our first rabbit, a gorgeous male lion headed called Moku, and things have been going great. He's free roaming, litter trained, doesn't nibble or dig, he's just the perfect bunny! After a few months we noticed that he kept grooming a fluffy alpaca door stop we own. We thought he might be getting lonely so we started reading everything we could find on rabbit bonding, trying to decide if we'd take the plunge. After another few months (October) we found another beautiful lion headed rabbit, called Migi, and brought her home. We put all our reading into practice and although the bonding got off to a rough start by the end of two weeks the two were grooming, flopping and following each other around.
Fast forward to the start of December and the problems start. Moku was about 9 months old, Migi 5 months. Moku has been neutered almost as soon as we'd got him, and now that Migi was old enough she had an appointment at the vet to be spayed the next week. Migi was pee marking everywhere, pooping everywhere, and loudly honking while circling and sometimes humping Moku. He didn't seem to mind too much to begin with but after a week whenever he heard the honking a fight would break out and it got so bad they had to be separated and kept in cages again. We took Migi in for her spaying the next week and it turns out she's actually male! So the spaying becomes a neutering and we grit our teeth hoping we can bond them back together. Our vets tell us that since they were bonded before Migi's hormones kicked in there's a good chance we should be able to bond them back together once the hormones are gone again, but we're encountering a few problems.
By now it's the end of December, and most of Migi's hormones should have gone, indeed we've seen drastically improved behaviour in most areas and he's no longer pee marking everything, but the honking and circling behaviour is still there. When we still thought Migi was a female we obviously though this was mating behaviour, but I'm guessing now that it's some kind of dominance display? I can't find any explanation for honking and circling that isn't mating behaviour, has anyone got any other suggestions?
On our few attempts to bond them again since Migi's operation they've generally ignored each other until Migi honks, and then it's fighting again. They've shared food from the same bowl at the same time while they pressed their faces against each other, shared a bit of a banana together, and they'll be fine, then the honk and they're at each other's throats.
Sorry for the long first post, but I thought it better to include as much information as I could rather than too little. Please let me know if there's any other details I can provide too.
We realise that bonding two males isn't ideal and it's going to be a difficult journey, but we love both of these bunnies and want to do what we can, so if anyone has any suggestions please let us know.
Fast forward to the start of December and the problems start. Moku was about 9 months old, Migi 5 months. Moku has been neutered almost as soon as we'd got him, and now that Migi was old enough she had an appointment at the vet to be spayed the next week. Migi was pee marking everywhere, pooping everywhere, and loudly honking while circling and sometimes humping Moku. He didn't seem to mind too much to begin with but after a week whenever he heard the honking a fight would break out and it got so bad they had to be separated and kept in cages again. We took Migi in for her spaying the next week and it turns out she's actually male! So the spaying becomes a neutering and we grit our teeth hoping we can bond them back together. Our vets tell us that since they were bonded before Migi's hormones kicked in there's a good chance we should be able to bond them back together once the hormones are gone again, but we're encountering a few problems.
By now it's the end of December, and most of Migi's hormones should have gone, indeed we've seen drastically improved behaviour in most areas and he's no longer pee marking everything, but the honking and circling behaviour is still there. When we still thought Migi was a female we obviously though this was mating behaviour, but I'm guessing now that it's some kind of dominance display? I can't find any explanation for honking and circling that isn't mating behaviour, has anyone got any other suggestions?
On our few attempts to bond them again since Migi's operation they've generally ignored each other until Migi honks, and then it's fighting again. They've shared food from the same bowl at the same time while they pressed their faces against each other, shared a bit of a banana together, and they'll be fine, then the honk and they're at each other's throats.
Sorry for the long first post, but I thought it better to include as much information as I could rather than too little. Please let me know if there's any other details I can provide too.
We realise that bonding two males isn't ideal and it's going to be a difficult journey, but we love both of these bunnies and want to do what we can, so if anyone has any suggestions please let us know.