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Is this a love at first sight pairing?

CreamBunny

New Kit
I got a thirteen week old harlequin Lionhead baby on Friday. He has been living alongside my doe since then and yesterday they met in neutral territory for the first time as they were grooming each other through the cage bars, sharing food and flopping next to each other. When in together they still shared food and toys, groomed and are happy to relax together but there is still a bit of humping behaviour going on. Is it too soon to move them into their permanent rabbit room home yet? The main issue is the female does not have good social skills with other rabbits and won't submit to being humped; instead she runs away, but neither have shown any aggression at all.
I will be putting them together in neutral space again today (they spent the night in adjacent pens again and as I'm writing this are sitting as close to each other as they can get through the mesh!). If all goes well today would it be worth trying them in the permanent accommodation? (It has been thoroughly disinfected!)
 
I wouldn't say love at first sight - no. With those lucky pairings its like they are instantly bonded with grooming, lying close with no humping, running away. Kinda like a pair thats been together ages. It sounds really positive though. I'd wait til there is little o minimal humping & no running away before the big move. i'm no expert though. Good luck
 
Personally, I’d keep them in a small neutral space for a bit longer, leaving them together overnight if all continues well. Often bonding a baby to an older rabbit can be an “easier” bond as the older rabbit feels less threatened by a juvenile than it would another adult. It sounds like it’s going really well though. When you do introduce them into the permanent accommodation, try to keep them confined to a smaller section of it initially as a sudden large space can make them want to set up territories within it. As an example, I bonded my older bunny to a baby a couple of years ago in a section of our kitchen (neutral space) they stayed in there for a couple of days and then I let them go back into their section of the shed but blocked their access to to the run for 24 hours and then supervised them having access to the run for a morning, until I was happy they were settled. I think a lot of it relies on your gut feeling and your close observation and knowledge of your own rabbits.
Humping as I’m sure you know, is about dominance so it sounds as though they’re still establishing who’s top rabbit at the moment. It sounds like it’s going really well, of course we’d love to see photos of them!
 
Okay, thanks everyone. Think they can stay together in the pen overnight then, and I'll see how things go tomorrow.
As for pictures, this is Marshal.....
sJE5dXNJtVRfgf7bsqrt8_3jPmGsS_KDCPjVhMALe8N5aAEm4myPSgEeEhfFi5lDzgNAfdaFrLAQts3VPjqNYAi6j3oSyqnscDwk7NkP5w8ZNmt523jwhNnKsVCTLxSoamYKsqYTvbcyAXdNad5Eya_VuDKbtrXuP-sXzmoKIIkzwzOmIF3GTb9BiFglAQUzo0MvJNRlV0igSvMB5cmQ65eCQ6QxDN_p0NGa9se3kmdltZ_sCsbiRhMmOcMnuOmkh3rGi6td8sUdsrhXdSiy9c9NyUyzGoaEZvtJmYFFj8FruNNA1C5HR3fwMz5bd59tOX4kS4iZkl0f5msntAqGCB0iFYyK0GUG3jH_nsPJzheMK9ztjP-pbGx4gKRRXcMcLa0jEm8mvSo4JIKuoKrKS8anRABMn9od6oQQ2SDM-MwRDDZ1Rc6dNxwwsoe0ddCngl8ho5tz89te8_TFdgAA1KBdG540v1ecp1PavBWuSH6vBcMu_hiLiEQBWwdEyIzDpGI_sxscSFgmXFd70kI3ZD28YxemA7Me_p4zAE5Ts9ifBFp1eoGgQox6hBiaNaWemUh84cptQi9cCyErDdU3SLmbrk9nb4pf_M5ngl0h8e8DYkX1BEJoWWkeHj4tmAAoKH0TAc2ZWqvcntdUdBiQjssBigTbiCkTOzSNAQ7L_YgYCW9hKLk721r1bg8jDE-rtc4_WVvmdJE0vm9kAYNNP55LcQ=w1422-h801-no

And this is Ginny
tvPNro-M0oNkH6IfjQc0JmEaIbjag2Os65mAxWXNPSmg0E6hJ1hZMZoVrZ8D5ZLsIS62jg9CF-D-fCHY-_tX1lvt-XNw75Byk-yVbKQqcsdJ0qEn3_Nz3HlXLwteuuWCxGzPmni-NRkbiDtxqbntDePTEW-LUFXteVC4UbAbs6KNk8e0yRvw-KSl-v7J-SbEHVwx1PAruWj11qGYo03T1dpyOmJRk6zm_U8Jh55PufRywfhLWVxBQPXWRUEHKTHfxPBtJ3G6wsVzMdnd8_sxLVicDUN08pxjAOgqc9QrNVAolR9TXWGBoSyqPQbl_-DpbkNYG-ze8pqA1y8qqf5Rgd9tctpYSvxGKzeTqeeovtGV7qlk4KLZ8IswmSIcqp-pDEuREHGl9lYfg-hzq1VjJFnrPlCZZfXuAzE_J2WvycVBy7_1O9zJzhhu68AI6s7tCnB9flsrvO3Dfbh1XBBQvyFkRWc0ZRboEir5ANgz1pIMD1oTw-NxcIYxYsUSUAXb96uz5GIygnlxtbFhx61iTErsz_9s_xa6J6PSMMw3P-q6SAOLdG9b5VtmhM0ZYeXQ9BvDzpLTS6SzYuC_AmnhrUMwVUX1q0k5_lhkxhr3xgAVm21KWZ4WXpurzyYRFvnM_WN7q603ga8wRvk_UpZZO2F11cdS9vJwid7U7xXGs05Bs-Hf1cM1YLJ1fI08VBaZToRPsJuF8Llu0S1yq5oXw4O8Gw=w571-h1014-no
 
Oh goodness how adorable are they! Ginny is such a pretty girl and Marshal is such a little fluff bundle :love:
 
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