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Bonding help!

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beckyemma

New Kit
Hello! We have had our male rabbit for a few months now so on Thursday we rescued a neutered female for him to have a friend. Our boy has free roam in the whole house and we have set up a pen area for the girl. They have been interacting well through the bars so I put them both into the kitchen (neutral) for their first interaction. They have since met twice and all the female does is run from him which causes him to chase her and try to mount. She gets angry and stomps her feet so I put them both back so she doesn't have too much stress. Should I let the chasing happen or leave them longer without any physical interaction before putting them together again? The girl is very timid and won't even go near us when feeding her etc so I'm not sure whether the bonding is going to work. My male is very cuddly too :(
 
beckyemma said:
Hello! We have had our male rabbit for a few months now so on Thursday we rescued a neutered female for him to have a friend. Our boy has free roam in the whole house and we have set up a pen area for the girl. They have been interacting well through the bars so I put them both into the kitchen (neutral) for their first interaction. They have since met twice and all the female does is run from him which causes him to chase her and try to mount. She gets angry and stomps her feet so I put them both back so she doesn't have too much stress. Should I let the chasing happen or leave them longer without any physical interaction before putting them together again? The girl is very timid and won't even go near us when feeding her etc so I'm not sure whether the bonding is going to work. My male is very cuddly too :(
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Exciting times. I'm glad you've adopted a friend for him. This sounds really normal for bonding. the female will run away, the boy chase (& sometimes hump). It will stop when they've worked out they can trust each other & who is boss.

Bonding can be quite daunting but advice is normally to let them get on with it as long as they are not fighting (biting nastily- not just fur pulling) or circling. I'd keep it up.
 
joey&boo said:
Exciting times. I'm glad you've adopted a friend for him. This sounds really normal for bonding. the female will run away, the boy chase (& sometimes hump). It will stop when they've worked out they can trust each other & who is boss.

Bonding can be quite daunting but advice is normally to let them get on with it as long as they are not fighting (biting nastily- not just fur pulling) or circling. I'd keep it up.
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I agree :) The male chasing the female is a part of the bonding process and to be expected. It won't be a problem if the female does run away and doesn't become aggressive. If you continue with them together, watching carefully of course, the behaviour should calm down after 24-48 hours as they start to trust each other.

Good luck :)
 
It all sounds pretty normal for bonding.
Don't forget that you have only had the girl for a few days, so her whole world has changed - new routine, new people, new rabbit friend, she doesn't know her way around, etc -so she may need a little longer just to settle in.
 
I also agree with the advice given. Although I do appreciate that it's really, really difficult to stop yourself from intervening and separating them, especially if your girl bun seems very nervous around the boy bun at first.

I think the first 48 hours of a bond are the hardest because it's very common for there to be a bit of chasing, fur pulling, nipping, humping, which to us looks like bullying. In fact it's just the way rabbits establish their hierarchy and sort out their relationship with each other. Once that settles down it gets easier as they start to trust one another, become more relaxed and develop a strong friendship.

Good luck with the bonding. It can be a test of nerves but it will be worth it in the end.
 
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