Bonding Question??

Ive been trying to bond Twinkle with Louis for the past couple of weeks, and im just concerned whether to continue...... :?

Ive been putting them in the kitchen, with a run panel betweeen them, they happily sniff each other, or ignore each other, which i know is good, there has been no signs what so ever of fighting or aggression. Twinkle seems very submissive towards Louis. However when i remove the wire panel and let them have the kitchen to themselves, Louis chases Twinkle and mounts her at every opportunity which Twinkle seems to hate and panics, I know this behaviour is normal, but although they are both small rabbits Twinkle is Tiny in comparison to Louis (only weighs 0.55kg)

What im wondering is should i continue bonding them as Twinkle seems to get very scared as soon as he starts mounting her and when i eventually separate them and put twinkle back in her hutch she hides from everyone and wont approach me, for a day or two, where usually she is very affectionate and runs to the front of her hutch as soon as you come close.

Is the bonding becoming too stressful for her and would it be best not to bond her with Louis??

(By the way I am not thinking of returning Louis if I dont bond him with her, I may just wait and persuede hubby to get Louis another mate in the future)

Any suggestions any one??

I am having fun and games trying to get Marmalade and Treacle to bond, the amount of fur that has been flying is unbelieveable.

My problem seems to be that Treacle has not been neutered yet, whereas Marmy has recently been spayed. Marmy is always trying to bite his tail and bottom region.

Have decided on a new tactic, Treacle is spending the night in Marmy's hutch and vice versa. Hoping this will get them used to each other's smell.

Treacle goes to be neutered next week, if I have succeed by then, both bunnies will go to the vet in the pet carrier knowing that other people have tried this.

I think the main problems Debs may be the length of time you are leaving it between sessions. They have to go back to square one each time. Is there anyway to leave them in a set-up where they see each other all through the day and you can let them have a session together in neutral territory each day.

When I was bonding Zeus and Athena, Zeus was twice Athena's size and after he tried mounting her she decided enough was enough and started mounting him by jumping over his head instead. She never got hurt by him and even when she seemed scared she soon realised that to make it stop she had to be boss.

I used a run in the garden to bond them and they was much fur pulling and jumping but it did settle down. The problem is knowing when to persevere and when it is getting too much for the other rabbit.

The area in the kitchen - do you have loads of tunnels/boxes/toys/food to distract your little boy from the constant humping?

It actually sounds very promising as there is no fighting. I think they will actually bond well if you persevere. It is only really true fighting that prevents bonding (I have seen it and it is nasty).

Caz

Donna and I were talking to another rescue the other day when we went to collect some rabbits from them (they were full to overflowing and we had some empty hutches). We have had a couple of rabbits recently who have proved to be difficult to pair up, this is more so than we usually have problems with. We remembered that this happened around the same time last year and again for a short period in the autumn. This other rescue have also noted that they seem to have a few more difficult ones in the spring and again in the autumn. The time of year may also not be helping matters, hopefully this should pass as we move further through spring. It may also be just coincidence ....

I am having similiar problems with pairing up older females with guinea pigs both male and female at the moment. Some are almost going together immediatly others have to live next to another one for a week or more on end with a short twice daily get together.

Janice

Thanks for your advice guys, I was thinking it isnt ideal that they dont live next to each other and this wasnt helping so we have just bought 2 rabbit 100 cages, Louis is already in his as he moved in to it last weekend and seems very happy charging around in there with a loo roll in his mouth :lol: :lol: Twinkle will be moving in to hers this weekend as we need to sort out an area where the cages can go next to each other.

Ill keep you posted on how it goes.