Hi all - We had 2 females (from different litters) as babies. They were kept together and fine until their baby bond broke and they had a fight. Both are now neutered and have been kept separate ever since. They are now 12 months. We have also added a boy, who was neutered 8 weeks ago. He is 7 months. The idea was that he would alter the dynamics of the female relationship.
We have been housing the rabbits side by side, swapping bowls etc for several weeks. We have also been doing some bonding sessions in a neutral location. These started as 15 minute sessions (about 3 weeks ago, 4 a week) and have now gone on in length to 5 hours.
There is lots of mutual grooming, flopping, sleeping between the females, however, they have both been reluctant to engage with the male. Yesterday we have a 6 hour session where there was no fighting at all and it appeared they have finally accepted the boy. They all groomed each other for the first time. However, in today's session there were issues with the male chasing the least dominant female and trying to mount her. She would then seek protection from our dominant female and a minor fight between the male and dominant female occurred. After the scuffle they did go back to ignoring each other and some minor grooming took place, although the dominant female does seem wary of letting her guard down around him.
I suppose my questions are....if they can go 4 plus hours without any issues, does this suggest there is hope for this trio? Why is my boy trying to mount the submissive female even after he has been neutered? To what extent should we allow the nipping/chasing to play out and let them establish their hierarchy?
Thanks for reading!
We have been housing the rabbits side by side, swapping bowls etc for several weeks. We have also been doing some bonding sessions in a neutral location. These started as 15 minute sessions (about 3 weeks ago, 4 a week) and have now gone on in length to 5 hours.
There is lots of mutual grooming, flopping, sleeping between the females, however, they have both been reluctant to engage with the male. Yesterday we have a 6 hour session where there was no fighting at all and it appeared they have finally accepted the boy. They all groomed each other for the first time. However, in today's session there were issues with the male chasing the least dominant female and trying to mount her. She would then seek protection from our dominant female and a minor fight between the male and dominant female occurred. After the scuffle they did go back to ignoring each other and some minor grooming took place, although the dominant female does seem wary of letting her guard down around him.
I suppose my questions are....if they can go 4 plus hours without any issues, does this suggest there is hope for this trio? Why is my boy trying to mount the submissive female even after he has been neutered? To what extent should we allow the nipping/chasing to play out and let them establish their hierarchy?
Thanks for reading!
