Neutered bunny hormonal & new home, what to do?

[Megan143]

Hi all, our boy bunny Augie is 3 now and his bonded friend Aurie girl is 2 yo. They’ve been de-sexed at early age and been bonded for 1.5 years now. Since September (spring in Australia) Augie started humping Aurie. He’s always the top bunny and usually the hump doesn’t last long we just let them work out their bunny hierarchy. 

However we moved house 2 weeks ago, this is the first time they changed home as a bonded pair and it didn’t seem to be going so well! They got their own room where they are kept in their condo during the day and get let out to the full room twice a day when I will go sit on the floor with them. Augie seems to be more anxious than excited. He keeps chasing Aurie, honking, pulling lots of her fur off while trying to get a hold of her(he’s slightly shorter than her).

Another weird thing is he almost always only humps her when a human enters the room. When they are in their condo, I’d leave their room door open, I can hear there’s no thumping or humping and if I sneak a peak into their room, they’re often flopped next to each other or eating together. But as soon as he sees us in the room, he thumps and start chasing her. Sometimes he loses interest if I stay in the room long enough, but if I move suddenly, he’d start again.

He’s not aggresive towards us though, he definitely remembers our smell and he’d eat food we provide and receives petting if he’s calm. He also binkies and does bunny 500 but they always start with a thump and a honk.

In the first week their poops were small and dry because they barely drank water, but this week their water comsumption increased back to normal and poops are looking round and full again. But when he’s chasing her, I try to distract him with his favorite treats but only 50% the time it works, other time he would sniff and run away to her. 

All of their stuff, beddings, toys and food are from the old house. However the previous owner of this house did have 2 cats. We got the carpet steam cleaned and sterilised but there might still be cat smell left?

Anyone here had a hormonal bunny? We were wondering what steps can we do while we are waiting for spring to end? She’s lost quite a lot of her fur on the back due to his biting and it’s hard to watch them like this – they seem stressed and uncomfortable T_T

Thanks in advance,

Megan

Edit – She’s not scared of him, she has more interests in exploring the world and bonding, but with him always dragging behind her, she’s just annoyed. They don’t fight, she’s more athletic so she’s able to run away from him. I think she wants to be his friend but he doesn’t want to snuggle at least not when we’re around.

[Mikey]

Since youve moved, everything is considered free territory. He is chasing her, mounting her, and biting her to prove he is the dom bun of this new room. You might have to rebond them in a smaller area first, such as the bathroom. Pulling fur can be very dangerous as rabbits have very thin skin that can rip and dry out very easily

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hopefully it should be a quick bond, but sounds as if you have to go back to square one. Each level of bonding should go much quicker than the initial bond, but he is trying to (re)assert his dominance.

She, being a girl, is obviously being more intelligent about this whole new process…… lol.

[BunnyFriends]

I think Barrett would disagree, Vienna.

[Megan143]

Thank you for the advice. That’s our first thought too and we did tried a re-bond but they aren’t behaving the same as an un-bonded pair though. When they were first ever introduced to each other they fought and couldn’t stand being in the same space with each other, but this time they can comfortably snuggle but just not in front of the humans >_< It feels like he's telling us that she is his girl, like he's afraid we would mount her or something

Edit – today I’m trying two things: 1. give him more ‘projects’ to do. I noticed he’s been into digging recently so I gave them a big cardboard castle and a huge blanket to dig/push about. 2. For myself, I’m trying to occupy their room a little step at a time. I’m sitting in the furthest corner of their room and everytime he hops by I give him a treat. 

So far we had some progress. He’s distracted by so much things he could do and he chase her less now. Here’s a photo of them flopping 1 meter from my armchair (he’s the grey one)

[Vienna Blue in France]

That photo just warms my heart on this cold autumnal morning !! Lovely !!

@BF – Barrett? As in live-on-his-own-doesn’t-need-to-worry-about-bonding Barrett?
He doesn’t have a bunwife (yet) to be compared with?

[Vienna Blue in France]

Megan – you mention they fought badly on first meetings – what was your bonding process which resulted in successful bonding ? (ou “bondage” as they’d say in France !!! )

[BunnyFriends]

Barrett doesn’t have a bunwife. But he has a wife.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Posted By Vienna Blue in France on 11/04/2016 6:17 PM
She, being a girl, is obviously being more intelligent about this whole new process…… lol.

When I said ‘She’ of course i meant the girlie bun who is not fazed by the change compared to ‘confused’ boy bun….

LOL. I know Barrett doesnt have a bunwife! lol. What I meant was Patton!! LOL (pseudos, bunny names, i get confused….!! Lol)

And I’m sure the human ‘Barrett’ knows his (human) wife has the final say in the house, but he is content in knowing he “lets” her have the final say….. LOL

[Megan143]

Posted By Vienna Blue in France on 11/05/2016 4:40 AM

Megan – you mention they fought badly on first meetings – what was your bonding process which resulted in successful bonding ? (ou “bondage” as they’d say in France !!! )

Hi Vienna Blue,

Back then I only got to do it after work everyday and it took 3 days. During the day they were kept in the same condo but if she looked stressed we would separate them so she can get some rest.

He used to be our only bunny so he thought he occupied his condo and most of the house, although he didn’t show much interest in the bathroom so I used the bathroom as the bonding location. I ‘trapped’ them in a small space and I stayed out of it (at first I was in the space but that didn’t work out as she would just hide behind my legs) and let them hump a bit (only broke them up if it got rough, but fortunately there wasn’t any blood drawn, only fur pulling and lots of grumpy noise). I put banana on top of their foreheads to encourage grooming, and I also put them next to each other to pet them together, kept switching my hands over to mix up their smell.

When that didn’t work out so fast I just kept narrowing down the bonding area, and finally she started grooming him and they both flopped. 

Are you in the process of bonding bunnies?

[Vienna Blue in France]

3 days – ahhh le bonheur !!…
I will be starting bonding with my mega monsters in the bathroom next Friday. I have a three day weekend…

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