Too much free love!!

[SeaTurtleSwims]

I took my neutered holland lop to 5 speed dates today, just to see how he interacted with other buns. He’s never interacted with other rabbits before today. He met juvenile new zealands and one adult silver fox (who mayyyy end up coming home with me in a couple months). He met a total of 4 unspayed does, 1 unneutered buck. Same reaction all 5 times. He definitely initiated mounting behavior with every interaction that was tolerated/accepted by all the other bunnies. 

IS THIS NORMAL? I was really surprised to see this in every single situation.

Does this mean it is a bad idea to bring another bunny home?

[Mikey]

What do you mean by intense affections? Constantly grooming the other bunnies, or constantly mounting them?

[tobyluv]

It would be a lot better if any potential companions he met were already spayed or neutered. Your rabbit is going to react to the hormones of unspayed and unneutered rabbits, and those hormones could cause aggression on their part.

Also, how long ago was your rabbit neutered? It can take a month or longer for the hormones to settle down, so it’s always good to wait at least a month after surgery before any interaction between rabbits.

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Sorry for the unclear language, Yes I mean mounting each rabbit he met. My rabbit was neutered back in march so it’s been several months. Is mounting considered aggression in rabbits? This is brand new for me, thank you for your patience. I read about facilitating bonding with introductions, but want to be sure I have a rabbit that is suitable for a friend before I take it further.

The bunny I am likely to get will not be spayed until I acquire it :/ Is there any way to measure their relationship prior to this? More dates do you think?

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Okay, this website http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-4/tough-bonding.html says that mounting is acceptable in the early stages as long as its tolerated by the rabbit being mounted. Does that jive with your bonding philosophy?

He didn’t display any of the aggressive behaviors they described (no circling, boxing, chasing or biting), just climbing around on top of the other bunnies and mounting (He was half their size, smaller than the juveniles too haha)

[Mikey]

Mounting is ok on early stages, yes, as long as no one fights back. However, rabbits can smell other rabbits hormones and react to that by also acting hormonally. You dont know if he actually wants to bond with a rabbit until you find another fixed rabbit to try to bond with him. Otherwise, its just a guess since you wont know until the unfixed rabbit is fixed and hormones have drained

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Bummer :/ I don’t know any fixed rabbits. The silver fox is around a two years old and belongs to a friend. This doe is soo docile she wants to get a litter out of her because they are a threatened/rare breed and she will pass on good physical/personality traits to promote the breed. If she is bred over winter after gestation, babies, spay and homone drain it might be summer before they could meet on an even playing field Hmmm

But lots of people purchase juveniles and spay afterwords, correct? I guess it’s just a wild card if you do that. Interesting. It’s a little complex haha.

I just learned about stress bonding? How do you feel about that? Putting them in a bathtub or laundry basket to force them to hang out? Seems weird, but there’s not physical harm I guess. Is it somehow better than just supervising regular interactions?

[vanessa]

Most of us used stress bondin with our bunnies. I think a bathtub is too big though. I wodul start small – like a laundry basket or a cat carrier.

[Mikey]

My trio was bonded in a bath tub and in a tote. Its slippery so fights are less likely to happen, and its neutral so no one really wants to fight over or protect territory. I dont think this really counts as stress bonding though, unless one or both buns are scared of the tub/tote/basket. Stress bonding is usually done in car rides, on laundry machines, ect. Something that creates a lot of movement to make the buns nervous, forcing them to be friendly for comfort. They start to see the other bun as less of a threat and more of a companion

[Vienna Blue in France]

My first sessions I went straight in the bath and it didnt go well.

Some other theories are give them a bit more space to check each other out first… DO NOT put anything in with them that already has the scent ofnone or other of the buns.
Completely 100% neutral.

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Bunny psychology 101. This is all very interesting Thank you guys!

[RoseBlossom]

I read that bunnies sometimes mount not as an attempt at breeding but to establish dominance. Sort of like what dogs do, how one is dominant and one is submissive. So maybe they just have to figure that out! As long as it doesn’t involve any violence, intentional or not.

Also, male and female pairing is usually the best duo. And when doing introductions it helps to introduce a female into a male’s territory, instead of a male into a female’s territory, as females tend to be more territorial. There could possibly be more aggression in the latter scenario. Hope this helps.

[Mikey]

@RoseBlossom,

It is a dominance thing when all bunnies are fixed, but even if only one bunny is fixed and mounting is happening, theres a high chance that the fixed bunny is feeding off of the unfixed bunnies hormones. SeaTurtle’s bunny might be dominant naturally, but the other bunnies hormones are making him act on it more so

[RoseBlossom]

@Mikey

Oh that’s interesting. I never knew that, but it makes sense. I bet the mounting would be less if both bunnies were fixed.

[Author]

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