# Thumping when meeting a new rabbit?



## hollyjayneee (Jun 17, 2019)

So today. I bought a new rabbit a female like my luna (R.I.P) for my other rabbit to socialise with as he was getting depressed. So I put them in the same run but separated with a wire stopper ( so they don't breed ) as she is only 2mo but my boy keeps thumping and I don't know why?


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## Blue eyes (Jun 17, 2019)

Can you return the baby? Really, you may want to consider this. Getting a baby to try to bond with another rabbit is not the way to go about bonding rabbits. Not only are any bondings with a baby not actual bonds, but the whole process will likely ultimately result in stress for both bunnies and for you too. And in the end, they may not bond at all. 

Please read *here* for a more thorough explanation.


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## hollyjayneee (Jun 17, 2019)

Blue eyes said:


> Can you return the baby? Really, you may want to consider this. Getting a baby to try to bond with another rabbit is not the way to go about bonding rabbits. Not only are any bondings with a baby not actual bonds, but the whole process will likely ultimately result in stress for both bunnies and for you too. And in the end, they may not bond at all.
> 
> Please read *here* for a more thorough explanation.



im not returning the baby as my other rabbit is only 5mo they won't be put together to bond properly until she's 8mo and he will be 11mo, I know about bonding a baby and adult rabbit don't work but I want them to breed them before there neutered I was just wondering why he's thumping but it seems to be for attention.


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## Blue eyes (Jun 17, 2019)

You may want to put a couple inches gap by having two separate pen walls to separate them. Males have been known to impregnate a female through a pen wall. 

Is there a reason for breeding them?


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## zuppa (Jun 17, 2019)

He is 5 months now so sexually active and he gets horny when he can see and smell and even touch a female so close to him, even if she's still 2 months but she's growing and will also start reacting pretty soon that's depending on her breed and personal development but even 10-12 weeks could be. I'd second Blue eyes you should completely separate them until you start the bonding process or if you want to breed them without bonding in a few months but it would be a torture for the buck to be so close while he can't have her and he will start acting weird peeing everywhere showing aggression biting etc. Of course it depends on his personalities how far will he go but you are just putting yourself into a very difficult situation for a few months and she can also get depressed or horny or both, why complicate things? Just get another cage and keep them fully isolated so they can't even see or smell each other.


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## hollyjayneee (Jun 17, 2019)

Blue eyes said:


> You may want to put a couple inches gap by having two separate pen walls to separate them. Males have been known to impregnate a female through a pen wall.
> 
> Is there a reason for breeding them?



I will put a few inches gap there, and I want to breed them for a few family members that want baby bunnies (they will be free) and they have the proper set up etc.


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## hollyjayneee (Jun 17, 2019)

Poopy Poo said:


> He is 5 months now so sexually active and he gets horny when he can see and smell and even touch a female so close to him, even if she's still 2 months but she's growing and will also start reacting pretty soon that's depending on her breed and personal development but even 10-12 weeks could be. I'd second Blue eyes you should completely separate them until you start the bonding process or if you want to breed them without bonding in a few months but it would be a torture for the buck to be so close while he can't have her and he will start acting weird peeing everywhere showing aggression biting etc. Of course it depends on his personalities how far will he go but you are just putting yourself into a very difficult situation for a few months and she can also get depressed or horny or both, why complicate things? Just get another cage and keep them fully isolated so they can't even see or smell each other.


They are in separate cages at night and during the day my male is on the grass if it’s dry ( my female isn’t vaccinated so I don’t put her on the grass yet.) it’s only for 20 mins each day and I just wondered why he was thumping that was my question lmao. I got another rabbit in the first place because my male was depressed after the death of my other female (they were separated the exact same way) and the cages are near to each other because I don’t have space to move them apart


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## zuppa (Jun 17, 2019)

Oh I see now I thought they were in the same cage separated with an extra wire grid, hopefully it will work for you. I had a bit similar situation when I had to separate my 8-9 week old rabbits and male got very angry he's normally never aggressive but that moment he bit me because I tried to separate them. But in my case I didn't know by the time he's a male, people from whom I adopted him told he's a girl so my life was full of surprises when I realised he's not a girl at all. I separated them into different cages and covered sides so they can't see each other, then moved cages as far from each other as I could, now they forgot each other completely and I am hoping that they will bond after both are fixed, hopefully very soon.


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## hollyjayneee (Jun 18, 2019)

Poopy Poo said:


> Oh I see now I thought they were in the same cage separated with an extra wire grid, hopefully it will work for you. I had a bit similar situation when I had to separate my 8-9 week old rabbits and male got very angry he's normally never aggressive but that moment he bit me because I tried to separate them. But in my case I didn't know by the time he's a male, people from whom I adopted him told he's a girl so my life was full of surprises when I realised he's not a girl at all. I separated them into different cages and covered sides so they can't see each other, then moved cages as far from each other as I could, now they forgot each other completely and I am hoping that they will bond after both are fixed, hopefully very soon.



Definitely not that’s a recipe for disaster, and I had the same with my first rabbit who passed away they said she was a boy and I took her to the vets for vaccinations and they was like nope it’s a girl


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## taylor_wt (Jun 18, 2019)

I am by no means a rabbit expert but he could be thumping out of frustration because he's not able to get to the female (for hormonal reasons). Before I got my male bunny neutered and he was displaying very hormonal behavior, I would have him in his playpen and whenever I would walk by or sit closely outside of the pen he would thump because he wanted to get to me. Just a thought!


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## hollyjayneee (Jun 18, 2019)

taylor_wt said:


> I am by no means a rabbit expert but he could be thumping out of frustration because he's not able to get to the female (for hormonal reasons). Before I got my male bunny neutered and he was displaying very hormonal behavior, I would have him in his playpen and whenever I would walk by or sit closely outside of the pen he would thump because he wanted to get to me. Just a thought!



yeah I think it might be that too when she walks off to play with her toys he thumps till she comes to the bars between them. he seems fine in his cage this morning with how close they were (there in different ones) they can see each other but he isn't displaying any abnormal behaviour and he's not showing signs of depression anymore!


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