New Cage advice

I have built a new cage for my babies and now I need some advice. I think they are bonded, but I am not quite comfortabe putting them together. They haven't shown any signs of agression and lots of grooming, but there is a lot of humping going in. I let them do it for a few seconds and then stop it. Will that happen forever or is that something that should stop when they are fully bonded?

It is a 3 level home. They have not been in it seperatley. With that said my other question is til I feel super comfortable wth them together all the time is it ok to block them off on seperate floors. Their cages are rather small so if I can keep them in the bigger cage it would be so much better for them. I just don't want them to get territorital over the floor they are on and fight when the other enters or because they are not next to each other become unbonded.

How old are they and have they both been spayed / neutered?

They just turned 1 on September 27th. They are both neutered. I had them done in April.

Is it one humping the other or are they both humping each other? If they are both doing it, then they may not have yet sorted out who will be dominant.

It appears that your cage is 2 grids by 3 grids? It is nice having the multiple levels. You may already know this, but they will still need floor time in an area that gives them more space to run and binky. Upper levels don't really count toward total square footage since it isn't continuous.

Right now are you just keeping them on separate levels when you aren't there to watch?

Yes they are both doing it. It doesn't turn into any aggressive although I don't let it last more than a 5 seconds and not at all if it is on the wrong end. The one does it more often than the other. I should just let them do it?

Yeah I have an area that I let them run around, but honestly they do not like coming out of their cages. I can leave the door open and they will stay in there. Which is why I went big.

I do have them on seperate floors unable to get to the other until I am sure they will be ok together, I saw them fight. It scares me to think they can do it again.

A problem I have also is I notice the Casper is starting to chew on it. I knew this would happen but not as rapid and I went to pick up some pieces and it is sharp. I am afraid he is going to get hurt. Is this ok?

My male rabbits would Do that to. I wouldn't let them do it but when I wasn't around I have no idea what happened. I also noticed that ALL the hair on their necks was pulled out from the humping. If you see this being an issue in the future because of showing issues or anything I suggest that you separate them soon or else your rabbit will have no hair on its neck! Once I separated them the hair did grow back but it wasn't the same and it took months.

I can't advise on the other stuff but as far as mounting goes I have 2 pairs and the ones I have just bonded went through a stage where as I left them together for longer and longer I noticed the male mounting the girl quite a bit for the first little while each day. I did let it happen to a point as I had been advised it is them sorting out who is boss and that most new rabbit pairs go through it some more than others. My girl was very submissive and it never ended up in an argument but I did remove her once when she did move away and he started to chase her as I thought that may not end well.

It got to the point where I actually started to feel that it was happening each morning because I was separating them overnight each night. It would go on for a while each time I put them back together each morning and then nothing for the rest of the day. After a number of days I took the plunge and left them together and I haven't seen it since.

I am by no means an expert and I could tell from day one that they were going to be a reasonably easy bond, just my personal experience on the mounting issue.

I should also add that there was no aggressive behaviour with the mounting and I never saw him bite into her at all when he did it but she was, as I said, very submissive.

If they are both humping each other and you are having to separate them, then you really don't know what they will do when you aren't there to separate them. I wouldn't feel comfortable allowing them to share a cage until I felt sure that they didn't need me to intervene at any time. This may mean testing the waters by seeing what happens if you don't intervene. However, if you don't feel they are ready for that yet, then don't push it. Go with your gut.

Once you are comfortable that they can be together without you being there to separate them, then you may try letting them share a cage. If it helps, whenever that time comes, you may want to camp out nearby overnight so you can hear any problems before they get out of hand.

As for the chewing of the cage... is it on the wood ledges?? If so, you could purchase plastic corner bead. It is clear plastic with a self-adhesive tape on the inside. You can just stick on the offending edges to see if it deters chewing.

Thank you Blue Eyes. I am going to look into the plastic corner beads for the ledges.

As far as the humping, yesterday I put them in and they tried it a few times. For the most part they seemed to stop on their own, but a few times I had to stop it. They ran up and down the floors, groomed each other, and even slept together. It was so cute! Plus, the humping stopped, but seeing as it was the first time they went a long period of time without humping when I went out and went to bed I separated them. Today, I let them get back together and their attitude has changed. No aggression, no humping which is great! BUT they haven't paid a bit of attention to each other either. They seem to be staying on different levels. No interaction at all. Is this normal after being bonded? Are they bonded? Is this normal?

Personally I wouldn't be putting them into the new cage until they are bonded, otherwise I worry they might claim a level as their territory and not move beyond it. Which is possibly what could be happening, or they just felt like hanging out on a single level.

Are they both males or both females, if so they are just trying to show their dominence