can a rabbit over-groom his new mate?

[m0therofdragons]

We had a single indoor rabbit - male and neutered. He's fab but we felt he needed another bunny friend. We rescued another boy and have gradually introduced them. All going fairly well. Older bunny is clearly the dominant one and new bunny is seemingly happy with that. My only concern is that the old bunny is grooming and humping the new bunny too much. Or do they like it? Should I stop it or leave it?

The humping is dominance behaviour and perfectly normal. Older bun is just asserting his position as Chief Bunny and reminding little bun of the pecking order. Grooming is a social bun thing. If little bun doesn't seem bothered by it then it's probably fine. If it is going on too much and little bun seems upset, then perhaps a trip to the vet may be required. I did a little research and apparently bunnies can over groom their friends if their friend has mites or is not well.

I would be more concerned about having 2 male buns together as this is not normally successful, although there are exceptions. Is little bun neutered?

Little bunny will be neutered soon. We can keep them apart and are doing so when we're not here but when home they have the run of the living room together.

Hope they're having lots of fun and binkies together!

I would keep them apart but next to each other/swap areas until the new bunny is neutered. It will remove the risk do any fighting happening, which is more likely prior to neuter and if they start to fight then they will be unlikely to be kept together again. Male/female pairs are generally easier, but male/make or female/female pairs can work too, particularly if one of the bunnies is younger. I've kept several pairs/groups with more than one boy.

Grooming can be a problem if one bunny ingests too much hair, but if you keep both rabbits well brushed then it's less likely to be a problem. Humping is normal during bonding, but excessive humping can either annoy the humpee and mean they bite the humper, or it can mean the humpee gets very distressed and doesn't eat properly etc.

By 'dating' them (putting together for periods and then seperation again) you're actually prolonging the humping as each time they are out back together they have to start establishing dominance from the start again. This can be stressful, especially when there's lots of jumping going on. You're absolutely right not to leave them alone together for now though.

Personally, I'd keep them separate but next to each other and then set aside 48 hrs when you can completely supervise and put them together somewhere neutral and bond them. Wait until both are neutered though. If all is going well after 48hrs then you can start leaving them alone.

Just to add, I've found small space bonding works best with most bunnies and if there are scuffles or lots of humping, (to the point they may annoy each other) chucking a handful of pellets in will usually distract them.

They are next to each other in their cages. Bunny is recovering well from an abscess so we can look into neutering now