Arthur and Beth get about half an hour together of playtime a day in a neutral location (the bathroom). Their cages are in the same room - they can see each other if they want, but they can each get some privacy.
I don't know if things are going well or not. Arthur hops over to Beth and sniffs her a lot and seems happy to flop with her. Beth always immediately presents and tries to wriggle under his tummy. There has been no licking yet. However, Beth then ruins it all by humping Arthur!
It's kind of funny because she is about a third of his size, but Arthur gets cross and turns round to nip her. They hop along after each other (not chasing, just lolloping), but Beth will not learn her lesson and keeps humping (even his head, tonight)! Arthur, for the record, has never humped anything as far as I know.
My hubby has the bright idea of putting the two of them in the living room, which Arthur spends a lot of time playing in. The results were not very good - Beth was keen to explore and play in the litter tray, but Arthur went nuts and kept attacking her. He even bit me. There was not blood, no injuries or screaming (apart from mine) but we split them up after about 2 minutes.
Beth is just over 3 months old and came to us almost 3 weeks ago, Arthur is about a year old and came to us last December (and was neutered some months ago). I don't intend to give up yet as I know it is early days, but I should like to get some opinions on how to help the bonding process. The flopping together is an improvement since Beth first came home, the humping is not.
Will things be okay? I guess in some ways I need a little hand-holding and reassurance.
x-posted