Pushy Bunny

[Hokankai]

Ariadne is the dominant bun in my pair, and during the day all is well. However, when it’s time for their pellets, she gets REALLY pushy. She’ll “herd” Theodore back to their box, charge him when he hops to the front of the cage,  follow him with her ears down and chin on his rump (not sure if she’s nipping him or not), and wedge herself underneath him when he tried to come up to me while I’m preparing their dishes. She also grunts at him but it falls on deaf ears…literally, LOL. 

Is this normal behavior for bonded buns? What does she want, to eat first? It really bothers me to see her push him around when he’s just excited about food.

[Sarita]

She sounds like quite a character. It can be normal for some rabbits – she sounds like she finds joy in food.

I know it’s difficult not to fill upset, but she’s not trying to be pushy, she’s just excited. It just seems to me, in my experience with male/female pairs that the female is always more pushy about stuff.

I had a pair of females (well I still have one of them, the other passed) and one of them used to get excited about food and hump the other – Toffee didn’t really mind the humping.

[LittlePuffyTail]

the female is always more pushy about stuff.

hmmmm….sounds like a human marriage. lol, sorry, I had to throw that in there.

Poor little guy, though. Does she let him eat his share?

[RabbitPam]

I’d only be concerned if it escalates into serious nipping, and if he isn’t getting his share of pellets. You might need to give him a little dish of his own at a different time when she’s not around him.

[Hokankai]

Yes, I feed them separately. I have a carpet cat toy that’s got a short tunnel and a small platform of top. She gets fed on top he he gets fed in the tunnel so they can’t get each other’s food.

Thankfully he’s so mellow that he just kind of lets her push him around and hops back a few seconds later, but he’s my heart bun so it’s hard not to get frustrated with her

[Hokankai]

I’ll try and get a video of it in the morning. That’s when she’s the most obnoxious…LOL

[Beka27]

Have you tried scattering the pellets? Does she only get possessive if they’re contained in a bowl?

[Hokankai]

She only gets pushy while I’m preparing the pellets, which is funny. Then she jumps up on her platform and waits patiently. I do not scatter them because Theodore is a pig and will eat way more than he should. She gets twice as much food as he does since she’s twice his weight and still growing.

Here’s the vid, which is pretty tame but she’s been getting disciplined for it so I think she calmed down a little: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdh-gGRmxcI&feature=youtu.be

[Author]

Messages