Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BONDING Bonding – Help with behaviors needed!

Viewing 6 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • JackRabbit
      Participant
      5451 posts Send Private Message


        I’ve been working on bonding my three bunnies, Kieko(F),
        Moshi(M), and Marlee(F) (actually still doing one-on-ones because of aggression).  All three have been spayed/neutered at least
        9 weeks.  I’m not sure how to interpret
        some of the behaviors I’m seeing.  Hoping
        you all can help!


        1. Session with Kieko and Moshi where Moshi had
          been the aggressor – Moshi grooms Kieko then puts his head down for her to
          groom him.  She responds by putting her
          head down too and won’t groom him.  This
          happens during every session.  Is she
          being submissive or is she demanding continued grooming? 

        2. When Kieko won’t groom Moshi back, he starts
          sticking his head up under her tail and nipping at her genitals.  He’ll do that then groom her again a few
          minutes later and when she won’t groom  him back he goes up under her tail again.  Huh?  Do I stop him when he does this?

        3. After sessions between Kieko and Moshi, Moshi
          goes to play with Marlee (they’re already bonded).  She has started grooming him almost non-stop
          when they’re together.  He loves it, but
          is she smelling Kieko on him and getting possessive?  Marlee will also groom Kieko during their
          one-on-ones even though Kieko will not groom her back either.

        4. How do I get Kieko to groom back?  I’m considering the banana on the head thing, but does that get too messy?


        I want to start bonding sessions again with all three
        together but since Moshi was very aggressive toward Kieko when Marlee was there
        before, I thought I’d better get a little help figuring out what’s going on
        first! 



      • Zombie-Sue
        Participant
        875 posts Send Private Message

          1. Demanding grooming is dominant behavior, but sometimes submissive rabbits decide it’s their turn, too. but it’s not a bad sign, rabbits will do that–the only time this is a problem is when the other rabbit refuses and it causes a fight.

          2. Are you sure that’s what he’s doing? Does she hop away from him or do they fight when he does this?

          3. I don’t think so. Unless it’s causing fights, don’t worry about it. Grooming is always good.

          4. What do you mean by too messy? You might have to clean it up off of the floor they don’t eat it. Bananas aren’t that messy usually. I don’t think it will be a big problem for you.

          Keiko might not ever groom back. She doesn’t necessarily need to. My trio has been together for a month ish now, and I haven’t seen Tank ever groom the other two, but I see them groom him and each other.

          This is all normal bonding process. I think it’s fine to put all three of them together. If the girls start fighting, I’d try removing them to stress bond them a little bit and then put them back together again.


        • MoveDiagonally
          Participant
          2361 posts Send Private Message

            I would try the banana trick… I actually would mush it up a bit in my hands and rub it on their heads/near the base of their ears. Lol. It’s a little messy but they usually lick it off. I would also place treats on their heads, like craisins, or hide them behind their ears, stuff like that. You can always use a damp cloth and wipe their heads if they still have some residue.

            I would be wary of genital nipping. Is it “biting biting” or cleaning/nudging nips? My only concern would be if they are injuring each other in that area. :/

            The grooming when you put M&M back together is probably scent related. Have you tried group sessions since you’ve started doing the one on ones? Is there still aggression or just lack of grooming? If you haven’t tried a group session for a while it might be time to try one again to see if things have improved. I can’t remember if you did any stress bonding? Did it affect Moshi? I know you were worried that he wouldn’t respond to it.


          • JackRabbit
            Participant
            5451 posts Send Private Message

              The first time he stuck his head under her tail he practically had his whole head under her — had her raised up so far she looked like she was squatting over his head.  We thought he was just trying to get a good sniff!  Since then he’s gotten a bit more aggressive with it and last time it looked like he was actually moving his mouth and biting (she jumped and made a little noise).  He used to sniff Marlee’s butt before she was spayed but never like this. Do rabbits groom other rabbits there?

              We haven’t had any group sessions since the one on ones.  We did some stress bonding with Kieko and Moshi in a tall plastic tub but both were trying to jump out and I was afraid they would get hurt.  Switched to forced snuggles and that seems to be working.  Moshi hasn’t been aggressive during the one on ones with Kieko, but Marlee hasn’t been there.  Don’t know if it’s the stress bonding, the forced snuggles or Marlee not being there that made the difference.  Kieko is still pretty scared but is tolerating the other bunny during the one on ones.  I guess we’ll do a group session again and see how that goes.  BTW, I’ve calmed down with the bonding!  Got rid of the squirt bottle and the colanders and the whistle but kept the heavy duty gloves — now I just stick my gloved hand/arm between them and yell if needed!


            • JackRabbit
              Participant
              5451 posts Send Private Message

                I think he’s biting.  She doesn’t really hop away.  She just sits there with a weird look on her face at first but when he really gets going she jumps.  She’s too afraid of him to fight (she’s big bad bunny when she’s in her condo and sees him out, but acts like he’s going to eat her when there are no bars between them).  Kieko isn’t as afraid of Marlee, and Marlee is curious about Kieko but not aggressive at all so I can’t see the girls fighting.  Moshi is the one I worry about.  When we first started group sessions, Moshi is bigger than the other two and was definitely the one starting fights (with Kieko).  Luckily the only one injured was my husband (glad he doesn’t read here!) when he stuck his hand between them and Moshi bit him hard (now he wears gloves too!)


              • JackRabbit
                Participant
                5451 posts Send Private Message

                  Guess I’ll be heading to the store tomorrow for craisins *and* bananas!


                • Zombie-Sue
                  Participant
                  875 posts Send Private Message

                    If she doesn’t even hop away, I don’t think he is hurting her. He might just be anoying her. When I was bonding my rabbits, the two bonded rabbits would often try to groom under Tank’s tail. He really HATED it, so he’d often grunt or thump at them for it. It caused fights in the beginning, but then he just started hopping away.

                Viewing 6 reply threads
                • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                Forum BONDING Bonding – Help with behaviors needed!