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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.

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Forum BONDING Bonding – Behavior Question

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    • egc16
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        Hello. I’ve posted in here before, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to remember my username! 

        Quick background – I got my first ever rabbit in March. I was told the bunny was a 1 year old male. Well he ended up being a she, and she ended up being pregnant. We woke up one morning to a litter of six bunnies! All survived and we kept two of the babies – one male and one female.

        Fast forward to today – both bunnies [Mugsy & Jojo] are fixed and I have started to try to bond them. Obviously they were together since birth then they were separated once they were able to reproduce. I always have kept their cages next to each other and now I’m just starting to bond them. They’ve only been together 5 or 6 times, but it has been going great so far – they snuggle and groom each other and seem to be getting along well. I have had one problem though. When Jojo goes to walk away from Mugsy, he nips at her and then she bolts. A few seconds later, she’ll come back and they’ll go back to grooming each other, but it happens pretty much every time Jojo goes to leave. Jojo seems to be a little more dominant – she’s typically the one grooming Mugsy. Also, we have hard wood floors that Mugsy hates. In their play area, we have small rugs scattered throughout so that the whole area isn’t wood floors. The two of them usually lay down together on one of the rugs, and when Jojo leaves, she is hopping away on the wood floor. I’m not sure if Mugsy is just mad she’s leaving and the grooming stopped and he doesn’t want to leave the rug to follow her??? He has never actually bitten her – just lunged out a little, but I want to prevent a fight before it happens. Is this something I should be worried about? Should I be lessening their time together until he stops doing this? Or since he never actually bites her, is it just how he is communicating and I shouldn’t worry?

        Thank you for any input!!


      • LittlePuffyTail
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          Seems to me that Mugsy is actually the dominant bun. The dominant bunny will request grooms from the other bunny. And it sounds like Mugsy doesn’t like when Jojo walks away from him so he’s acting out.

          Regardless it seems like it’s going pretty well. I would just keep doing what you are doing, maybe giving them more time together. As long as there is no actual aggression, I would just leave them be. They need to work out their own hierarchy. This is all part of bonding and perfectly normal.

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      Forum BONDING Bonding – Behavior Question