I went through something similar when I was trying to bond my lop with my Bridge bunny. One way grooming. Some bunnies love to groom, some don’t. I would definitely keep at it. This is a pretty minor bonding hurdle. They are not fighting and I think, with time, they will work this out for themselves. Maybe try longer bonding sessions to give them more time together.

I have to agree with LittlePuffyTail, you should definitely keep at it and this is definitely a minor hurdle! I would definitely give longer bonding sessions too. My buns sometimes refuse to groom each other like such and they’ve been a bonded trio for months now.

How hard are they nipping? Sometimes the only way they’ll figure it out between themselves if they can be a little aggressive towards each other. My girl was very aggressive towards my boy but only because she wanted to figure him out on her terms not his. He gave up and now they are total lovebugs. You don’t want them to injure each other or anything but if it’s only a small amount of nip and small nip back they just could be battling it out. If you get too nervous you can keep a spray water bottle close to spray them if it goes too far. I know when bonding I would get really nervous and break it up to soon and neither could figure out the hierarchy in a sense. As soon as I gave them more space to work it out they quickly became bonded after that.

Hi!

I was wondering if you had had any progress. I just adopted a fixed male bunny to pair with my fixed female. I’ve had Aura (the female) for four years and decided she needed some more company. The first day Benjamin mounted her, so I thought she was going to be submissive. However after that she hasn’t let him near her and starts a lot of fights. Today Benjamin tucked his nose under her chin, showing SHE was the dominant bunny.  But they still nip really hard back and forth, which turns into fights.

Any improvement in your situation that you can help me with?

Hey there,

I actually don’t think I read your last post on here. I hope you continued with the bonding sessions because although many people think it may not be WORTH the bonding, I wholeheartedly disagree. I’m a firm believer that almost any buns can bond if given the right guidance. You simply have to make a positive environment for them together that makes them associate the other bunny with positive things.

In toning down the sessions, I think you’re doing the opposite of what you hope to accomplish. I’m currently in the process of bonding my bonded trio and another bunny. The more aggressive I am with the bonding sessions, the better it has gotten. First mistake when putting them back into the crate — DO NOT switch them to another environment until you cement their progress IN the crate. It’s only time to move on if you’re moving them to a more stressful environment because they’re not getting along in the crate and it’s not even stress to help them progress OR if they are cemented in the one area and you try in a new one. When trying in a new one, if they break out back into a fight it’s back to the crate! Trying different types of stress bonding is also a good way to switch up the stress so they don’t get used to the stress. I’ve been switching out of the bath tub, to a laundry basket with me dragging and shaking it, to an area I have portioned off that is TINY and just enough for them to move around and every time someone nips or bites they get sprayed and if it escalates any further I turn on the vacuum to scare them again.

Littlepink, when a bunny tucks his nose under the other bunnys chin he is demanding grooms.. not submitting. Have you tried the trick of rubbing banana on their heads? It doesn’t work with mine because none of them like banana but if they do this will encourage them to “groom” the other bunny because they want to lick the banana. I have one really fluffy headed Lionhead though and I put a Craisin (a favorite around here) nestled in his fur on the top of his head and my other one who has been picking fights ever since my Lionhead decided to mount him finally began grooming him again (trying to get to the craisin). But it is a positive start! I would try this trick and see if it helps if you havent!