If he is presenting himself to be groomed then that means he is trying to get the upper hand in their relationship. The bunny “demanding” to be groomed is the one who is dominant. It sounds like your girl isn’t wanting to accept that. LOL

Is she actually hurting him when she nips? Some bunnies are just bossy and use nipping as a way to get what they want.

yeah, what LBJ said lol. This stuff is pretty normal. I know it’s hard to watch, but this needs to happen so they can sort out who is in charge. As long as no real damage is being done, it’s not as bad as you think it is.

I have 3 bunnies and one of them (the smallest – I think he has small man syndrome) often nips the other 2 to show them he’s the man. It seems to be if they’re in his way or doing something he doesn’t approve of. I think it’s like a pecking order, it shouldn’t really have an impact on the submissive one other than helping to establish a hierarchy, even if it does seem a little mean.

Yes, let him hump her at least for a little while. That way he’ll feel like he made his point.

You should allow a few seconds of humping BUT as soon as you see the bottom bun getting annoyed or flustered about it, lightly push the other bun off. Don’t immediately do it though – wait until she begins to show signs of being annoyed and angry.

I have a bonded quintet and the last one I added to the group has a TERRIBLE habit of nipping everyone to get her way. It actually drives me absolutely insane that she does it but it’s a bunny thing and that’s just how she interacts with the others. All the buns are used to it now and don’t fight with her about it so I wouldn’t worry unless it’s REALLY hindering them moving forward. It doesn’t sound like it is though especially if your other bun is beginning to not get so upset about it. It can definitely take some time for them to work the kinks out but it will happen!

Like the others said, they need to be allowed to work things out on their own. A lot of times things look worse than they actually are. Only intervene if someone is getting annoyed/angry/distressed by what the other is doing. Nipping and humping are okay as long as nobody is getting hurt.

Have you tried squirting her with a water bottle when she’s nipping at the other bun? I do this with my group when I’m bonding (I always seem to have one who loves to nip everyone else!). The idea behind it is to cause a negative reaction every time she does it so she begins to associate the nipping with getting sprayed. My girl typically runs away foot flicking but after a few times she gives up and quits.

Don’t know if you have tried this but…
I have a very dominant female bun who just wouldn’t bond with a third despite many different methods. They were comfortable in each others presence but not bonded. Our breakthrough came when I started forcing them (all three) into one litter box whether petting them while they were in there or letting them eat their hay. It wasn’t immediate but it was a dramatic improvement and over days of force sharing a litter box, they bonded.

Ah, Miaeih. You just reminded me I did something similar.

Here’s a blog post I had written about bonding my quartet. We had A LOT of issues with nipping. You may be able to pull something from there. Sometimes it’s hard to remember all the different things you tried but that was my hardest bond and I had to switch things up a million times before they actually began showing improvement.

http://www.wheekwheekthump.com/2014/01/02/rabbit-bonding-series-part-3-bonding-quartet/

I’m bonding four right now.  I am halfway through a bonding marathon that started three days ago on Friday afternoon.

tanlover14 has given me a ton of ideas, follow the link she gave you a while ago and read everything on bonding, it helped me greatly.

I have the exact same situation you describe, times two!

Two of my bunnies, a bonded brother and sister of lops, nip ALL THE TIME!  Sometimes aggressively, sometimes just to get another bun to move out of their way, sometimes for no reason at all.

My other two bunnies had gotten very fearful, and reacted hysterically to the nips, jumping around, knocking things over, thumping, running over the other rabbits, just chaos.  This would often provoke more nipping for the two biters!

I have tried several things that helped.

1.  Changing up the stressors and going from one stress session right into the next back to back.  For example, a session in the dryer (dryer turned off and cool, but turning the drum as soon as the nipping starts), car rides, in a small box on the washer and dryer, in small cage around very intense (but safe) dogs that they don’t know, and loud noises.

2.  Long extended sessions, in very tight quarters, either a small cage with a sheet over it or a box with very high sides and covered.  I put them in the tight spaces right after a couple of hours of stress sessions, and intervene when nipping/squabbling starts.  If the nipping and skirmishes escalate or become constant and no amount of squirting with a water bottle, or shouting, or vacuum cleaner running or pulling the cage or box around settles it down, back into the dryer they go and back into the car in a small laundry basket.

3.  As I said, a marathon bonding session, where they are never separated, no matter what.  I am on day three of this, day and night bonding in a small cage with constant supervision, and there has been a dramatic improvement in the nipping and the fear and hysterical reaction by the other two.

Good Luck!