What to expect when bunnies are establishing hierarchy

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 10sd replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 1 month ago by sarahthegemini.

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- 01/21/2017 at 2:38 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Those of you that may be following my bonding thread will note that Peanut and Buttercup have been getting on tremendously -“it was what I believe a love at first sight scenario with just a minor humping issue (I’ve been marathon bonding since Monday 11am and it is now Saturday 8:30pm and Peanut has humped Buttercup 5x) Unfortunately when mounting her, he did mount her face too which meant I was hesitant to call them “bonded” as I didn’t want to leave them unsupervised til the face humping ceased. Anyway, yesterday was their first scuffle.
  
  It was a bit of a blur but I believe Peanut mounted Buttercup, she didn’t like it, and circling ensued. She gave chase and we stopped and calmed them both down. Both have been back as normal since – snuggling, flopping, sharing hay and veggies, sharing litter boxes, grooming each other.
  
  I guess what I’m confused about is, if they’re working out their hierarchy, should I expect more scuffles? They both ask for grooming and both do groom each other but since the scuffle yesterday, Buttercup has been asking/demanding it more and Peanut obliges most of the time whereas when he asks (much less than Buttercup) she only reciprocate some of the time. This would lead me to believe that she is now top bun however Peanut is sniffing her butt a lot and I’m afraid he’s going to try and hump her which could lead to another scuffle as Buttercup does not want to be mounted.
  
  So what should I expect? In an ideal world, one would hump and one would immediately submit but of course it isn’t going to work like that!
- 01/21/2017 at 6:17 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Yep, expect more until they both have decided for sure who is the boss. Any scuffles that start, stop them like you did originally
- 01/22/2017 at 3:03 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  I’m so on-edge, I just hope I can react quick enough should another one occur. How do I know when they’ve actually decided/settled on the hierarchy? It took 5 days for the first (and so far only) scuffle to occur.
- 01/22/2017 at 7:42 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  That depends on your comfort and their personalities. If you feel they have a cemented bond, extend the bonding sessions a few more days just to be sure, and if all is well after that, it should be fine
- 01/22/2017 at 11:31 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  That’s the thing – everything points towards them being bonded already, they are fantastic together but I just don’t feel I can trust this hierarchy issue. I’m scared something will ‘break out'”when I’m not here if/when Peanut tries to mount again. Boyfriend said last night, bunnies started sniffing each other’s butt and then Peanut attempted once to mount her and I guess missed or something but then gave up and didn’t try again. I suppose this means he doesn’t accept her as top bun. They both groom each other tons! I just don’t know if it would be safe to leave them. Would you say if a week passes w/o issue then it’s okay?
- 01/23/2017 at 1:02 AM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  I wouldnt leave them together until you feel comfortable, personally. If mounting still leads them to scuffle, it would not be best to leave them alone yet. Bonded bunnies might hump now and then, and you dont want a scuffle to break out when that happens. At this point, it sounds like they arnt fully sure who is and who is not the boss yet, so it would not be best keeping them together alone until they have accepted their totem
- 01/23/2017 at 2:55 AM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  More sleepless nights for me then It’ll be so worth it I just hope they don’t take too long lol. Peanut tried mounting again this morning but Buttercup immediately hopped out of his way and bowed her head down to demand grooms and he obliged But then he’s been thinking about humping her quite a bit since, he just gets distracted lol.
- 01/23/2017 at 10:41 AM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Thats a good step though! If he is ok with her jumping away and ok with grooming her, it sounds like he wants to be the top bun, but is slowly accepting he might be the bottom bun. It doesnt sound like it should be too much longer if they keep at this pace
- 01/23/2017 at 11:43 AM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Posted By Mikey on 1/23/2017 10:41 AM
  
  Thats a good step though! If he is ok with her jumping away and ok with grooming her, it sounds like he wants to be the top bun, but is slowly accepting he might be the bottom bun. It doesnt sound like it should be too much longer if they keep at this pace
  
  I hope so! Is it odd that Buttercup grooms him a lot too? Though it’s usually on her terms – when he asks, sometimes she’ll just do a few licks. When she does a proper grooming on him, it’s because she wants too.
  
  Oh, boyfriend said last night when Peanut tried mounting, Buttercup dodged him and demanded grooming and he groomed her. So that’s a couple times he’s done that
- 01/23/2017 at 2:53 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Now Peanut is not obliging Buttercup’s demands :-/
- 01/23/2017 at 3:10 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Okay so Peanut wanted to mount Buttercup and she hopped around again and demanded grooming and he did oblige. Confusing pair!
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