would love some advice (nipping)!

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This topic has 4sd replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 5 months ago by Sirius&Luna.

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- 05/30/2018 at 12:53 AM
  thumpers momma
  Participant
  35 posts
  hey friends! i’m back with yet another question about bonding.
  
  so, i separated my boys for quite a while and let them thoroughly forget about each other. then, i began prebonding again and decided they were finally ready to try a quick tub session. for the first ten minutes, thumper shoved his head under baxter and they both “hid” in each other. i’m sure they were scared because the tub is slippery and they don’t “know” each other, etc. then after that, they both kind of just minded their own business on opposite ends of the tub. occasionally, one would move around and the other would get defensive–ears back, looked ready to lunge, but then they wouldn’t. they’d just realize they weren’t a threat. so all in all it went pretty great! thumper even flopped down and groomed himself a bunch next to baxter.
  
  the only thing i’m curious about is nipping. at one point baxter looked like he was about to groom thumper, but instead, i think he nipped his head or neck? thumper just turned around and hopped a little bit away, and then nipped baxter’s butt. baxter flinched but didn’t move at all. is that just them communicating with each other?
  
  one more thing: i always read about ending a session on a positive note, so that’s what i always tried to do/that’s what i did this time. i went to smush their faces together and pet them a bit, but then they must have been like “woah he’s moving toward me” because they both got defensive and actually lunged at one another. there was a tiny bit of fur pulled, but it was really quick and then they hopped away from each other without me having to intervene. am i going to ruin it for them because of that? obviously i don’t think i ruined the progress just by doing it once, but i guess i’m just curious what you guys think about it. i don’t want them to think the other one is getting territorial when really it’s just me moving them. i just didn’t know how to end on a positive note when they were on the opposite ends of the tub. (we did end on a positive note after that, as i managed to smush them and pet them for a few minutes.)
  
  thanks in advance for any help!
- 05/30/2018 at 3:50 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  Nipping is how they communicate, so nipping is fine as long as it’s not biting (draws blood or pulls fur). They were probably just saying ‘get out of my way!’ in this situation.
  
  To be honest, ending on a positive note can be them ignoring each other. The important thing is to try not to end on a fight. I wouldn’t smush their faces together, as that might make them feel threatened, but placing them next to each other and petting them both could work, and its also good at getting their scents all over each other.
  
  If you think the bathtub isn’t working, you could try the bathroom floor, or a larger space. Some bunnies do better in larger spaces, while others do better when they’re forced to interact in a small space.
- 05/30/2018 at 2:58 PM
  thumpers momma
  Participant
  35 posts
  thanks so much! i’ll keep this all in mind. i’m going to try another session or two with my night off tonight, so maybe i’ll try one in a larger space and one in a smaller space/the tub to see how it goes.
- 06/03/2018 at 9:38 PM
  thumpers momma
  Participant
  35 posts
  hi everyone, a little update…
  
  i’ve been doing one session per day with the boys, but was wondering if maybe doing more could help? they’re still mostly just ignoring each other, but get increasingly more curious with every session. only thing is, when thumper comes up to sniff baxter, baxter immediately goes to lunge at him. he never actually bites him, just seems like he’s trying to scare him off. he only does this about half the time, and thumper hasn’t been aggressive at all. anything in particular i could do to help move the process along, or should i just increase the frequency of sessions?
  
  they also have been grooming themselves at the same time as each other once in a while. thumper flopped over and got comfier than i’ve ever seen him this last session, but baxter still seems tense.
- 06/04/2018 at 8:00 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  Increase frequency or length, or both, whatever works for you! Hopefully Baxter will start to calm down when he realises Thumper isn’t ever aggresssive.
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