A New Dominance?

[Balefulregards]

So, Coco and Jackson have been bonded for a couple of months – together full time since September. During their bonding, they never seemed to sort out who was Dominant, in so much as He would try to mount her, but she wouldn’t have any of it and scoot away. They never fought – she just moved away.

In the last couple of months, I observe her grooming HIM – quite thoroughly – Ears, face, neck…but when she would ask for reciprocal grooming, he would zone out. Or start to groom himself. She frequently presents to him for grooming, and he will cuddle with her, but not groom.

Now, Coco LOVES grooming. She used to thump at me if I stopped before she was ready for me to stop. Clearly in her rabbit domain, this is the ultimate expression of love and affection.

Yesterday evening, I was doing my thing on the computer when my husband says “What is she Doing?”…. I peek over to see Coco, mounting Jackson from behind. Jackson was sitting still – his ears up and kind of a “whats going on?” expression. She finished and mounted him again.He stayed still.

She hopped off and worked on her digging and ripping box a bit ( She has been a MANIAC digging and ripping over the past two days), then came back and presented to Jackson for grooming. At first he looked clueless and she Nudged him with her head –

And he started grooming her. Not well, but he did. He stopped and she nudged him again. He resumed the grooming.

Did I just see Coco decide that Ms Nice Bun wasn’t cutting it and decide that it was time SHE make clear to him who is the Boss? Was that a “You better get to work grooming me or be reminded that I am top Bun” move?

Of course, I am a smidge worried since the little that I have found about bonded rabbits doing this can be the beginning of the end of the bond leading to fighting – but I am more hopeful that she just got sick of him being inattentive and decided to put her paw down.

[Beka27]

I wouldn’t be worried about the bond breaking at this point. Bonded buns may have occasional tiffs (it’s a good idea to always have a second cage or xpen in storage, just in case…)

For months and months my buns never humped, not even during bonding. It wasn’t until several months into their relationship that Max started humping Meadow. He humps her several times a day and she accepts it. It never becomes a fight. I would say that Meadow grooms Max much more than he grooms her, even tho she always presents to him. He will usually groom himself, she presents, he continues to groom himself, and then he might give her a token lick or two. Meadow on the other hand will give Max a full bath couple times a day.

Are you able to pet them when they are cuddling together? It’s not a substitute… but maybe if she is next to Jackson and you’re grooming her, she’ll associate the good feeling with him. I know this is a common practice during bonding.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

probably just a little relationship issue between them, no biggie.

A few months into my bond Fern mounted thistle and thistle mounted Fern!! Well I wasn’t too worried, I just did not want one of them to get angry, which did not happen, I am very lucky to have such chill bunnies, they never had a tiff in their bonding and I am hoping they never will.

[MooBunnay]

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. With Juli and Kramer, Kramer was always the one that did the mounting, but then one day out of the blue I saw Juli mount Kramer! She wasn’t very good at it either, and actually ended up knocking the two of them off the ledge that she had caught him on but they didn’t have any issues (other than crashing to the floor).

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Not to worry-mounting is fine as long as they don’t start chasing and biting Rupert mounts Kahlua every now and then and Chuck (when he’s not sick) mounts his stuffed lion a lot (and he loves that lion )

Did I just see Coco decide that Ms Nice Bun wasn’t cutting it and decide that it was time SHE make clear to him who is the Boss? Was that a “You better get to work grooming me or be reminded that I am top Bun” move?

Actually that’s probably exactly what she was saying

[Author]

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