Bum sniffs+Nips

[Asriel and Bombur]

If any of you follow me on instagram, you’ll know we moved about a month ago. The boys had been escaping a bit to see each other, so we decided to attempt going for a bond again. Bombur’s issues have calmed down and things have settled, so it seemed pretty opportune. 

The boys are fine spending long periods of time together. Asriel does all the grooming (Bombur will a little only when there’s juice involved). They’re comfortable enough with each other to eat, lay, and litter together. None of this is surprising, as they basically picked up where they left off in August. It’s all basically positive signs, and I would totally marathon them over a weekend, BUT there’s one issue. 

Bum sniffing/nipping. I’m pretty sure this was an issue during their overnight fight that happened back in August. Bombur gets fussy when Az isn’t grooming him, and he’ll moosh his head under his bum and 5 seconds later he’ll nip. This causes Asriel to freakout and try to nip Bombur’s bum, and thus the circle begins. Asriel does the same thing (because he never gets groomed), and of course the same thing happens. I always break up the bum contact almost immediately because it always ends in a circle. 

Any suggestions on this? It’s pretty frustrating, as they are best pals aside from this. They move in a unit together. They go to the same places and explore together. They always want to be together. I really don’t feel comfortable using the water bottle technique, so please don’t suggest this to me. 

[Dface]

Not helpful, but my pair are bonded and didnt really grow out of this, its where the scent glands are so its a very intresting spot to have a nose.

For me, I never found a solution, other than patience – after a while they just kinda realised they weren’t having fun when that happened and their circling behaviour slowed down/stopped being fights.
They dont nip anymore but they do frequently annoy each other by rooting around where they dont belong.

Edit to say:
How do yours like the hoover? When mine were acting up I used to switch it on, and Yumi generally calmed down and looked for comfort instead of picking fights

[Doodler]

I wish I had some words of wisdom but just wanted to say I’m so happy you are giving it another try and have my fingers crossed for you all!! They seem to really want to be best buds but just need to figure it out somehow. You seem so close! If only we could explain to them how easy it could be to make it work.

I definitely agree about the spray bottle. I wouldn’t do it either. I do wonder though if finding a different way to stop it might be the answer. How do you break them up?

[Asriel and Bombur]

Thanks you guys!

Currently breaking it up with a firm no or a clap which usually works. Sometimes I do have to go in with a dustpan though.

And yes Doodles! Mainly Bombur. Az is like 110% in on this and dead flopped ON Bombur last night. Bombur looked a tad confused ? if only Bombur knew things were good.

[Doodler]

That is absolutely hysterical. I can just picture Bombur’s face. Silly Az. I feel so bad for him since he’s clearly trying so hard to be friends.

I can only imagine how frustrating this has to be. Good thing Bombur’s too cute to get mad at.

I would be tempted to do a marathon to see if an extended period of time will help them figure things out. I have no clue if that would be the right answer. I would agree that eventually they should figure out that what they are doing is not giving them desired results. I know the more we intervene the longer it can take but I’d be curious if you stopped Bombur from going to Az’s bum and getting a chance to nip for an extended period of time if he’d figure out a better way to communicate. My buck liked to nip at my does stomach and he figured it out. She wouldn’t retaliate so that made it so much easier. Of course as soon as you stop it could start right back up again so it could make for a long weekend with no improvement. That’s tough.

[Dface]

Some rabbits ate just socially inept I’ve found lol ?
It just takes them a wee bit longer to put the pieces together.

If you don’t break it up will they stop the circling themselves?
Mine, even as a bonded pair will circle each other. They will do it for longer than im comfortable with but it just stops by itself and doesnt escalate, they just do it.
No two bonds are the same and its about finding whats normal for your pair.

[Asriel and Bombur]

So I let them circle to see if it would stop… and we ended up with a pretty nasty scuffle. Quite disappointing as they spent the majority of Saturday together. Sunday morning we let them circle and they duked it out. Poor John had an awful bit on his wrist. We decided to cool it and not bond on Sunday. So I think I’m just going to have to break up the bum sniffs and see what I can do on that front.

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