Conflicting and Confusing Rabbit Bonding Signals

[BunzandMe8]

Hi everyone!

So I have some confusion about where my rabbits are bonding wise and how to progress with them. I had a 3-year-old female rabbit named Penelope and then recently adopted a second female who is about a year old named Winifred. Both have been spayed and are extremely social with humans and show no aggression. In typical bunny fashion, they are also huge divas. I am struggling to understand where they are bonding wise because they show conflicting signs. As a little background, I have been working with them for about 3 weeks and have tried various techniques such as stressing, bathtubs, hallways, etc. There is always some amount of fighting but usually they will stop fighting on their own before it becomes too violent or with a spray of water or a loud “No” or “Stop”. They are mostly not fond of each other and we seem to be stuck in this phase.

Each time I use the tub or the hallway my younger rabbit starts off by trying to bite the older rabbit or ignoring her for a few minutes and then attacking her. They briefly scuffle and then move apart from each other or some chasing happens and it then stops. If I try stressing them (putting them in a laundry basket and moving it around) they don’t fight as nearly as much but still there are nips exchanged.

My confusion is that when put into the stressful situation the younger rabbit who usually seems to be the dominant rabbit doesn’t act like it. Winifred pushes her head under Penelope to “hide”. The older rabbit (Penelope) who rarely bites or attacks (and seems to be the submissive) puts her body, head, or paw over the other rabbit as if to protect her. Winifred will randomly bite Penelope if they are in this position for more then a few minutes. Secondly, Penelope mounts Winifred 20-35 minutes into the bonding when she gets comfortable. The rabbit who usually displays dominance just accepts this mounting and doesn’t fight back unless its been done for more then a minute or so and then she gets annoyed and bites.

In every situation, even after fighting, both rabbits will groom themselves in front of each other and Winifred will often just flop over and lay down! I am just very confused about where my rabbits are because I struggle to understand the rabbit language and have never bonded rabbits before. Please let me know if this behavior is normal, what I can do to help the process, and any advice for bonding them. The going is getting rough and I am in need of some wisdom! Thank you!

[Sindri]

I had some conflicting behaviors during my bonding. It confused me too because I had heard that if a rabbit grooms another its a good sign yet my rabbit that was doing the grooming was also the aggressor. He would attack and then groom. My bonding was difficult and long. I would suggest starting a bonding session with stress bonding of some type then put them together and everytime you have a fight or negative interaction go to stressing again. That is what ultimately worked for me.
I wish you the best of luck!

[LBJ10]

Sounds like Winifred is demanding to be groomed (sticking her head under Penelope) and Penelope is refusing because she feels she is the dominant one (holding her head over Winifred). If Penelope is humping, that is her trying to assert her dominance. Seems like they are having a bit of a power struggle. Penelope feels she is dominant, but Winifred is being defiant and will not accept that (she wants to try to be dominant).

Have you tried smearing some banana on Penelope’s head? If Winifred licks it off, then that would signal to Penelope that Winifred is “submitting”.

[LBJ10]

BTW, they may not be getting stressed enough in the laundry basket. Have you tried putting them in a carrier together and taking them for a car ride?

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