Grooming

[Jesse97]

Hi everyone.
So I have been bonding my two rabbits for 5 days and everything is going very well. I am bonding my 11 month old male holland lop and my 6 month old female rabbit ( I dont know her breed). Of course they are both fixed. They have taken to each other really well. They are sleeping next to each other and my female grooms my male a lot. I was just wondering if both rabbits have to take part in grooming in order for them to be bonded. My male always presents himself for grooming by putting his head down low under her chin and she will groom him. My female will also present herself for grooming that same way but my male never grooms her. Is this normal? Can they be bonded without them both grooming each other and instead just one does the grooming. Just thought I would ask. Thanks to everyone who gets back to me. You guys are so good at answer so quick

[tanlover14]

Hey there,

As no one had commented yet, I had totally missed this post! So sorry for the late response.

Anyways, they don’t have to groom each other to be bonded! In fact, a lot of people have bonded bunnies that don’t groom each other or only one bunny in the pair will be a groomer. I am wondering the steps you have taken to bonding them? It sounds like there hasn’t been any fighting? And sleeping next to each other is good! It means the pair are relaxed and comfortable with each other. Do you have them living together full-time now? You can consider your bunnies bonded when you can leave them for about 24-48 hours with no fights or scuffles. And when you feel comfortable doing so! It sounds like you’re really close if not already there to having a bonded pair!

[Monkeybun]

I would say no, they don’t both have to groom. The only time my Monkey grooms her Smudge is by accident

[Jesse97]

My rabbis are now prey much bonded. I just wanted to make sure just to be sure. They never really fought. They are in separate cages when Im not home but when I am himethey are together in my room. I can totally leave them together alone while checking on them every once in a while. I think tomorrow I am going to move my rabbits in together seeming that they are pretty much bonded. Thanks for all the helpful information. l

[BinkyBunny]

It can definitely be one sided as far as grooming goes, but that doesn’t mean that they are not bonded. If you feel sorry for one of the one that’s not getting groomed, you can always smear a little banana on the forehead, and the other one may groom then! You just want to make sure though that that doesn’t cause a tussle over a treat.

Also, once the bond has been solid for a while, sometimes mutual grooming will begin then.

[tanlover14]

Keep us updated and let us know how the full bonding ends up! Also, be sure to definitely vinegar and clean the house they will be sharing mutually. This COULD cause some unexpected territorial behavior even if they seem very much so bonded. Better to be safe than sorry!

[LittlePuffyTail]

That sounds exactly like my boys. Stormy would present for grooming, Bindi would groom him, and then ask for grooms but Stormy would never groom back. I felt so bad for Bindi, the poor guy.

Definitely try the banana trick BB mentioned.

[Rymart]

Hi everyone. I hope this is the right place to post this and I’m not responding to someone else’s topic or questions but I’m new so here goes. My wife and I have a gray flemish giant who is just over a year old. He is beginning to she’d a lot of hair and so from what I’ve read this must be his first shedding because since weve had him he has only lightly shed. I’m noticing though these dark patches or almost trails of hair on the top of his nose that run from the top of his head to the top of his nose and I can’t tell if its shedding or if its the beginning of bald spots. We are new bunny owners and not very experienced except for what we’ve looked up. And read ourselves. I will post pictures for you all.
Thanks.

Ps. He’s also begun to urinate chalky urine but I read that that is normal when they have calcium build up. We only feed him pellets and timothy hay, no alfalfa but he’s always been a picky eater and never really liked Timothy hay as much as pellets. He seems to be pretty uninterested in the Tim hay as of now.

[Rymart]

Trying to upload pictures. Having hard time

[Sarita]

Hi Rymart – you definitely need to start a new post rather than tagging on to someone else’s thread. Also the best place to post this topic would be in the Q&A thread rather than the bonding thread.

You can message any of the Forum Leaders if you need help with learning how to post.

[Jesse97]

Sorry I haven’t updated in so long. I didn’t realize I had so many replies. And sorry for all the spelling errors on the last post, I don’t really know what happened there.
My bunnies have been fully bonded for about 2 months now. I am so happy they are together. You can really see how much happier your bunny is when they have a friend. My male rabbit is starting to groom my female every once in a while which is really encouraging but my female is defiantly taking the main role in the grooming. The only thing that I am wondering about is, why they still hump each other once in a while. I guess they are just showing dominance. They are perfectly happy together but they do hump ever so often. Is this normal ? What do you guys think about it.

[tanlover14]

It’s very normal. Although my first bonded trio didn’t hump each other – when I bonded a fourth to my trio he’s always trying to hump the other buns at random points. As long as the other bunny isn’t fighting back it will be fine. Sometimes my other bunnies will nip at the humper when he does it but it never escalates into anything. Just keep an eye on them and make sure it’s not causing any aggression.

[Jesse97]

Its defiantly not causing any aggression. They seem fine with it. Sometimes the other bun will try to get away but never any fights or anything like that. Thanks for all your input.

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