Is Kibou asserting dominance or does she want them gone?

[Lion_Lop_Lover]

The “babies” are now approaching 5 months in age, and as they are all female have been living with mom Kibou from day one. Now…just this past week Kibou has started humping the babies. I am wondering, is she trying to assert her position as the dominant female or does she want these tag-along babies gone from her life already?

I could easily separate Kibou and have the sisters live together, but this wouldn’t be ideal, since they all get along 99% of the time.

 

Like right now, Little White Guy is grooming mom, who is flopped on the floor.

[Beka27]

that’s very likely. at a certain point the familial bond is not as strong as the conflicting hormones. that’s part of the reason why siblings will begin to fight, mothers and babies may stop getting along. at that point, they are no different than any other 5 rabbits together in a cage. Lisa43 has her some of rabbits separated now, i believe there are 5 together, and then 2 together. i think they can all get along for short, supervised playtime, but not on a 24/7 basis.

humping is not enough of a reason to separate them, but you have to watch that it does not turn aggressive.  do you have other housing solutions if they need to be split up?

[Sarita]

She’s most likely tired and wants them gone. We usually separate mom’s from the babies at 8 weeks to give the mom a break.

[Lion_Lop_Lover]

The babies definitely aren’t nursing anymore, just living as little adults. I’m thinking asserting dominance as well. If she keeps it up I’ll have to separate her…grr.r.

[Author]

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