Lots of kissing…and biting!

[Karla]

I am letting Karl and Molly out together now, which is a bit quick, I know, but they both seem so friendly and I felt sorry for Molly being caged 24-7.

Anyway, things are going this way: As soon as Karl sees Molly, he runs over to her and licks her intensely. She craves pets and caresses all the time (in all honesty, she craves it too much. Never seen a bunny like this), so the second she sees him heading for her, she lies down and bow her head. All fine. But Karl will be completely taken away with the kisses – and then bite her! She jumps up and runs away – Karl will run after, which sort of scares her, and then it starts all over again: Karl licks her and then bites her. She gets scared, runs off, Karl runs after her, she lies down, Karl licks her…

I have tried petting Karl while he is licking her, and that seem to help. He also tries to pushes his head under her belly and then bites her. I am afraid she is going to dislike him if he continues. She obviously gets scared when he is running after her.

I guess he wants some loving as well, but Molly is really not the type of bunny who will lick him back. She is too demanding in this regard. Also, I think his hormones are out of control. He is not as obsessed about humping her now that she is spayed, but he still makes the humping noises when he is about to bite her sometimes. And he can sit right next to her, then thump loudly, make these noises and then sniff her back intensely, which she really doesn’t like now after being spayed. She still makes the noises she did though when she wanted him to hump her, but now she is even doing it while she is running away from him…

Today he has begun to lick her – and then start to dig her in the head! I keep pushing him down.

When she is in the cage, Karl is sitting outside and they stick their noses together. None of them licks the other though. Karl also likes to sit on top of Molly’s cage or lie just in front of it. When she was spending the night at the vet’s because of the spay, he stayed inside her small cage for a whole day at his own will. He really likes her smell and there is no poop war on his behalf. She on the other hand likes to go into his cage and pee all over the floor.

Karl was spayed 2 months ago, and Molly 1 week ago.

How should I proceed??

 

[jerseygirl]

Short visits like this are probably ok but Molly should have more time to heal before you really put them together. The whole bonding process can be quite stressful to them.

She sounds like she quite dominant and Karl may bite when she doesn’t return the grooming. It’s his dominant move I guess. The fact he settled when her groomed her then you pet him sort of shows that’s what he wants. His pushing his head under is probably his way of asking to be groomed.

The “digging at her head” sounds like he maybe was trying to mount her head? (She is much bigger than him right?) It’s good you pushed him off, you don’t want them mounting the wrong way as injuries can happen. Either way, if he was trying to mount or just scrabbling at her, it can be viewed as dominant or aggressive. Hopefully she’ll warm to him more and give him the grooms he wants. When you do actually bonding sessions, you can encourage this by putting something tasty on Karls forehead to get Molly to start grooming him.

But again, I’d allow her more time to fully heal.

[RabbitPam]

I agree that they need more time to heal post-surgery, since Karl’s hormones will only just now be starting to taper off and Molly’s need at least 3 more weeks to settle. Maybe short, supervised visits as long as they can be around each other through the bars of their cages. They do sound like they are getting bonded.

Karl’s behavior sounded very familiar, and I am pretty sure that the biting is a thing they do when they are very worked up and want to hump. Spockie used to give my feet lots of kisses until he would bite, I would say “No biting!” firmly, he’d look at me like “oh, gee, I’m sorry.” and go back to kissing. I think Molly does need to groom him a bit, but I doubt she’s in the mood for much of anything for a couple of weeks.

Others here with pairs will know how to get you over this brief period of healing, but it does actually sound like good progress is happening, so hang in there. The worst is over.

[Karla]

I tried the banana trick today, but although Molly loved the smell of my hands, she didn’t pay any notice to the banana on Karl’s head…even though he pressed it against her face. Poor Karl.

I will let time work its magic then. Molly did just come to us one week ago and everything is new and scary, and on top of it all, she was spayed. So hopefully, as she heals and she gets used to me, Karl and the apartment, she will get more relaxed and groom him.

I am watching them carefully.

[Author]

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