Nipping during “bunny dates” – advice??

[Ruby615]

Quick summary…we’ve had Dusty (neutered Lionhead, 5 yrs. old) for about 1 1/2 yrs, and decided to get him a companion.  We chose Lily (spayed Florida White, 2 1/2 yrs old), and adopted her on Oct. 13th.  We’ve been doing 1 or 2 bunny dates daily.  Much of the time, they’ll snuggle (smooshed) for most of the date, with mostly Lily wanting to be groomed.  She is a girl with a lot of personality and is very outgoing.  Dusty did mounting about the first week of dating, but has settled down on that.  He’s very timid and seems to be intimidated by Lily.  I know it’s not even been 3 whole weeks yet, but Lily tends to do quite a bit of nipping at poor Dusty.  It seems that she does it mostly when she wants his attention…if he wanders off, she’ll nip at him as if to say…get back here!!  I wear an oven mitt and break it up if it gets a little out of control, and say “No bites!”.  I’ll then smoosh them back together and pet them to calm things down.  Even if Lily does a good bit of nipping, I still smoosh them for a bit before ending the date.  I also give them each a treat when they go back to their own areas. Oh…and there hasn’t been any grooming from either of them yet.

I guess what I want to know is if this all seems to be normal bonding behavior?  This is my first bonding and any advice would be welcome.  I’ve tried to encourage the grooming with the banana on their heads and all that did was give me bunnies with banana in their fur .  I haven’t tried stress bonding yet.  I just hate to see timid Dusty looking overwhelmed, but I know they need to sort things out and I hate to interfere too much.  There’s been no blood shed (thank goodness!) and they really do seem to like each other.  I realize it takes time…but am I on the right track?  Thanks in advance!

[BB & Tiny]

I never ” smooshed ” my rabbits together. I had no clue on bonding beyond making sure there was a barrier ( think board or cardboard ) to put between them if it became obvious a scuffle was to break out. Basically heading off BB from attacking Josephine. When they settled down I’d remove it.

Josephine loves to groom and wasn’t shy about cleaning BB’s face continuously, so she would initiate contact that way. Otherwise the dates consisted of them laying apart or washing themselves. I was told grooming while in the presence of another bunny or generally not attacking was progress. Eventually the grooming continued and they became more close.

[vanessa]

I think you are doing a good job. My bunnies didn’t react to the banana either. So I tried different fruits/fruit juices until I found one that was irresistible. Apple juice, and squeezed fresh plumcots were the trick.
For the nipping – that is normal during bonding. Guin nipped Lancelot for the entire process. It was frustrating, because it made him fearful of her. He had a hard time telling if she was about to nip in aggression, or just in bossy-ness. It started with agression, but changed to just being bossy. She would nip to tell him to groom her, not leave her side, sit here, do this, go there, move over, etc. I stopped her if she started chasing him, and I also smooshed them when she started getting a bit too nippy. At some point though, you should stop intervening and let them work it out. I waited until I was sure there would be no true scuffles. Nipping is part of bunny communication. Guin nips my feet to tell me to get out of her way. Lancelot nips my ankles to get attention.
It took mine a while to groom mutually. Once I had figured out which fruit was irrisistable, it still took many weeks for Lancelot to groom without the fruit. Even in the final 2 weeks – I was still using fruit. Only in the last week did I stop the fruit because he improved his grooming of her. My bonding with this pair took 3 months, with a 1 week break, and then a 4 week break. The final 2 weeks of bonding were in a hotel room – completely unfamiliar to either of them – and especially the bossy nippy Guin.

[Stephanie D]

How did this end up? My female is nipping which is causing a fight … Then after I break it up, they will snuggle … He mainly grooms her because she shoves her head under him but occasionally she grooms him back. I feel bad because I’ve had him for longer and I wanted him to have a friend… Just not a friend that beats him up!

[Author]

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