Pinky biting

[Moonlightbunny66]

(long post)
I made the mistake of having Pinky and Muffin’s x pens too close (there was a gap but Pinky moves his pen around with his nose). I didn’t think it was close enough that they were able to bite but Pinky managed to bite Muffin’s nose (more like a scrape with his tooth, didn’t drip blood). I think Pinky was just hyper since it was feeding time but I was busy preparing Muffin’s meds. This happened on Thursday and he went to the vet yesterday on Friday (his chin is healing yay! and the bite will heal on it’s own since it’s not bad).

I wasn’t sure before what to put in between them to keep the pens apart that I’d be fine with them chewing, but still allowing them to see each other. I found some short plastic boxes and put those in between with cardboard covering the edges so the plastic doesn’t get chewed. Now Pinky can’t push the pen over there or reach Muffin at all.

Anyway, I want to start bonding sessions soon since they’ve been neutered for almost two months and I’ve been doing prebonding since about one month.

Now I know that Pinky might be nipping Muffin a lot during those sessions. Should I be using a dustpan and prevent him from nipping or should I let it happen? I don’t want poor Muffin to get nipped again. He didn’t do anything to provoke Pinky. I’ve read that you should start them in a small space so I was planning on putting them in a tall bin on the bathroom floor so they’re squished together, then moving them to the bathtub after some sessions. Is this a good idea?
And does anyone have tips to teach him to stop biting me? He pretty much only does it when he’s mad like when I’m trying to give him meds or I’m locking his pen. And has done it a couple times when I hand fed him pellets (I stopped because of that). I’ve heard you should yelp but my reaction time is always delayed when he does it. He’s about 1 and a half years old.

I’ve tried to simulate how to interact with another rabbit using his “fake Pinky” plushie I use for Muffin. I used the nose to pretend it’s grooming his head, his ears, and cheek (basically petting him with the nose). He looked like he enjoyed it. Then I set it down and sat on my bed and I couldn’t tell if he was nipping it’s head or grooming it back. Is this a ridiculous idea? It’s just something I thought of lol. I was just hoping this would encourage happy feelings in him (grooming) during his future interactions with Muffin.

Any tips are appreciated.

[DanaNM]

Don’t stress about the nose nip, these things happen to be best of us. (See my post about “Nose guards” in the habitat section to see my most recent exciting discovery LOL).

For during the actual sessions, I would recommend getting a pair of thick leather gloves. A dustpan can work (or some people will put tennis shoes on their hands), but honestly the instinct for me to just get my hands on them is so strong. I used to also use over mits.. but a big bunny can bite through those. Plus I prefer to reach in and start petting, rather than just shoving something between them. I have also seen people use a colander to allow rabbits to sniff each other safely in first introductions.

I actually prefer a large space over a small one, especially for initial introductions and if I suspect there might be fighting. I know there is a ton of debate on this, but my opinion is that if you are a scared animal, and your options are “fight or flight”, if you give the bunny no room to flee, they will fight. Especially with two big bunnies, you could end up with them locked onto each other in a small space and it could get serious quickly. Not trying to freak you out, but this has been my experience!

So for first introductions I tend to use a large space, and release the rabbits on opposite ends of the enclosure. Then you can watch them approach each other. Most likely they will spend the first few seconds scoping out the space and ignoring each other (that’s a good sign). When they approach each other, watch their ears. Ears back means they are going to do something aggressive. Ears forward means curiosity. In either case, be read to pet them A LOT when they get close to each other. This makes them think the other rabbit is grooming them and helps start you off on a positive foot. You will prob get a sense pretty quickly of how relaxed they are.

The stuffy-surrogate is a very good idea, a lot of people will do that when bonding. They will swap the stuffies the same way they swap pens.

As far as him biting you, the yelping is a good move if you can do it in time. It also seems like a learned behavior from his past life, so he was likely rewarded in some way in the past for it. I think it might work to start wearing some leather gloves when you suspect he might bite, and then do not react or retract your hand when he bites (but do still “squeal”). I recently heard the phrasing that our pets try to turn us into “vending machines” with certain behaviors, so if nipping in the past was the only way he could get people to put him down or leave him alone, it could take some time to unlearn that behavior.

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Moonlightbunny66]

DanaNM Thank you for all the advice! I might do the first bonding session today. Maybe I’ll see how they do in the bathtub first with more space then. I hope they don’t get too aggressive!

That glove-biting thing makes sense. I may try that. And yes he was at a petting farm before, so probably many hands trying to pet him and pick him up.

[Celia & Clover]

When I was bonding I gave them greens to nibble on (instead of eachother, lol). That being said, I didn’t start with particularly nippy rabbits. For what it’s worth, my big rabbit used to bite my little one if he stuck his nose into her x-pen when they were pre-bonding. He even ended up with a tiny bald patch on his nose for a day or two. BUT when I introduced them face to face she never nipped him at all, so hopefully the same thing will happen to you, fingers crossed.

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