Why is he doing this?

[Lillika]

I’ve been doing short bonding sessions in my bathroom. they seem to been doing quite well except for the fact my boy keeps tryng to put his head under the girl’s head or stomach to nudge her to lick him. She won’t respond at all to this so he always ends up nipping her. What should I do? I can’t see the bonding going anwhere unless I solve this problem.

[tanlover14]

First off, are both neutered/spayed?

Second off, how long have you been attempting bonding sessions? I really wouldn’t give up so easily. Bonding can take anywhere between a few days to many months. It just depends on the buns. He’s quite obviously trying to dominate her by having her groom him. This can take awhile if neither bun is willing to submit but usually after a while and a few battles they will begin to figure it out.

Have you been letting them work it out? Or have you been separating/interrupting when he nips? Is he nipping hard or just light nips?

[Lillika]

Yes they are neutered and spayed.

I’ve been doing this everyday for about a week. He starts off with a gentle nibble and then it gets harder and harder so I’ve been stopping him every time he does this. Should I just let him do this?

They haven’t been doing much else, no humping at all.  From the looks of things he is trying to force her to lick him but she wont. 

[tanlover14]

If he’s pulling fur, I would nudge him back. As long as he’s not obviously hurting her I would let him keep going. Usually when my bonded trio does this, the other will give up and just groom him. They really have to be allowed to get past this behavior, if you keep stopping it (and it’s not hurting her physically) then they will just keep having this same battle over and over.

[RoyalElvira]

That is pretty normal behavior. He is trying to be the dominant rabbit and wants her to be submissive. As long as hes not attacking her, I believe they will work it out. I have read that sometimes you can put a little bit of banana on their faces to get them to groom each other. Perhaps you can try this so that he will get what he wants? Maybe it will relax her enough to groom her potential partner!

[tanlover14]

Great idea, Royal! I always forget about that since my buns hate banana!

[laurainthesky00]

I went through that for a month straight with my bunnies!!! infuriating to watch this broken record over and over and over again. My girl, Alice, was the aggressor and my boy, Toasty (looked exactly like a toasted marshmellow when I rescued him), was the stubborn one.  Alice chose him through bunny speed dating. He was the only one she seemed to respect and not bully as much as the others. Alice would groom Toasty briefly and get enraged when he refused to reciprocate. They are both smart rabbits, so they were not fooled by the banana trick. Stress didn’t work. Tiny closed spaces did not work. NOTHING. They just refused to be manipulated. Fortunately, Toasty is very gentle, has no incisors, is the bigger stronger bunny, and has a thick coat of fur like armor. Over time, I noticed that neither rabbit was getting hurt nor was fearful or intimidated. [don’t recommend this] so I impatiently threw them in together in a large space to work out their differences. Observed that still no one was getting hurt, then left them. Except when Alice was feeling feisty, they lived pretty separate lives and then every night they slept a little closer to each other until they were side by side. They seemed to have worked out an equal partnership deal. Each rabbit must groom the other. They were amazing and cuddling and I accidentally made them backstep =(. I moved their living area around a little bit and bam! dominance scuffles. They seem to be repairing the relationship slowly. >_<.

[Lillika]

UPDATE: Can you guys please tell me what you think and whats the best thing to do next.

I’ve been keeping up with bonding twice a day everyday. Good news is they havent had any major fights at all. Bad news-They just ignore each other most of the time. The rest of the time he(Oscar) is nipping her(Pandora) in an attempt to get her to groom him. So far she has groomed him once but that was it. In the last 3 days it seems she’s now a bit terrified of him, if he runs up to her she just runs away. A few times I’ve noticed if hes lying down she will run up to him to sniff him but as soon as he gets up she freaks out and runs off. I’ve also seen him give her a bit of a nip in the bum if she runs past him.

So I’ve been doing stress bonding in my car for the last two days. I would say that is going well, no fights and they do sometimes cuddle up to each other.

What is the best thing to do next? Should I keep up with the normal bonding as well as stress bonding?

[Lillika]

And no banana trick didnt work with mine either.

[tanlover14]

Ignoring is good and remember — buns can literally take MONTHS to bond so don’t get too flustered about this taking so long.

I just brought home a fourth bun to begin bonding into my trio! As long as you help keep me strong through the bonding process, I promise to keep you strong! YOU WILL GET THIS — JUST DON’T GIVE UP!

Anyway, I would try strictly JUST stress-bonding. When they have cuddled and are doing well, progress to normal bonding. If they digress, back to stress bonding. Have you tried normal bonding in say a new house? Family member or friend who will let you borrow their living room or bathroom by chance? New area in not a stressful setting may be a good place to start after some straight stress bonding. They simply have just not worked it out yet. Don’t get down on yourself or your buns though — YOU WILL GET THIS! And when it happens, you’ll realize how much it was worth the wait. Seeing my trio cuddle and groom each other happily just melts my heart. It makes up for all the stress and time of bonding, I promise.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Ditto, Tanlover. Ignoring is a good thing. They will warm up to each other eventually. Longer bonding sessions might help.

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