Baby rabbit wont stop nipping!

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SophieHoani

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Mar 10, 2021
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Bristol, UK
My new baby girl rabbit loves to lick probably more than being petted, unfortunately she nips a lot when doing this and I can't figure out how to stop without discouraging her licking. So far I have tried yelping when she bites, rewarding licking sessions where no bites happen and moving her away if she bites. Is this the right direction? It seems to be helping a little but I would love some more pointers!
 
I would pretty much ignore it, just moving away. If she's young it very well might just be a phase and she'll grow out of it. Couldn't stomach much more than a finger anyway :D
 
Really all you can do is mimic what other rabbits would do. Grunt(or 'yelp' like you're doing) to show irritation, nip or lunge to get the other rabbit to stop and move away from doing the excessive grooming(firmly, but not roughly, nudge or shoo her away from your space), or flinch and run away which is what the submissive buns do in the group(so probably not what you should do as you're 'top bun' :p ). And if they're really bugged they will throw a loud thump in there as they're hopping away.

Anyways, that's what I see my rabbits do with each other when one of them is grooming a little overenthusiastically. Happened with Libby since she was little. She likes to 'groom' all of the other rabbits whiskers off. I'll watch her start licking them and then YANK! They'll flinch and run away from her, and usually give a loud thump on the way out. The dominant bun over her does a little grunt and lunge to get Libby to move away if Libby is bugging her.

So a lot of what you're doing is right. Just be consistent and always make sure you're doing this within seconds of her nipping behavior, or too much of a delay between the two and she won't be able to associate your response with what she did.
 

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