Bonding Question (I know, I know)...

[holtzchick]

I've done a lot of research on bonding, I must say, as prepared as I was prior to bringing my new guy home, it was completely different for me just because he was actually infront of me. (Sounds more complicated online )

Anyways, so, I've introduced my two in small increments in the tub after they've been living side by side for 3 weeks and I've stressed them with a vaccuum cleaner prior to letting them in the tub.

Everything is great, both bunnies are calm, so as long as Phoenix is grooming Hippogryff. He demands to be groomed, but when she wants him to groom back, he won't do it and she gets irritated and nips him in the but, or will pull fur from his belly. His reaction to this is to run away from her but I normally stop it once I catch it.

I've read mixed reviews on whether or not I should allow this to happen. I know to separate them if it goes onto a full fledged fight, but I'm wondering if it will help to allow her to nip him and see where it goes.

Everything else is fantastic as a matter of fact, as long as I'm grooming her and they're laying side by side, both bunnies love snuggling. Keep in mind i've only done 3 dates with them so far so I might be ahead of myself but it's just something I'd want to know for the future.

The problem is is that the vaccum stresses Hippogryff out too easily and when he is stressed he will not accept treats. I smeared banana on Phoenix's forhead to no avail. He just demands and demands and demands grooming.

There has been no mounting/circling/chasing behavior other than her nipping him and if I stop it everything is okay, but in my opinion she has a right to nip him because he won't groom her back lol!

Any opinions and advice on the matter would be greatly appreciated! PS. Sorry this got so long!

Thanks all!

 

[JBun]

Now that you've done it a few times, what about doing a bonding session without stressing them and see if he'll do some grooming then. He might just be feeling too stressed to do any grooming and just wants to be comforted. If you're worried about Phoenix being a problem, you could stress her and not him and see if that works better.

 

[holtzchick]

Ah, thank you. Didn't even think of that! Sometimes, it's so hard to think of a proper solution when you're stressing out.
It's great that I can come on here and get someone else's perspective

 

[holtzchick]

Finished the session and kept it relatively short. Basically he won't groom her and will nip her if she refuses to groom him for a while. I'm hoping this will pass with time but even though I didn't stress him out prior to he still wouldn't take a treat from me or from the top of her head

 

[Blue eyes]

It can take awhile for some rabbits to agree to groom another rabbit -- it can take days or weeks. The one demanding the grooming is wanting to be dominant, so they have to work out who will give in. If one of them does not retaliate when being nipped, that is a promising sign. So if one just hops away, that's fine. You want to keep an eye out that they don't decide to hash/fight it out.

 

[holtzchick]

Yeah unfortunately they kept pulling fur, both of them so I just stopped it before it escalated.

Thanks for the reply though!