Bunny OCD?

[PitterPatter]

I was wondering if any fellow bunny owners have had this experience or know what is going on. I adopted a 5 year old neutered dwarf rabbit from my local shelter in November, and adopted a 2 year old female spayed lionhead rabbit about a week later for him as a companion. Their personalities are night and day. He is laid back, and just wants to eat and be petted. She is very active, and is very independent.

Last week the female started to pull out the male's hair right above the eyes and chew on him to the point of causing raw areas of bleeding. I have separated them, but when I give them supervised play time together she heads straight to the male and starts to pull out his hair again. I think she might be trying to groom him, but in such an obsessive-compulsive way that she goes overboard and starts to actually chew and pull instead of licking. Is this actually a behavior issue or could there be a medical basis for what is going on? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[naturestee]

This is overgrooming. If she was doing it to herself that would be one thing, and likely caused by a medical problem. Doing it to the other bun- well some just seem to do that and I don't know why.

Have you tried putting something bad-tasting on that spot? I rub a bar of soap on woodwork to keep the bunnies from chewing it, maybe do that to your boy before letting them play together? Also, would she enjoy toys that she could shred apart instead, like a phone book or piles of newspaper?

I wish I could help you more. This sounds really frustrating.

 

[PitterPatter]

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, the female is still chewing. I put some liquid soap and vinegar on his head and on the healed bald spots where she was chewing on him. Instead of leaving him alone, she just started chewing on a different area, this time basically chewing on his eye. So, bunny therapy session is over.

I have a phone book out for her now. Hopefully she will start chewing on that instead of her friend.

 

[BethM]

Poor guy!

 

[Maureen Las]

I never heard of this before between 2 rabbits

We had a rabbit and a guinea pig that I slowly separated at our shelter (they were surrendered together)
The guinea pig had groomed the rabbit bald on his side from pulling hair out over time.
This is really adifferent scenario because they are different breeds of animals.
I wouldn't put the 2 rabbits together.

Wish I could figure this one out....:shock:

 

[naturestee]

I know Treasured Friend had this with one of her pairs. She had to put them in separate cages but they could play together without too much of a problem.