advice on what to do next..

so i have been bonding for what seems like a life time!

and the progress goes up and down, but there is virtually no humping (maybe Mojo (m) tries once in the night but gives up quickly) and no fights

my one trouble is Oscar (f) nips the other two girls bums all the time and chases them off, the chasing isn't a chase to hump of fight, she nips their bum then chases for like a second and is happy, its kind of like a get out of my space type thing, as sometimes she will just nip them and they will hop over one spot and she doesnt chase or anything.

I don't know why she is doing this.

After everything was going well i increased the space of the pen, then again when Mojo again had slowed down the humping (at this stage he was the only one causing any problems), and then now the cage is really big and for 2 days or so everything was fine, Mojo had pretty much ceased the humping, but then Oscar started her nipping thing.

So what should i do? I could decrease the pen that they are already in or I could take them to another room and vinegar the stuff and start fresh in a smaller pen if that sounds better? But the only other room is my bedroom, which has two buns in there that have bonded (like a treat!), i could move them back to the original rabbit room, but my room would still smell like them i assume, so would this be okay?

thanks in advance for your help

I personally would suggest staying how you are for the moment. my girls had to sort themselves out after every minor adjustment to their space. SO I built up slowly slowly.
Yesterday I bit the bullet and put them all back into their new improved shed set up and so far all is good. I waited til we had 4 days and nights straight with no chasing or fur pulling and this seems to have worked....... I hope:lol::lol:
I peeked out at first light this morning and Dolly Boobies was sat out on her own, then half an hour later when the heavens opened she was back in the shed which is good as I wondered if she wasn't being 'allowed' in.
I also have 3 entrances to the shed so the girls can't guard them all:lol:

Okay thanks, i'll give it a bit longer then and see what happens

Its just been a few nights like this and was wondering whether i should go back a step. Everyone is still eating and such so no one is too stressed, but Oscar is just not being nice . During the day they look so lovey though

Well done on your four, iv'e seen the photo's you put up, i hope my four can be just as happy ! And I'm currently building a new shed/aviary set-up for mine so I will have to look into putting in numerous exits!

oh and how long did it take to bond your four? i know its different with all buns, but just wondering

I think it was about a fortnight all told, but I suspect they will still have one or two 'spats' for a wee while yet although I have seen nothing of it for days now. We are now 24 hours in the new/old shed set up and not so much as a tuft of fur!
It does look like and explosion in a malteaser factory inside the shed though:shock::shock::lol:
They will remember what litter trays are for I'm sure:lol:

oh okay, i think mine are around 14 days today, but i started off with 6 then and after a few days took the other two away and started new with just these four.

and im glad your four has turned out well with no signs of any fights or fur pulling or anything since, well done!

and :lol::lol: at least bunny poo is easy clean and isn't smelly :thumb:

emileemason said:

my one trouble is Oscar (f) nips the other two girls bums all the time and chases them off, the chasing isn't a chase to hump of fight, she nips their bum then chases for like a second and is happy, its kind of like a get out of my space type thing, as sometimes she will just nip them and they will hop over one spot and she doesnt chase or anything.

Click to expand...

Is she definitely nipping?

Muppette (mum) chases daughter for maybe a second, not more, when I go down to them as (I guess) she thinks I may have food and if food is available, Muppette wants to be at the door to take solo and personal delivery. As soon as the food is there, Gingernut (daughter) hops over to eat with mum with no chasing. So while I notice a small fluff of fur very occasionally, the chasing with her nose up Ginger's bum sort of scooting her out of the way seems to be normal. I did originally assume there was nipping but I don't think there is.

I'm pretty sure she is nipping, maybe not all of the time, but sometimes she has has a little bit of fur in her mouth.

When she was living just with her daughter she was a shover, so when i would go with food she would give Bella a bit of a shove or nudge so that she would move. But she is doing this constantly up here, and she never used to chase when it was them two, now she mostly just chases for a second but sometimes for a few seconds. So maybe she will always be a nipper/shover, but im hoping if that's the case it wouldnt be so often..

She tends to nuzzle her head under the other girls tummys, towards their back legs or under their bum and then she seems to nip them or shove them there and whenever she even comes near the other girls to do this (aka puts her head close by) they just run now as they are afraid of her. Then when they run of you can see her go to nip them.

Its nothing aggressive but its frustrating as they can be having a nice nap together then all of a sudden Oscar comes along and nips everyone's bums and it is dragging out the bonding process..