Chasing?

Hiya Everyone

Well I adopted a bun in November and bonded with my other two, Bailey and Leah. No argument that it was quite a long difficult bond but eventually everyone seemed to be getting on, the new bun very much being the dominant one. Leah and Bramble (the adopted bun) get along great and Leah follows her everywhere, but my other bun Bailey well she just tolerates her but I've nver seen her groom another rabbit (I used to have a male rabbit who sadly passed away two years ago at age 9), and everytime Bramble or Leah try to groom her she runs away so I'm not sure if this annoys Bramble as Bailey won't have anything to do with her but sometime Bramble will grunt and chase her but nether rabbits have ears down/tails up/threatening behaviour.

Has anyone seen this before, bailey (the bun that runs away, doesn't groom or let any bun groom her) sits with them at mealtimes no problem and when they are out on the grass she sometimes nibbles near them, but as soon as Bramble and even Leah hops next to her she runs off (thus why i think maybe they get annoyed with her???). She is obviously at the bottom of the pecking order.

They are all female and all spayed (Bramble had her spay in November), the other two are 8 and the new bun is 2 if that helps.

is this normal?!!!

ps. Sometimes Bramble grunts and chases Leah too if its dinner time!

Rabbits have strange ways at times. Do they fight or co-exist amicably? If they don't fight I would just let them get on with it.

yes they seem to co-exist, they don't fight at all, just chasing and running away now and agin, I just thought I'll put a post on and see what everyone thinks Wanted to check it was 'normal'!!:lol:

It doesn't sound like a terribly well established bond to me, it must be pretty miserable being a bun constantly on the alert and running away. Personally I would try restricting them to a neutral, small area for a week or so an expand the space again gradually, see if some time 'forced' more closely together can help to consolidate the bond. I don't think what you describe is normal for happily bonded bunnies. Good luck x

Well I popped them back into neutral territory a few weeks ago and tbh they all just sat there wondering what was going on. They don't fight or appear aggressive or scared of each other, just this chasing occasionally, and like I said previously Bramble does it to Leah now and again too (mostly dinner time!) and her and leah are best of buds.

Bailey has never been one for grooming from what I've observed, even when it was just her and leah and also when they had Mr Orion in the group too (who passed two years ago), and just hops away if any bun tries, but just was wondering if anyone had experienced this before? It seems to me that she just likes to keep herself to herself and maybe Bramble gets irritated by this sometimes?