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Who's Top Bun in your pairs/groups?

tlcwrites

Mama Doe
I'm just intrigued, because in my pairs/groups, it's pretty much ALWAYS a doe on top.

The order of dominance in my groups appears to go as follows:

The Quad:
Elphie (female; 6.5; blue dwarf lop)
Morningstar (female; 3.5; blue cross)
Selene (female; 1; black standard rex)
Helios (male; 1; broken castor standard rex)

(yes, all 3 does are unrelated. I still can't quite believe how I made that one work! Helios and Selene are siblings.)

The A's:

Athena (female; 1.5; chinchilla otter lionhead)
Apollo (male; 1.5; orange dutch cross)

"Mum's" Buns:

Rivergrace (female; 3.5; grey otter cross)
Takumi (male; 11 months; tricolour cross(mini rhinelander?))

And the latest pair...

It's looking like it'll settle this way (eventually), but it's only day 3:

Persephone (female; 8 months; chocolate point mini rex)
Morpheus (male; 1; harlequin lionhead)

Even in previous groups/pairs, it's been girls on top:

Elphie
Galinda (d. Jan 2016; female; blue dwarf lop - Elphie's littermate and sister)
Archimedes (d. 04/08/15, male; est. age 10; tricolour dwarf lop)

...though, to be fair, with my lop trio, they were almost all more equal partners. They were only together for about 6 weeks total. :( When Archimedes began to fall ill, the girls increasingly paired themselves off. He just couldn't keep up with them. Elphie was always SLIGHTLY more dominant than Galinda, but it was only slight. Archimedes was the calming influence that made my girls see past their previous differences and lived harmoniously until Galinda's death.

So yeah, pretty much almost always girls on top. I'm just wondering if anyone else has the same experience? Or if I just end up with super feisty dominant girls (even when they are NOT dominant, like Selene, they are still more dominant than the boy!)
 
Boo thinks she is, we have tried telling her being bossy does not equate to being top bun but it falls on deaf ears :lol: Joey actually is. Mouse does command a lot of grooming though & she's bottom of the pile ..I think:oops:
 
Funnily enough, I was wondering about this the other day, when it suddenly occurred to me that I've never had a dominant male, out of 5 pairs and a quad.

Curiously, in wild rabbits who live in large groups there tends to be one male dominant over the other males and likewise with females. It's only in small groups that we see the m-f pecking order sustained over time.

I'm very envious of all your rexes. I have a soft spot for them. Soft like velvet :D
 
Funnily enough, I was wondering about this the other day, when it suddenly occurred to me that I've never had a dominant male, out of 5 pairs and a quad.

Curiously, in wild rabbits who live in large groups there tends to be one male dominant over the other males and likewise with females. It's only in small groups that we see the m-f pecking order sustained over time.

I'm very envious of all your rexes. I have a soft spot for them. Soft like velvet :D

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has strange thoughts about these things. As I saw Persephone refusing to back down to any attempts at dominance from Morph, I was just thinking "oh gosh not another dominant female. Do ANY males know how to be dominant?" (Speaking of Morph, he just did an adorable full on DBF in front of me. Sef is loafed at his rear end. They're butt-to-butt. :lol:)

I'm definitely intrigued to see whether statistically it would be 50/50 and I just seem to attract bossy and dominant does. Or if there is a gender bias towards one being dominant over the other.

I love rexes. :) I've had 4 - Lelantos was a chocolate mini rex (and my first), but got ill and died very quickly over Christmas. :( Helios & Selene came as a package. I didn't even know what breed Persephone was before I went to pick her up. All I knew was that she was an abandoned "white" rabbit in a flat. Then I discovered a mini rex in a hamster cage. :( So, it's only coincidental that I got her as my 4th rex-type. Their fur is magical, and I find them to be very good "people bunnies" - and very greedy! But I pretty much love any breed, hence why I have a fairly nice mix of mostly-medium sized buns. I also find lionheads to be pretty special as well. Morph looks like he's approximately 90% floof. :lol:
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has strange thoughts about these things. As I saw Persephone refusing to back down to any attempts at dominance from Morph, I was just thinking "oh gosh not another dominant female. Do ANY males know how to be dominant?" (Speaking of Morph, he just did an adorable full on DBF in front of me. Sef is loafed at his rear end. They're butt-to-butt. :lol:)

I'm definitely intrigued to see whether statistically it would be 50/50 and I just seem to attract bossy and dominant does. Or if there is a gender bias towards one being dominant over the other.

I love rexes. :) I've had 4 - Lelantos was a chocolate mini rex (and my first), but got ill and died very quickly over Christmas. :( Helios & Selene came as a package. I didn't even know what breed Persephone was before I went to pick her up. All I knew was that she was an abandoned "white" rabbit in a flat. Then I discovered a mini rex in a hamster cage. :( So, it's only coincidental that I got her as my 4th rex-type. Their fur is magical, and I find them to be very good "people bunnies" - and very greedy! But I pretty much love any breed, hence why I have a fairly nice mix of mostly-medium sized buns. I also find lionheads to be pretty special as well. Morph looks like he's approximately 90% floof. :lol:

I would love a look at those statistics! All my females have been feisty. Though generally not at all aggressive towards humans. They've all been spayed as well.

I've only had 2 rexes - my first was a chocolate otter I had as a teenager called Hazel. He was the softest, most exuberant and smartest animal I've ever met. He was like the family dog and followed me everywhere. People used to ask if he was a hare. He lived to a ripe old age and I was devastated when he died.

My second is my current male - a black otter mini named Lupin. He is very, very cheeky and funny :)

I love them all, lionheads too. The floofy cheeks! :lol:
 
I've only got the two females. Daphne is the boss though.she's a very feisty girl and knows exactly what she wants. Phoebe is very laid back so I guess it's just them.
I feel if we got a male, Daphne would still be boss. She likes being in charge.

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I'd like to say Mylo, she's definitely in charge at feeding time but then she's also the one who does all the grooming! I'm not even sure it's a dominance thing though, she will literally chase Theo around just to lick his head - She was always an odd one! :lol:
 
I've only had 3 pairs in the past and each time the doe was top bun, or liked to think she was. I had a girl standard Rex and she would try and steal all the treats for herself but my buck would grab them back. I'm down to a single bun now and she's a feisty one, she's sweet and lovely with me but I need to pair her up with a laid back male.
 
The two pairs in the smaller room - the boys are dominant - Sheldon is certainly boss and Lenny is boss too (although he is hen-pecked - literally - at meal times :lol:)

But Bug (F) and Prudhoe (M) - Bug is boss.

Not sure about Princess and Joey yet - I think he will end up being boss - but she is a stroppy little madam so will be interesting to see how they work things out.
 
I've only had pairs of bunnies since having Alfie - he's had 3 partners now and he's always been the dominant one.

Alfie's current partner was the lower ranking bunny in her previous relationship too I was told, so maybe that helped with bonding; things might not have gone so well if Muffin wanted to be dominant too. :?
 
Our first rabbit was Ben, a stray rex, and we got Deedee, a crossbreed, as a partner for him. Ben was always dominant, she would spend hours grooming him, (in fact over grooming so that the inside of his ears became sore) whereas he only ever seemed to give her a cursory lick now and then. Feeding was a bit of a nightmare as he would literally rip food out of her mouth, but they spent a lot of time lying together and were obviously devoted to each other. But when Ben died and we got Fred, a lionhead, she seemed to change and become more dominant. She tormented fred terribly when he first arrived, and they had some rather nasty fights. Gradually things improved, but he would wash her and then push his head under her chin and she would turn away. I felt so sorry for him - he was trying so hard! Eventually she fell for his considerable charms and now like she was with Ben, they are very much a happy couple. Fred asserts himself by taking food from her if he finishes first, but she doesn't seem to mind. He seems to groom her a lot more than she grooms him. So this pairing appears more equal, although she would appear slightly more dominant than him.
 
Aboleth, but not so dominant that Lopsy doesn't get a look in :) He's just so laid back he doesn't give a toss XD He still humps her sometimes, but she gets him back, ten times as bad! I feel a bit sorry for him sometimes! Groom-wise it's pretty equal.

ETA: it's always face-humping as well! Blimmin' things...!
 
Edith (f) is the dominant one out of her and Winston (m). I was told that it was most ideal to have the doe as dominant in an m-f pair. I really want a third bunny, but I just don't want to risk breaking Winston and Edith's bond!
 
We have 2 females (Willow and Fudge) and a male (Salt) and to be honest I'm not sure who is more dominant. What are the characteristics of a dominant bunny?

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The girl for me, got a boy and girl paired and shes definetly the more dominant of the two.

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I actually have absolutely no idea...and I don't think they know either!

Ruby will put her head under Benny's chin for grooming and he will decide whether to groom her. If he doesn't she may nip him. He will then either move away or if annoyed by it chase her away nipping her bottom. A fur pulling, running at top speed, leaping in the air type fight will then break out for about a minute. The next moment they are snuggled up together again!

Ruby is a big wuss and Benny is brave. When in an unfamilar situation I have noticed Ruby crawls under Benny and he sits over her. This is how they always are when the vet opens the carrier at the vet!

They don't like to be apart - this bothers Ruby more than it bothers Benny.
 
in the quad with all babies, 2 females 2 males, i know its tiggi (female) she gets everyone to groom her but occasionally grooms cosmo, she humps anyone who goes to the food first before her and when she doesnt get attention off me she picks on whoever im giving it too lol..
in the quad with mum and dad bun and 2 babies (2 males 2 female) i THINK its squiggles mum bun but buttons the other female is still trying to be top dog and gets put in her place from squiggles. I do get confused though because willow dad bun does protect every bun from the other quad if they approach their home so he like to feel usefull lol..
 
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