Over grooming around the eye

[gingernutty]

I bonded my neutered rabbits 6 weeks ago now using the method of gradually increasing space. No fights, alot of humping, but that has calmed down now.

The problem now is that the more timid and smaller female rabbit is overgrooming the male rabbits eye and its going bald!
I have tried putting tea tree oil on the fur around the area to discourage her but it didn't.
I have also bought a salt and nutrient lick

They have a large hutch H 112 x W 152 x D 60cm, with a run attached that is double the size of that hutch. They have lots of tunnels and toys, pellets, endless hay and fesh veg each day.

 

[Zoobec]

One of my buns, Beano, is very enthusiastic about grooming, and in particular around the eyes. When I first bonded my 2 pairs together into a quad he was quite obsessive about it, the girls Apricot and Ginger weren't keen on having their eyes cleaned at first, as they never groom each other it was a whole new experience for them. This seemed to make him even more keen to do his job, he's such a kind bunny and loves to make everybun else feel at ease over time he has backed off and although he loves grooming everybun he's not so bothered about their eyes. Hopefully your female rabbit will get used to it all and leave his eyes alone.

 

[Jem_John]

My best advice is to not make a fuss and hopefully it's just a phase. Charlie went through phases of over grooming (and sometimes blatant fur pulling) oscars head, back and eyes. He just sat there and let her! Each area lasted a few weeks as a phase, a couple of times she'd go back into it again and later stop. One thing we did realise is that when we told her off she'd do it threefold (as with anything) hence my advice not to fuss. There's not much you can do as it's part if their natural bond but we try to distract them with more toilet roll tubes, boxes, fresh bunches of hay, more strokes etc!

 

[tulsi]

I bonded my neutered rabbits 6 weeks ago now using the method of gradually increasing space. No fights, alot of humping, but that has calmed down now.

The problem now is that the more timid and smaller female rabbit is overgrooming the male rabbits eye and its going bald!
I have tried putting tea tree oil on the fur around the area to discourage her but it didn't.
I have also bought a salt and nutrient lick

They have a large hutch H 112 x W 152 x D 60cm, with a run attached that is double the size of that hutch. They have lots of tunnels and toys, pellets, endless hay and fesh veg each day.

The minimum sized hutch advised by the RAWF is 6 foot by 2 foot with a permanently attached 8 x 6 run so you may want to increase their living space when you can. Lots of hay and tunnels sound great. I give mine cardboard boxes to destroy. They love them.

My Frosty used to vigerously groom his brother, Snowflake's eyes but luckily never got to the bald stage. Hope they settle down of their own accord.

 

[gingernutty]

The minimum sized hutch advised by the RAWF is 6 foot by 2 foot with a permanently attached 8 x 6 run so you may want to increase their living space when you can.

The run minimum given by the RAWF is 8x4, which mine is more than.

The length of my hutch is 5 foot-ish and depth is 2 foot, height is near enough 4 foot as it is a double hutch. So, despite being 30cm short in length it has almost double the RAWF minimum space because it is a double hutch. Also the coouple are small - a netherland dwarf and a mini lop.

 

[Vegan_Bunny]

Are you sure it's definitely over-grooming? Could he have a problem with his eyes? I have a bun who has on-going eye problems, which means one of her eyes continually waters and she squints it all the time. Her two friends are obsessed about keeping it clean for her and spend a lot of time grooming her poorly eye. Over-grooming can be a sign of a problem, so might be worth a trip to the vets.

 

[Tamsin]

That's a good point, sometimes an enthusiastic partner can clean up signs of discharge so if it's just one eye it might be there is a problem there - perhaps just caught something in it and got a little ulcer thats making it weepy.

Lots of toys is a good idea, also make sure there is plenty of hay in their diet as that's a good time consumer.

As long as she's not breaking the skin and he's not bothered I wouldn't be too concerned. I had a lady bun that was a bit over enthusiastic too - removed her partners sideburns/whiskers regularly (he was a lionhead).