Rabbit won't lick

[Bubaclemkocu]

Hi all,

I am trying to bond a trio (by coincidence my girl friend had a pair of rabbits and I have a single rabbit).

The single male rabbit is only 7 months old.

The pair are both 4 years old, a male and female, who have lived together for 2 years.

I won't go in to bonding details because I can see the other threads, but it has been 1 month now and the single rabbit has not once licked either of the other two rabbits, which I think is causing problems and is stopping them bonding.

He constantly asks for licks, but he has never reciprocated.

We've tried using banana on their heads, pellets, watered down banana, watered down pellets. Nothing works.

Any ideas/advice?

Thanks

Rich.

 

[joey&boo]

It sounds completely normal to me, I'm guessing single boy is top bun ? Things happen much slower in trio bonds but in time he may decide to reciprocate, its still very early days.

Are they all sharing space nicely? If so they are bonded enough & the rest should come with time. Congratulations too - bonding a trio is no mean feat

 

[Bubaclemkocu]

He is not top bun. The 4yr old male thinks he is. Before the trio, the female netherland was the dominant one in the pair. Introducing the new rabbit changed everything.

4yr old male (Kocu, holland lop) has humped him, the 4yr old female (Buba, netherland dwarf) as also humped him. The younger male (uk mini lop) allowed the others to hump him before, but now nips or fights back of they try. He hasn't been humped in weeks, but has also never tried to hump the others.

They have not bonded and cannot share the same space without fighting.

We are still doing supervised bonding, 1hr sessions at a time (if they don't fight). When fighting, the 4yr old male seems to start, but the younger male seems to get the better of him. We stop the fights straight away, but the smaller male normally pulls some fur out. Sadly, we turned our backs for 30seconds the 1st week and the younger male tore the 4yr olds ear quite badly.

Now we pull them apart or distract them if there is agressive nipping.

It's been a month since they were introduced. They haven't fought in a few days, they nip, but stop it for escalating themselves. So, slow progress.

All three were lying down together today, but I still think they need to sort the hierarchy out. I think the younger one is not quite sure how to socialise.

 

[mismatchbunnies]

Hi all,

I am trying to bond a trio (by coincidence my girl friend had a pair of rabbits and I have a single rabbit).

The single male rabbit is only 7 months old.

The pair are both 4 years old, a male and female, who have lived together for 2 years.

I won't go in to bonding details because I can see the other threads, but it has been 1 month now and the single rabbit has not once licked either of the other two rabbits, which I think is causing problems and is stopping them bonding.

He constantly asks for licks, but he has never reciprocated.

We've tried using banana on their heads, pellets, watered down banana, watered down pellets. Nothing works.

Any ideas/advice?

Thanks

Rich.

Hi! I had pretty much the exact same problem when bonding my male and female. My male would NOT lick my female at all, despite how much she groomed him and asked to be groomed himself. It felt like a miracle the first time we saw him licking her back (probably at least a month after living together full time and being bonded), although he definitely doesn’t groom her a lot at all despite being the submissive bunny. It’s usually two or three licks at a time as opposed to my female who will groom him for multiple minutes at a time. I think it’s just his personality. He also came from a bad breeder and we think he was separated from his mum at a young age so failed to learn some of the typical bunny characteristics and behaviours. But overall it doesn’t really affect their bond. Yes, I’m sure my female would love to be groomed more by him as she often asks him (of which she is ignored a lot of the time), but we make sure that we pet her and give her a fuss so she definitely doesn’t lack any attention haha. That being said I wouldn’t be too worried about your bunny not licking the others, as it may come later in the process or not at all. I don’t think it will matter that much if he is displaying other behaviours of dominance or submission which the other rabbits understand so that it shouldn’t affect the bond.

 

[tonibun]

Are they all neutered? Can you consider getting the single boy a girlfriend of his own?

 

[Bubaclemkocu]

Thanks mismatch, that reassures us a little more! The aggression seems to stem when Clem doesn't lick Kocu back.

Tonibun, they are all neutered. We have thought about getting another female, but we're also worried it might make things worse. This bonding has been so stressful we want to avoid another one where possible.

The bunnies are usually freeroam (while bonding they are in separate large enclosures), so we're terrified we'll end up with a pair in one room, then a single in one room, and another single in another room, whilst giving them seperate turns in the garden