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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum BEHAVIOR one rabbit is not as nice to the other rabbit

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    • they love carrots
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        Over the 1.75 years together Raven, my spayed female, and Toffee, my neutered male, has changed. I guess i will start of with a little back story.

        Raven and Toffee appeared for adoption in about May of 2012. From my information the two were probably already bonded months before arriving at that organization. Raven is incredibly smart, agile, devious and not a people bun. Toffee is very sweet, gentle, a bit lazy and slow going, and people tolerable.

        When they first arrived they were both over weight and Toffee was the bigger of the two. As the two lost weight, Raven became a muscular and dense rabbit giving her a slight weight advantage over Toffee. Raven seems to weigh in the range of 4.95 to 5.00 pounds where as Toffee ranges from 4.80 to 4.85 pounds. Their vet says their weight and builds are good and that they are both most likely under the age of five. In the beginning while sorting out their dominances of their new home, Toffee would usually win in their mounting battles, although Raven would win a few. They liked to cuddle and groom each other and it was quite clear Toffee helped keep Raven calm. In fact she wouldn’t eat without him. A few more months down the road they were closer in weight but Toffee still the larger of the two and Raven could eat without Toffee having to be there. They would sleep next to each other every night/afternoon and their relationship overall seemed very balanced with no clear dominant rabbit. Then I noticed Raven trying and sometimes succeeding at stealing Toffee’s treats and eating faster. Whereas Toffee has continued to eat at his slow pace. Then there was a period of mounting wars which at the time I didn’t think much of, but all of which Raven had won. I noticed Raven rejecting more of Toffee’s grooming requests and that they now would sleep about two or three feet from one another. When eating a carrot Raven takes three bites and chews and Toffee takes one and chews. She would get through all of the nice leafy part of their salad that they like and Toffee would be left with the steemy pieces. She would try to steal treats out of his mouth or from the ground in front of him. It’s so bad that now whenever I give Toffee a treat he looks for a place to hide. Noticing this I would sometimes try to feed one rabbit in the cage and one outside of it. But this upsets Raven so much that every time she tries to break in or out off the shaking and pulling the bars like you wouldn’t believe half the time succeeding. She also rejects nearly all off Toffee’s grooming request a lot of the time by biting him in the face and requesting that he groom her, which he usually does. I maybe see her groom Toffee 3 or 4 times a week for just a few seconds. Poor Toffee is so desperate that whenever Raven is taking a bath he tries to get under her for any possible freebies. Recently Raven came by and mounted Toffee and he didn’t even try to stop it. I don’t know if he’s that lazy or just that submissive now. They still cuddle and hang out and Raven still needs Toffee to make her feel safe and they don’t fight. Raven is now a very demanding Queen who gets upset when I don’t give her more treats even though she knows how many she can have and gets very angry when I block her from Toffee’s bowl.

         I am worried Raven’s attitude might get worse and that every time Toffee wants to be groomed she bites him and become more gluttonous. I also feel bad for Toffee always having to guard his treats, food, and being constantly rejected. I feel that he looks kind of thin and wonder if this is because Raven eats faster than him. He was at the vet two months ago and looked A Okay and was at a good weight.

         Has this happened to anyone before? Where a bonded rabbit starts to treat their partner negatively? How should I go about trying to stop this, if not reverse it? I also don’t know if this should be in bonding, but I felt since it seems Raven’s over all personality seemed to changed and that they are bonded but in an extreme dominant/submissive relationship that it would be behavior. Sorry for the length.


      • Flopsie
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          awww I feel bad for Toffee. i’m sorry I don’t have two bonded bunnies, but stories like this makes me apprehensive on getting another buddy for my bun.


        • JackRabbit
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            My bonded pair do some of those things but its pretty equal. Both try to take things out of the other ones mouth. Halfway through his pellets, Moshi runs over to Marlee’s bowl and they both eat her pellets, but when they’re gone, both eat the rest of Moshi’s. We have to separate them at salad time because hubby and I each brush a bun while they have salads, plus Moshi gets a smaller salad (tummy issues if he even gets one bite too much) and he eats faster. Hubby keeps Moshi from getting to Marlee’s salad while I finish brushing Marlee. Moshi demands grooming and will lay down under Marlee’s face, but she always grooms him as requested, even if only briefly; he’s always happy to groom her in return and is adamant that her ears be squeaky clean!


          • Beka27
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              I always had to give my female rabbit her treat first, otherwise she would steal our male’s treat right from his mouth!

              As long as they always have access to hay, he shouldn’t be wanting for food. But if you’re still concerned, you could separate them for feeding times. I believe that as long as food is really available, if they are hungry, they will eat.

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          Forum BEHAVIOR one rabbit is not as nice to the other rabbit