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Forum BEHAVIOR Nipping during grooming

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    • Kyrkogrimr
      Participant
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        So, we’ve had Sidhe (“SHEE-uh”) for a good few months now, she’s a lovely girl and very cuddly with me (shockingly, she’s less fussed about my SO, though she will come over for fuss sometimes) and grooms me a lot, however, both Matt and I find that she nibbles and nips quite a lot when she grooms. She doesn’t do that as much to me anymore, but she still does it occasionally and does it more often to Matt. We’ve tried squeaking which seems to have no effect, and I’ve had some success by walking away or turning my back on her, but she’s still doing it. Is there anything else we can try? She’s worse with Matt and doesn’t seem to respond when he walks away or ignores her – she very much considers herself my bunny, whereas Puck is a total daddy’s boy 


      • BinkyBunny
        Moderator
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          When I had bonded pairs, I would witness that they would try to “get at” something during grooming. Like licking, licking and then a little chew on the fur. Is it like that, or is just that she nips you out of nowhere — hard? I wonder if she is asking you to groom her in return? You said that walking away helps, so keep doing that, but in addition you can try to reinforce the behavior you want by rewarding her when she does it — so pet her back while she is doing the “nice” grooming, say good girl, and/or give a treat. And then the moment she nips, do the squeal AND walk away. She may be able to associate the squeal with undesired behavior and just stop then.

          You said she dose it more to Matt – is she grooming your arms? I wonder if it has to do with possibly more hair on a male’s arms?


        • Kyrkogrimr
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            Sorry, I went AWOL for a while and didn’t see the reply. Since then we’ve found that she doesn’t nibble me at all really (Maybe once in the past couple of months?) but still nibbles him. I find that she grooms me every chance she gets and whenever she’s close enough and not ducking away when I offer, I give her fuss too. Mostly she grooms my hands, either the top of my hand, or the knuckles. Apparently when she’s nibbling Matt, it’s mostly his fingers she nibbles. It’s not particularly hard and I think it’s mostly mid-grooming, so maybe he’s just a really dirty bunny 

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        Forum BEHAVIOR Nipping during grooming