BONDING SUCCESS!- with one problem?

[Manda and Loki]

So I believe I have made some great progress with Loki and Freya tonight and I couldn’t be any happier! I’ve been doing a car ride a day with them, and it seemed to go pretty decent. As does all the stress bonding i’ve done. I’ve done the car ride 3 times.. once after I put them in the tub.. which went well- no fights. I also tried the banana trick. Loki was too scared from the car ride to even attempt to try and get close enough to Freya. Freya ate the banana immediantely off Loki and looked right back at me like “hello.. where’s more?”  And today after their car ride I put them in the x-pen to see how it would be. Freya still chased Loki as if she wants to bite him but actually didn’t. At that point I made the x-pen smaller so she had no choice but to be close to him. All of a sudden.. I caught her on her own, grooming Loki’s head! So I gave them some treats.. and stuck a little pellet into Loki’s fur on his head. Which she ate right away and continued to groom his head and ears afterwards! Then…. something happened that i’ve never seen.  Freya started mounting Loki NON-STOP. I stepped in a few times because she originally was on his face. But it was pretty constant.. as soon as I’d take her off.. she would go right back. After she stopped.. she again groomed Loki.. and then flopped next to him! YAY!! 

My only problem… She was still pulling his fur out while she was mounting him.. is this problem? It almost at first looked like she was just holding onto him. I’ve heard about the false pregnancy thing… could that be possible? She’s been spayed for about 2 months now. She just always pulls fur from him. She also was still munching on his bum afterwards too.. and Loki also tried biting hers… which i’ve never seen. but she didn’t seem to mind one bit! hahaha. Anyways, I will still be watching them closely for the bum munching. But is her pulling fur a issue? As far as the false pregnancy thing goes? -she doesn’t pull her own.

[Mikey]

Shes getting used to him and letting him know, in a nicer way now, that shes the boss of him. Youll have to be careful with the fur pulling as it can become dangerous for bunnies. They have very thin skin so if fur is ripped hard enough or too many times from the same spot, it can create rips and scabbing on the skin. Whenever you see her biting him, just pick her off of him and pet them both to help them destress. She likely will do it over and over and over and youll have to stop her each time, but once she knows that he doesnt care that shes the top bun, the mounting and pulling should slow down to a stop or a near stop

False pregnancy has to do with a female bun ripping her own fur out to make a nest. Ripping it out in the context of bonding is her semi aggressively reminding him that she is the boss of him

[Manda and Loki]

Yes I check Lokes every night after bonding sessions to make sure he’s alright. Usually she doesn’t seem to pull very hard from his butt… and Loki has so much fur that it does build up easily and it’s easy to pull, so in the meantime i’ve really been brushing him more and checking for scabs and whatnot. When she was mounting him is when she was really holding onto his hair. Sometimes she literally just sat there with it in her mouth. Which then i’d move her mouth and eventually she kind of just stopped. Loki doesn’t care AT ALL that she is top bun hahaha so i’m really hoping she’ll settle down soon. Loki is usually very timid and shy so maybe it’s good that he has such a bossy, fearless lady bun in his life 

But okay, I’m glad there is no false pregnancy worries then. I knew if they pulled their own it was a big red flag but I thought maybe because she pulled so much of Lokes that it might be the same thing. I’m gonna continue some stress bonding in the car until she settles down some more. It seems to really help her.

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