Bunny jealous of me

[yetco]

Hi everyone I am new here. So I just adopted 2 bunnies last weekend (a lionhead and a netherland dwarf, both 4.5 months old according to previous owner and they are very close). The lionhead is super friendly and I had experience with this breed so we were friends within 2 days. Dwarf has been very timid and grumpy, I suspect she is the boss between the two.

So today lionhead allowed me to pet her a few times, I noticed when that happened every time, the dwarf would be quite anxious, she would come towards us with ears up, then went over to lionhead to lick her head (where I petted her). Does that mean dwarf does not want me to be close to lionhead? I am finding this a bit tricky…does anyone have tips for me regarding a netherland dwarf? Thanks!

[Erin]

I would suggest laying on the ground and letting them both come to you at the same time. Stay pretty still and let them smell you and jump on you. That way you put the ball in their court and they can get to know you without having to be fighting for attention. Don’t pet either of them when they are there and just let them explore you. That will hopefully help settle some of jealous buns nerves about you touching her sister. She’s probably the dominate bun, my boys do the same thing. One doesn’t care to be pet (he’s from a pet store and I think he wasn’t handled well, where as honey I got from my neighbor and have taken care of him since he was a wee baby!) anyway, Thumper (from the pet store) is dominate to Honey and sometimes takes a protective stance when I’m showing love, especially when they were fighting for dominance. Since she is probably used to being the superior of the couple, she sees you as trying to take over her crown. I say let them come to you and see if that helps!

[Author]

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