Rabbit dominance displays

[Sirius&Luna]

Hi all,

I’ve got another topic about the bonding in general, but although I just asked this question in there, I thought it would be useful as a separate topic to get other people’s input.

What are displays of dominance? 

How can you tell who the dominant rabbit is?

How can I tell if my pair just don’t have a clear hierarchical relationship?

Atlas tried mounting Luna once, she nipped him, and he never tried again. They both groom each other, although Atlas grooms Luna more. They flop together, and they both take turns following each other around. 

Are there signs that one rabbit is the dominant one other than mounting? Might they just be a pair where it’s not obvious? Or have they still got to sort it out? 

When can you declare rabbits bonded? 

[sarahthegemini]

I believe Buttercup is top bun out of my pair simply because whenever Peanut tried to hump her she would not tolerate it at all. She’s never humped him though, instead when he tried humping her she’d jump round and demand grooming. Sometimes Peanut obliged A member here (Dface I *think*) said that in a happy pair, it shouldn’t be overly obvious who is top and who isn’t. I definitely agree with that. Just observing my two, it’s not clear that there’s any hierarchy going on. I only know (or have my theories I should say) because of the humping business when we were initially bonding.

Buttercup is the most generous groomer. She can be quite obsessed with Peanut’s ears lol but they both flop, snuggle, share food and whatnot as long as there’s enough to go around otherwise they’ll try and snatch the food from the other’s mouth. Both do this. Buttercup is just more boisterous about it.

[Sirius&Luna]

Thanks Sarah. I also feel like Luna is the dominant one, but she’s never humped Atlas, just gave him a telling off when he humped her

At what point did you feel confident leaving Peanut and Buttercup alone?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Sirius&Luna on 10/09/2017 9:47 AM

Thanks Sarah. I also feel like Luna is the dominant one, but she’s never humped Atlas, just gave him a telling off when he humped her

At what point did you feel confident leaving Peanut and Buttercup alone?

Well we marathon bonded and we felt like after 10 days they were bonded. Peanut had stopped trying to hump at day 10 so we left them unsupervised overnight although we checked on them 3 times per night for the first few nights. It was exhausting  At this point, Peanut still looked like he wanted to hump, he’d get very close to her butt but wouldn’t actually follow through. And Buttercup just moved out of the way. My bond was very, very easy though. No aggression apart from a scuffle at day 5. Lots of grooming and snuggling from the start

[Sirius&Luna]

Yeah, I remember reading your thread and thinking they sounded like a dream pair!

Mine haven’t tried any humping etc in about a week, so I think we’re nearly there at calling it officially.

[Author]

Messages