Two girl rabbits, a lovely cosy nest of fur....and a pinky bald patch :(

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

Rabbit Experts! can you help?- sorry looooooong

we inherited two does from dcs friends last year- PAH had sold them too many in one go (don't get me started on PAH grrrrr)

they've been fine though not very handlable- one girl is obviously a bit bossier/braver than the other, the other a bit meeker. Not much tho- if I put say a couple of broccoli stalks in they'll eat one together (eg lady and the tramp) then move on to the next one

at the moment they're not themselves. Both off their food- they're eating but generally VERY motivated by grub (they start doing laps of their run whenever they hear the back door open, usually) and not as interested at the mo. Not bothered with their toys either, and don't want to go in their hutch at night, prefer to stay in run

They have made a lovely nest in there, it's a work of art I would sleep in it if I could fit in there -both of their fur is in there, but more of the meek one's, I think (different colours)

we thought they were moulting due to all the lovely snowy fluff drifting across the garden- but now think hair pulling/nesting (no chance preggo unless they have a 1 year gestation period)

noticed today the meek one has a 50p sized bald patch near her tail and the bossy one is a bit tufty in same place

do we think nesting for phantom preg/s? or dominating? Or both?

heeeeelp meeeeeeee

tia

[PartyShit]

I don't see how that advice is relevant to someone querying why their bun is nest building and showing dominance to another rabbit! Very odd. You have absolutely nothing to gain from 'pinning' a rabbit but the rabbit becoming afraid of you and, perhaps, then being submissive to you through fear. Certainly wouldn't make a bun easier to work with.

Rabbits are not pack animals in the sense that a human must assert their dominance in order to become leader of the pack. Unless you plan on living in the hutch with them and joining them in nibbling their hay and veggies from the floor or you're worried about them devouring you in your sleep or mounting your female (wolf pack style), then there really is no need to worry about making sure your bun knows you're the dominant one.

[Zebedah]

I don't want to derail the thread any further so we will agree to disagree on pinning

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

Just a quick update-

We've been leaving them out in the run all night (no sign of any fox digging-although am being super careful as there's now a fox family under next door's shed)

The pinky bald patch is.now.covered with a little dusting of white fluff AAAWWW- no more hair pulling as far as I can tell

Been watching them very closely over last week or so-so have my dds. Not really apparent that one is dominating the other-there's a lot of mutual grooming and a little bit of mutual chasing

Anyway, they're booked in with the vet to be spayed and afterwards we'll get them another meter for their run (they have 3-might be four- already, but it's stuffed with toys, tunnels, logs, hidey holes etc)

Dds are now taking a much more active role in interacting with them, rather than just letting them run about while they get on with something else

So all in all-a win

Thanks all

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

Me too Rosie

I thought, when we inherited them, that the girls were big enough at 11 to not only take an interest but actually LOVE having them-of course they were desperate to have them, they loved them, they were big girls, would do everything themselves etc etc etc

They did at first, but then the weather got crap, girls too busy and so on (rabbits still had a lot of attention, but only from me-I'm home all day, so they still had plenty of stimulation. But still)

The other day, after one bun had been sitting on her lap, a dd squeezed my arm and said you were right!! The more you put into em the more you get out!