Rabbit whisker chewing

[mothergooz]

I need some advice for my friend who is the momma of two rabbits: a large brown rabbit who's a male and a small blackish rabbit which is a female.

The two are kept in separate cages which are next to each other.

Recently the female has gone up to the edge of her cage to preen the large brown rabbit. She's licking his nose (and he loooooves it) and every once in a while chews off one of his whiskers.

My friend is driving me and her vet crazy trying to understand her behavior. Why does she chew off his whiskers? And why is she preening him? Is this love?

I know my ducks and geese but rabbits are a complete mystery to me.

You all are the smartest animal people I know. Any ideas are appreciated.

 

[Nutcase]

It sounds like it could just be a bad habit. I've kept rabbits for nearly 10 years and I never saw behaviour like that. Other than that, it's clear that she loves him!

Maybe getting him fixed and putting them in together would make them both very happy. Having the opposite sexes separated yet next to each other like that is a bit unfair to them. Good luck to your friend

 

[Bunnylady]

Some rabbits seem to have ambitions to be barbers, lol. It usually isn't obvious on short haired rabbits, but I have seen Jersey Woolies with wool on their sides that is less than half the length of the hair on their backs. The culprit is always the rabbit next door; gender doesn't seem to play a part in it. Grooming each other is a common behavior between rabbits that like each other, on the darker side, I have seen rabbits that lost body parts to the rabbit next door when they didn't like each other.