rabbit nips our other rabbit

[harrymattison]

Hi - We recently got a 2nd rabbit who likes to nip (not bite). She nips my finger and also nips our other rabbit. They generally seem friendly and curious about each other when they are divided by the walls of their pens, but as you can see in this video the brown rabbit sometime nips the white rabbit. What should I do about this so that I can give them time together that won't end up with a nip turning into a dispute? Thanks for your advice.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPHLWxz_SQQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPHLWxz_SQQ[/ame]

 

[Blue eyes]

What are the ages, sex and neuter status of each rabbit?

 

[harrymattison]

They are both ~1 yr old and both neutered. The white rabbit is male. The brown rabbit is female & she was living in a hutch with ~20 other rabbits before the whole group was brought to the shelter where we adopted her.

 

[Aki]

Have you tried putting them together in a neutral space? Does the female try to mount the male and does he let her? The female might be just very dominant, she might have learnt to defend her place if she lived in a tiny space with too many rabbits. But in the video, what puzzle me is the way she calmly nips at the other rabbit completely unprovoked. Unfortunately, it's also possible that her previous experience have messed with her social skills - it might take time before she learn how to interact normally with an other rabbit, if she ever can. Maybe you can try to let your male teach her how to interact (supervized, of course). If it's just occasional nips, which don't draw blood and that the male doesn't retaliate, I would let them settle it between themselves :
http://rabbit.org/bunnies-teaching-bunnies/

 

[squidpop]

It would be good to try to put them together in a space where no bunny has been before. Its natural that the first bunny would defend his/her special sleeping and perching spots from other rabbits and could cause fights. When ever mine have fought its always over a special spot like a tunnel or the highest perch.