Why does he stick his nose in my nostrils?

[Tweetiepy]

If I lay on the floor and start petting Peaches, he'll put his head down on the floor and lay on his front paws. He'll also stick, or try to stick his nose into mine. He really likes this cuz I can hear his teeth grinding.

Why does he do this? is it a domination thing - like he's the dominant one that gets groomed or is it cuz his mother did this or maybe his siblings were always nose to nose?

Is this normal and does anyone else's bun do this? I'm not complaining but sometimes I just need to get a breath!

 

[Maureen Las]

My bonded rabbits exhibit this type of behavior with each other when one rabbit is trying to get his mate to groom him.

 

[Runestonez]

I have never had a female do this...with us it seems to be our males.
I had one older boy, Dandelion, who would sit there with his nose resting on my top lip, tucked up under my nose..and he would just sit.

Our two little males do it sometimes now too.
It doesn't seem like they are asking for grooming...it's almost like a bonding moment...seems to have some kind of important meaning to them...kinda cute...but yeah mom needs to breathe now and again! lol

 

[Tweetiepy]

Actually Peaches is a male (he wasn't when we got him) - he will just sit like that too. If i'm petting him, he'll sit there with his head down and won't really move. However… if I massage/rub his sides, his body will sway to move closer to my hand and if I switch sides, he'll follow. It's like a funny dance. But yeah maybe it could be a bonding moment - I'd like to think so - is it just a male thing?

 

[AquaticRex]

maybe it's like a cat, where they like to be in the warmer places?? as for the head down, i think thats a submissive form

 

[elrohwen]

The head down is actually more dominant than anything - it is a request for grooming. However, in a bonded pair (or a human/rabbit pair) grooming is often mutual, so at that point it might not be dominant at all, but just a simple grooming request. During the bonding process though, the dominant rabbit is typically more likely to put the head down and request grooms and more likely to get annoyed if the grooms don't happen.

In Peaches' case, it sounds like he's just snuggling with you! My boy used to love being kissed on the face and having our faces pushed against his. My pair will also sit face to face or nose to nose, so I think it's a comfortable and loving position for them. Strangely, to back up Runestonez observation, my female doesn't really care for being face to face. She gets nervous when I kiss her (though she looooves pets much more than my boy) and doesn't like when I lay with my head right next to her head. Strange!

 

[dfernfern]

My female bunny, Snow, does this to me all the time. She puts her under my nose to feel me breathing on her. Then every so often she starts licking and grooming me. She is super indifferent with my fiance and other bunny but with me she's really bonded. To the point that if I'm on phone, she pushes it out of the way to let herself be known. She is the cutest.