cocoxbunny
Active Member
I only have 1 for now and she's my first one but I'm thinking of getting another one in the future to bond. How many do you guys have and how did you guys start to bond them?
I have two, a male and a female. The female was my first rabbit, going on 7 year old now. I got her and got her a friend after a few weeks because I felt bad leaving her on her own when I was going to the university. They were instant soulmates - they saw each other and were best friends until the male suddenly died 4 years later, the fact that the male was really good natured and submissive helped a lot (he used to give Aki backrubs and to let her eat all the carrots). It really broke Aki's heart when he died. I got her a new friend about 6 weeks later because she was horribly depressed and I was worried about her health. She HATED the new rabbit, who was dirty (he barely washes himself and likes to put all the hay out of the hayrack and the litter out of the litterbox whereas Aki is a neat freak), lazy, layed ON her to sleep and refused to groom her. She was so annoyed she went back to eating, jumping around and sleeping after a few days. They grew on each other after a few months. Now, they've been living together for 2 years and a half and they quite like each other. Aki is not as close to Tybalt as she was to my previous rabbit (who really was the rabbit of her life, so to speak ^^) but when she went into stasis last december Tybalt stayed with her and cuddled with her to keep her warm until she recovered. Two rabbits is of course more expensive than one (just the vet bills and the vaccination...) and also heavier to bring with you when you take the train to go on holiday, but I never regretted giving a companion to Aki as I feel like it made her life a lot more exciting... especially now that she's showing "old lady" behavior lounging on her cushion watching Tybalt jumping around it like a complete nutter.
I have two- they hate each other and would like nothing more than to attack the other. I had the female (Brandy) first- her husbun died suddenly and being in vet school, I didn't have enough time to spend with her. So I kept my eye out for a male. We quite suddenly got a call about a male (now Whiskey) who needed to be picked up that day or he was going to be euthanized so we drove 2 hours in a snow storm to go get him. Unfortunately, since we had so little prep-time, we sort of plopped him into Brandy's already established territory. From that moment on, she hated him. Her aggression eventually lead to him hating her as well. We've done all the other proper introduction type methods, but that first day, I unintentionally screwed up big time!
Moral of the story- try to make sure the first introduction is in a territory neutral zone, preferably one they have never been before. Keep introducing them every day (with many many treats) in places they have never been (e.g. the kitchen of your house, an enclosed balcony, friends' houses), for a few minutes each day. Some nipping, humping, and overall grumping is pretty normal, but if they start to truly harm each other, you'll need to intervene.
Hope that helps!
I have three. Butterscotch and Ellie are siblings, and absolutely LOVE each other. Pippi, my Holland lop, is rather... feisty. She picks fights with the bigger two (she's 4 pounds, they're 8), so I do keep them separated.
I highly suggest you take the original rabbit to a rescue that has rabbits, and have some dates with potential other buns. It'll save you the heartbreak of two rabbits that just don't want to see each other, beating the crap out if each other. Pippi actually seems fine by herself. We gave her some stuffed friends (a dog bone and a little rabbit), and she leans on them and moves then as she sees fit. It works for her, so I'm not about to change it. ^_^