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Harveysmum

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I have a 9 month old rabbit calledHarvey, and recently I have been wondering whether or not to get him acompanion. He is a very sweet natured rabbit and loves humancompany. I was wondering if another rabbit would change hispersonality? Also I would like some information onintroducing him to another rabbit and thgingslikethat.I was also wondering your viewsonwhether you think it is'cruel' to keep him on hisown. He is not a house rabbit, as my dad gets annoyed withhim chewing up the furnuiture when he is in thehouse. I do give him alot of attention, althoughobviously I cannot be with him all the time. So I wasconsidering about getting him a friend -and I thought itwould be nice to get some advice first.:)

Thanks for your help.:p
 
Rabbits don't need companions. Most are betteroff on their own as fighting can occur in any arrangement of pairs. 2will just mean double the chewing on furniture and walls, not less. Youcan try giving him more toys and lots of wood to chew on to keep himbusy and away from furniture. There is a possibility that the rabbitwill become less friendly and more bonded with another rabbit too.
 
Hi Harveys Mum,

I agree with My BunnyBoys. Rabbits do not necessarily need a companion,this could cause a problem with the conection your bunny has with you.Even though they are kept outside they are in no less need of acompanion than not. So long as they are properly feed and cared for ona regular basis there should be no problem. JMPO. I have ALL of myrabbits housed in the Rabbit Barn, I guess you could say they have nextdoor neighbors but they only ocassionally have contact with each otherand only while being supervised. Rabbits can be terrible combatants.Their fights often lead to the death of one or both. You are lucky ifthey are only severely battle scarred. Many Bucks are at a loss of thefamily jewels during these skirmishes. To get a companion or not to isa decision only you can make. I would make sure you have another cageat the ready just incase it should become necessary.

Dennis,C.V.R.
 
I disagree. Almost everything thatMartin and I have read about bonding says that it makes the rabbitshappier to have a companion. True, bonding is difficult(trust me-we're trying right now with Emmit and Amelia), and there willbe fighting in the beginning. This can be reduced if youbecome educated on the subject-read as much as you can aboutbonding. Will also help if you have a spayed and neuteredmale and female combination.

It will be difficult at first, but then it will pay off in the long run...In my opinion anyway.

-Carrie
 
MyBunnyBoys wrote:
There is a possibility that the rabbit will become lessfriendly and more bonded with another rabbit too.
Click to expand...


Not to over shaddow you or anything, but everything we've read has saidthe exact opposite. That rabbits who have bonded with you,and then with a second bun will not love you any less. Infact, they usually love their owners even more when they have anotherbunny to share their lives with.

Bonded bunnies also pick up each other's habbits. Good andbad. For example, Emmit always digs at night, and now Ameliadoes it too. But they are also picking up good habbits fromeach other. She is becoming much more affectionate, and seemsto be giving us more kisses from his example. He also"taught" her how to drink from a water bottle.

Overall, if you have the patience, time, and space for another bunny,I'd go for it and look for a good match for your little guy.

-Carrie
 
Here is some more info...i have so many webpagessaved to my favorites list that Martin and I refer to during thisprocess...I hope this helps answer your question. (this wasfound from the House Rabbit Network:http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml)



Will my Rabbit Change?

Many people wonder if their rabbit will change once they have aplaymate. The answer of course, is yes. Every situation is different soI cannot tell you what will happen with your rabbit, but I do know thatyour rabbit will be happier.

If you have a rabbit who is friendly with you, they will remainfriendly. They do love human attention. If your rabbit is shy, and thenew rabbit craves human attention, you may easily find that your bunwill mimic the new rabbit and find some strength from his example. Theymay find themselves with their new mate begging for attention withoutrealizing it. If they see it isn't scary for the other bunny then maybeit isn't so bad.

While a mate does sometimes help bring a rabbit out if their shell, Ihave also seen the reverse. A shy bun that receives a mate may decidethat it wants to concentrate on building that relationship. With timeyour rabbit will become friendlier, but it may take a little longer.

I do want to stress, that I have never seen a friendly rabbit loseinterest in human companionship. Once a bunny likes you, they alwayswill.

Many people state that rabbits are less likely to get into trouble oncethey have a mate. They aren't as bored and are more content. While thisis true in some cases, rabbits do learn from each other and I have seenrabbits teach each other bad habits. Hazy, my digger, fell in love withHershey, a non digger. Once day I saw them both in a corner- she woulddig, he would dig, and this repeated itself. Clearly he was learningfrom her and quickly become a more intense digger than she ever was.Monkey see, monkey do. They may get into less trouble because they arehappier, but they may also learn new bad habits.

Every case is different. I can tell you that your rabbit will behappier, may be friendlier and get into less trouble, but I cannotguarantee any of it.


Here are a few more sites I like:
http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/multiple.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-5/ever-be-friends.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-9/bonding.html

http://www.geocities.com/aecarrotpatch/bonding.html

 
In my experience rabbits bonded to each other areless friendly to people.also some rabbits never bond, what will you dowith the other rabbit if it wont bond with yours.I belong to a lot ofinternet rabbit clubs and i see this question alot many times therabbits dont bond.bluebird
 
Emmits_mom wrote:
Not to over shaddow you or anything, but everything we've readhas said the exact opposite. That rabbits who have bonded with you, andthen with a second bun will not love you any less. In fact, theyusually love their owners even more when they have another bunny toshare their lives with.
Click to expand...

I was stating from experience. Mocha was not always bonded to anotherrabbit, but when we bonded him to Spice, he became less friendly anddidn't want to be with people. Not to mention, if you get new a bunnythat isn't as friendly right away and you bond them, the new one maynever become more friendly to you if it has a bunny friend. That's whathappened with Spice, he was not handled for most of the first 3 or 4months and when I bonded him with Mocha, he never became friendlierwith me until we had to separate them this last January. Also, myfriend had an extremely friendly bunny and she got a bunny friend for,well the friendly bunny turned totally around and would attack people,hated being petted, would hide at the sight of people, and so on.

You'll also notice I said there was a possibility, I never saidmore that it was certain to happen. There are exceptions for everything.
 
I agree there is a possibility, and I'm verysorry you have had bad experiences. I just didn't wantHarveysmum to totally rule outbonding because there are manybenefits. I just wanted to give harveysmum the other side.

-Carrie
 
you have raised quite the argument havent you! lol

i believe it is possible for rabbits to bond but at that age it willtake some time. supervision is required and like someone said haveanother cage ready just in case because the bonding doesnt happen inone day.


 
It is possible to bond at that age of rabbit,it's possible to bond rabbits at any age really. It depends purely onthe rabbits attitude and if it will allow another rabbit to invade itsterritory.

In my own personal opinion, I would never bond a pair before about ayear or more again. My rabbits were fine together when they werebabies, but once they hit the 'teen years' everything went down hill.Hormones changed, Spice became more dominent than he used to be and my2 started fighting. Sure mine were both boys, but that can happen withany combination. If I were to ever attempt bonding rabbits again, I'dwait until they were older than a year and then let the rabbit pick outa friend. Some rabbits just wont get along naturally and there'snothing you can do about it.

On the other hand, lots of bonding does work out even if they arebonded before they hit the teen years. No one can really tell you howthe bonding would go about.
 
i have some bonded pairs and groups and i havesingle buns. I do believe some love having a conpanion while otherprefur not to have one. Like people some enjoy being around and withother people constantly, while others are loners. It's deciding on whattype of bun your bun is. As far as reactions it can go any number ofways,froma pair so involved in each other you aretheir slave to provide food and who cares if you are alive beyond that,to a pair who love you to death. and anything inbetween. best wishes
 
Thankyou for allyour replies.It certainly is going to be a very difficult decision, as I dont knowif Harvey would like a friend or not. Its hard to knowifI will make the right choice,and what if I do getanother rabbitand they don't bond, or Harvey dosen't like meanymore. Wouldnt it be so great to be able to know whatHarvey was thinking, and ask him if he wants a friend or not. lol.:p

Also, if I do getarabbitdo youthink it is best to get a young bunny, or an older one?( probley from arescue centre. )

Thanks Emmits_mom for all of those websites, I found them very useful.


 
I just adopted a second bunny from a shelter. Ialways wanted a second bunny but my hubby said no, until we had to giveup two dogs and when i was sad he said i could get another one. Onlything is i have a little rule he kinda knew about. I will onlygeta rabbit from a shelter and one thats been fixed. not thati have had many bunnies. My first one died after a year ofhaving her. So partly of getting Roger was to help make mefeel better. Reason why i like theshelter is cause you get a rabbit that needs a home and with my casecomes with a cage and its supplies from the shelter like bowls andstuff depends what it was left with. Roger was left with nothing noteven a cage but i still got his cage.

So far they dont really pay much attention to each other. Nottrying to hurt each other just enjoy exploring the apartment.Good luck with what ever you choose, and remember if you say no secondbunny now dont mean that you have to always keep just theone. Maybe right now isnt right but a year down the road willbe. Ok i rambled on enough and my apartment is still lookin trashed. Igo to work and the family destroys it. :)

Cristy
 
my boyfriend and i adopted our rabbit champafirst and had her as a single rabbit for a few months. we are bothstudents so i worried that champa might get lonely when she was homealone for 4+ hours at times, so we decided to look into getting her acompanion.

the woman who runs the bunny rescue where we got champa from was sohappy that we decided to get a second rabbit she offered to let champameet some elligible bachlor bunnies from the bunny rescue (we were toldthat pairs of a female and a male bunnies generally get along betterthan pairs of the same sex, although a friend of mine had a pair offemale bunnies that lived in the same hutch and got along great).

anyhow, champa had her first "dates" with the 2 boy bunnies (one at atime) in a small room at the bunny rescue (a neutral space for both ofthem, so territory issues were not a problem). after seeing her meetthe 2 different boy bunnies, it was clear which boy bun she preffered,champa bit me while we were attempting to break up a squabble betweenher and bachlor #2.

we took chess home and placed him in his own enclosure, near champa'scage, so they could get used to eachother without having directcontact.

champa was mad, she would glare at him from the top story of her cageand let out periodic thumps to express her displeasure. later thatnight we let champa out so she could approach chess' enclosure, chesshopped right over to her and stuck his nose through the bunny fence,champa sniffed him and then promptly bit the tip of his nose. the ladyat the rabbit rescue suggested putting your bonding buns together in asmall neutral space (like the (empty) bathtub with soft towels on thebottom, or a large cardboard box in the car), supervising them, andtaking them apart when they get worked up. we tried the bathtub methodand they were practically bonded by the next day and we have had noproblems with champa and chess getting along since. they absoluelyadore eachother and hate being apart, neither of them have been anyless friendly towards us, and they love getting pets, individually andwhen they are snuggled together.

so that's my bunny bonding sucess story, hope it helps! good luck.


-champa&chess
 
Thanks for your help. I think I mightwait till harvey is a bit older before getting him a friend.But if and when I do decide - I will get one from a shelter so I cantakeharvey along to meet the other rabbit before deciding ifit will be the right decision or not.

I will let everyone know if I get another rabbit, but it will probley be for a while yet.
 
Hey there.

I have two rabbits.

A doe called Ebony and a buck called Fidget. They are the best offriends and they do everything together. But Fidget still finds timefor me . Getting Fidget hasnt changed ebonyone bit....sadly.But I think they both love the company. The bestcombination is

1.)buck and doe (fixed) They would get on the best.
2.) Doe and doe They would get on quite well .(They would get on better if they were sisters)
3.) Buck and buck.

I f u got a doe and buck it would be best to keep them in seperate cages.

Fidget and Ebony play in the garden together but they dont share acage. It would be best to get one while your rabbit was young so hecould get used to him/her.

Finally i would say it is also really nice looking after twoofrabbitsbecause its double the love (and doublethe trouble!)

Hope this helps

Luv 4rm loz

xXx
 
ive had bunnies who do awesome withanother rabbit but i have also had bunnies who do not seem to enjoyanother bunnies company. Tar Baby was naturally shy and scared ofthings, even from when she was a baby. when i tried her with Pipkin,who loved everybunny, she fought with her or ignored her completely.Pipkin, on the other hand, would fall in love immediately with anybunny who would cuddle her and any person who would pet her. so i thinkit generally depends on the rabbit. if Harvey is a compatible rabbit hewill probably do well with most any friendly bunny.
 
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