Getting a friend for Robbie

I am currently trying to work out whether to get a friend for Robbie. Robbie is 4 years old and currently intact. Until around 18 months ago he was one of a pair living outdoors with his brother at the previous owner’s place until his brother died. Then 12 months later he came to us, so we have had him for 6 months. He seems happy enough with us living outdoors and free roaming in our fairly large backyard (and in the hutch at night) but ideally I would like to get him a friend. I am not experienced with rabbits so would love some advice.

Robbie is very very calm (occasionally he’s a little naughty and tries to dig his way to freedom) and I can’t imagine him getting aggressive but he is intact and I wonder how would he be around another rabbit. Ideally I wouldn’t neuter him unless I had to, so I wonder, would he likely be ok with a neutered male or spayed female? Is it likely he would change or behave very differently? Again I am not an experienced rabbit person so apologies for my lack of knowledge.

My current plan is to try to get an adult rabbit from a rabbit rescue place. Some of these seem to not want to give their rabbits to owners who would have them outdoors so that would be a problem, though not all seem to say that. If I could take him along for a play date and see how he gets on with a few different rabbits, maybe that’s the best way to proceed?

Would appreciate any help or advice, thank you

Two unneutered boys will surely be very aggressive. You might want to get them both fixed if you want to get him a friend.

Best to get him neutered first and then wait a couple of months before you try to bond him with a neutered bunny.

BrownieDaisyandJasmine<3 said:

Two unneutered boys will surely be very aggressive. You might want to get them both fixed if you want to get him a friend.

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Fair enough, two intact boys would probably not end well.

But how about an intact male who is very chilled out/not aggressive, and either a neutered male or spayed female? Could that work? Would a speed date reveal whether it would likely work or not?

jimbo said:

Fair enough, two intact boys would probably not end well.

But how about an intact male who is very chilled out/not aggressive, and either a neutered male or spayed female? Could that work? Would a speed date reveal whether it would likely work or not?

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I guess that could work, because I have had the opposite, neutered male and unspayed female for a while before I got my girl spayed for health reasons. They were quite happy and still love each other a lot. But my boi is too gentle and sweet so maybe that's why they get along so well.

I think you should definitely be cautious, because when I attempted bonding, my boy was fairly young and he came from a (forgive me) pet shop so he was used to living with other buns; your bun is already four and has been by himself for a while and he seems happy so he might not want to share his space with another bun.

But definitely try the speed dating, if he isn't obviously aggressive towards the other bun, I think it could work. But I would prefer getting the girl spayed due to health concerns cancer etc, boys are at a lower risk.

Good luck!

thank you! I’ll let you know how I go

Just a warning, with Robbie not being neutered bonding will be much more difficult. Even the most chill rabbits can be a bit much for another rabbit when not neutered as his instinct to mount will be strong. I have heard of it being possible with a VERY tolerant spayed doe, but I would be careful.

jimbo said:

Fair enough, two intact boys would probably not end well.

But how about an intact male who is very chilled out/not aggressive, and either a neutered male or spayed female? Could that work? Would a speed date reveal whether it would likely work or not?

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Neutered male with an intact female IS VERY DIFFERENT from an intact male with a spayed female. An intact male is likely going to incessantly hump a female (whether she's spayed or not). He will likely pester her that way to no end until the female gets annoyed. The result would almost certainly be an all-out fight.

As for your boy being calm, the temperament one sees in a rabbit truly is no indication of how that rabbit will react to another rabbit. Likewise, how it behaves with one rabbit is not an indication of how it will react to a different rabbit. So there really is no way to predict how any rabbit may be with any other rabbit. It all depends completely on the individual rabbits.

I would also recommend getting your boy neutered before considering a bondmate for him.

Following is an excellent article on rabbit bonding if you'd like to read more on the topic:
BONDING Bunnies : CottonTails Rabbit & Guinea Pig Rescue

Hello
Yes, I totally agree about getting your Robbie neutered/ splayed(what ever the term is).

I have been researching a lot myself about getting Elf, a fren ( similar age) and I spoke to the nice lady at Rabbit Rescue in NSW Australia, as I saw a lovely girl bunny that was rescued from Queensland ( as no rabbits allowed).

Anyway, I explained that I was anxious about the bonding process etc and the fact that Elf was neutered at 6 months and he is now 26 months and been an alone bunny for a while ( we adopted him when he was about ten weeks).

She advised me that a splayed girl bunny (doe) is heaps better in terms of bonding success than another boy bunny. But both would need to be neutered. Unless you get both boys from the same litter they grow up together. But still when they reach maturity (6months) recommended to be neutered to reduce the aggression.

Also the bonding process must be slow and patience needed.

She also mentioned that like all humans, bunnies have their own personalities and the ability to share spaces is an important thing to consider. She said even though Elf is very calm, and a lovely bun, how he will react to another bunny getting attention, is, a await and see thing.

We would need to take it slow in introducing any splayed doe. Because Elf is extremely affectionate and given he has had a lot of attention from five humans in the house, (over two years now) he could get jealous of another bunny.

I have also been chatting to a few breeders around and they said a similar thing. Elf will either love the new fren immensely or get jealous and could fight for the affection and attention.

Additionally, the recovery time for a splayed doe to a splayed buck is longer. Could be up to 2-3 weeks) because the operation is more invasive. I slept on the couch and set alarm to get up to feed Elf overnight with the critical care and he was not a fan of the syringe feeding). So relieved when he did start eating his hay again!!! Plus the cost of splaying a doe to a buck is nearly twice the cost in Australia.


So yes, be sure to read up on the bonding information and bery good idea to get your Robbie splayed. It actually changes their personality to much calmer. After Elf was splayed at 6 months, within a weeks he was such an extra calm bunny, toilet training was a breeze and did not destroy any furniture. Only nibbled a couple of mats ha ha …

We have decided to keep Elf on his own. He roams the house freely indoors only and when it is sunny we take the dog fence out to the front lawn for him to hop about (with one of us, sitting in the enclosure with him.).
We we are close to a main road and he dislikes noise of the cars zooming pass. We also always put his carrier box and water bowl into the outside enclosure so if he gets frightened he can hop in and rest in there) but we only let him stay there with us for max 20mins).

Elf also has Ocean the 6yr old budgie to keep him company and the bunny breeders I follow on Instagram ( in Australia) tell us that Elf seems pretty happy, content being an only bunny.

I hope my experience helps.

ElfNugget said:

Hello
Yes, I totally agree about getting your Robbie neutered/ splayed(what ever the term is).

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Just to clarify... neuter is the generic term for making either a male or a female rabbit sterile/infertile. The term spay (not splay) is used only when referring to the neutering of female rabbits.

Blue eyes said:

Just to clarify... neuter is the generic term for making either a male or a female rabbit sterile/infertile. The term spay (not splay) is used only when referring to the neutering of female rabbits.

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Thank you for clarifying this

Blue eyes said:

Neutered male with an intact female IS VERY DIFFERENT from an intact male with a spayed female. An intact male is likely going to incessantly hump a female (whether she's spayed or not). He will likely pester her that way to no end until the female gets annoyed. The result would almost certainly be an all-out fight.

As for your boy being calm, the temperament one sees in a rabbit truly is no indication of how that rabbit will react to another rabbit. Likewise, how it behaves with one rabbit is not an indication of how it will react to a different rabbit. So there really is no way to predict how any rabbit may be with any other rabbit. It all depends completely on the individual rabbits.

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Thanks Blue eyes and everyone for your comments. Just re the above, in general do you find that a play date at a rescue shelter is a good indicator for how two rabbits will get on living together full time? Or is it just not a long enough time to be meaningful?

jimbo said:

Thanks Blue eyes and everyone for your comments. Just re the above, in general do you find that a play date at a rescue shelter is a good indicator for how two rabbits will get on living together full time? Or is it just not a long enough time to be meaningful?

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The meet that a rabbit has with a potential bondmate is best considered a "pre-screening." It is in no way definite. It is however a very good way to eliminate a rabbit that clearly will not work out with a given rabbit. Negative reactions right off the bat are quite telling and allow one to switch to another potential without going through the hassle of bringing a rabbit home that isn't likely to bond.

So while the pre-screening won't guarantee that two rabbits will get along, it is a helpful tool nevertheless for eliminating the ones that do not show promise.