24/7 bonding or bunny dates?

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Abi :)

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Hey guys, some of you might know that we are looking to adopt a bun friend for my single bun Bambi, originally we filled out an adoption form for a rex rabbit called Arthur who was honestly the handsomest (if that even is a word) rabbit I've ever seen lol, but unfortunately he was re-homed yesterday by someone else :( The shelter we are looking into adopting from does offer bonding, however they don't have anymore single male rabbits that would suit our situation so we are looking at more shelters (although I am keeping an eye out on the other shelter as they are updating their website daily) , but not all of them have the option to bond them together which is unfortunate... So if we adopt a bun from a shelter they might not bond them together which means that I'll have to do it, I've seen a few videos on how to do them but I have a few questions:-

1) Is 24/7 bonding better than bunny dates? If you don't know what 24/7 bonding is, it's basically where you choose a day and put the two buns in a pen or a neutral enclosure and monitor them for the whole day but people can do it over the course of a week but monitoring them more in the early days, essentially it is meant to help the buns 'remember' each other because bunny dates are short but frequent and if the buns are just starting to warm up to each other they get separated again and then their bond gets disrupted. Personally I would prefer to do 24/7 bonding as it seems the most logical way to do it.

2) Do I have to keep their enclosures near each other? (This only applies if I am doing bunny dates instead of 24/7 bonding), I've seen some say that is will make the buns angry because they can smell each other but they can't meet one another, and the last thing I want is to have two angry buns.

3) Has anyone had experiences with shelters bonding the buns, and was it successful? If you have, did you see the area they were bonded in? I want to make sure it is hygienic (because the shelter might have some sick buns, and I don't want Bambi getting sick), scared bun mom here!

Thanks in advance! Any personal experiences with shelters in the UK are appreciated extremely as I have never adopted a bun before <3
 
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Actually, the side-by-side cages is encouraged with either bonding method. Even with the immersion method (24/7), it can be a good idea to start with the side-by-side cages first.

If you are doing the bonding yourself, you can try either method. One may work better than the other depending on the individual rabbits. There really isn't a one size fits all "better" way. It is too individual to the pair of rabbits (and the one doing the bonding).

You may have already seen this page, but it is quite thorough in describing both methods:
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
 
Actually, the side-by-side cages is encouraged with either bonding method. Even with the immersion method (24/7), it can be a good idea to start with the side-by-side cages first.

If you are doing the bonding yourself, you can try either method. One may work better than the other depending on the individual rabbits. There really isn't a one size fits all "better" way. It is too individual to the pair of rabbits (and the one doing the bonding).

You may have already seen this page, but it is quite thorough in describing both methods:
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/

ah thanks for that! It's just that I heard that some buns might get aggressive because they can smell each other but can't reach other, but I guess it depends on the buns :)
 

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