A Friend for Velma

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iamawesum69420

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Athens, Ohio, USA
My boyfriend and I are considering buying a newbunny to keep the bun we already have company. I am worriedabout bonding because she is a free roam rabbit and basically the wholeapartment is her territory. I was thinking abouttaking her to our local pet store where we got her and introducing herto some other rabbits there to see how she acts. They havethese sort of play areas where people usually take puppies and Ithought maybe we could use one of those to introduce her to a newfriend. Would this be a good idea or a bad one?Also, what are some ideas on how to bond them at home since Velma hasthe whole apartment to herself?
 
Have you thought about checking with a localshelter first? I know a lot of shelters will allow you to bring yourrabbit in to meet other rabbits. That way you could see if she findssomeone she likes and also save a life in the process..

Also, is she spayed? If she's not, they might not let you bring her in.Especially at a pet store where they are usually not altered.

If she can meet someone she likes, bonding should be abreeze. I went through some tough bonding and my suggestionis that if you can set up a date and let her pick somebun out, do it.

If not, probably an altered boy would be your best shot. Theres tons of great bonding links in our resource center!
 
I don't recommend a pet store because they mostoften have babies. The problem with that is that a lot of rabbits willget along when one or both are babies (they aren't often seen as athreat at a young age) but when one or both hit the teen stage, theycould possibly need to be separated and may never be able to get alongagain.

Your best bet would be to adopt a lovely neutered adult male from ashelter. Even though that may not work out either. One of my buckssimply hates all other rabbits and tries to attack my doe through thewire all the time.
 
I second the suggestion that you check out ashelter or rescue group. In many cases you will be able to bring Velmawith you when selecting a new bunny. You would also pay less than youwould at a pet store for a bunny that has already been altered andtemperment tested.

Good luck with whatever choice you make!

Oh, and I don't remember if Velma has been spayed, but if she isn't I would wait until after she has been to get her a friend.

-Amy
 
Velma is not spayed because I am consideringbreeding her at some point. The manager who is in charge ofordering and bringing in pets said that she would definately buy thebabies from me if I ever did decide to breed. The onlyproblem is that I don't have the time right now; I'm a student and Iwould wait until a long break to do anything like that.

I have been reading about how social rabbits are and I am afraid that she gets lonely when we aren't home during the day. :(

Thanks to all for the suggestions, I will look into differentshelters. I like the idea of rescueing bunnies (or any animalfor that matter) because I think with big chains of pet storessometimes shelters get forgotten which leaves lots of cute critterswithout good homes.

Anyway, back to the original topic, is there any way that she would beable to bond succesfully with another bunny without being spayed?
 
Yes, but sometimes shelters wont adopt a male to you if your female isnt altered. Its worth checking into though.

I know a lot of people who have unspayed females paired with spayedmales or females. Its justa lot healthier to have herspayed...plus it does usually cut down on aggression..
 
yup!

From ontariorabbits.org:
"Unspayed female rabbits have a very high chance of developing uterine,mammary or ovarian cancer during their lives. Unofficial statisticsindicate that between 50% to 80% of all unspayed females will beaffected by cancer, by age 5. The incidence of testicular cancer inunneutered males is much lower, but does occur. By contrast, spay andneuter surgeries, IF performed by a rabbit savvy veterinarian, carryvery little risk (success rates are close to 100%). For moreinformation, see the section of this web site on finding a rabbit savvyveterinarian."

Heres the section of the resource center that addresses spays andneuters, it has a lot of great links that outline the benefits tospaying..http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12040&forum_id=10

Hope this helps!
 
Oh no. I had no idea. I amreally starting to think about not spaying her because as much as Iwould like to see her with little baby buns, my bigger concern is thatshe is healthy. I can always wait until later to startthinking about breeding.
 
iamawesum69420 wrote:
I am really starting to think about not spayingher because as much as I would like to see her with little babybuns, my bigger concern is that she is healthy. I can alwayswait until later to start thinking about breeding.
Click to expand...
Did you mean to say "not breeding her"?? How old is she? Idont know much about breeders, so you might want to check around in theRO health reference, but I think that if youre going to breed yourrabbit you have to start at a very young age. Also, there are a lot ofhealth complications that can occur by breeding your pet rabbit lateron (Tinysmom, Peg, had an article about this a while back). Heres thelink:http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=15999&forum_id=8

Its your decision in the end, but I think it would definitely behealthier for your little girl to not breed her. Unless youre reallygoing to get into breeding and doing all the research and everything, Iwouldnt advise it.

Anyway, good luck on your decision! You have one very cute bunny!
 
Yeah I did mean not breeding her.Sorry for the typo. I have done a little research, but notthat much yet. My plan, if I were to breed her, was to waituntil my summer break. I was going to keep my course loadlight and I had it planned out where I wouldn't have to work the wholesummer so I would have plenty of free time. Right now she isa little less than a year old. How old exactly would be tooold? And thank you for the link, I definately am thinkingtwice about even considering breeding her. Her health isdefinately the most important thing to me.
 
Im not sure about age, I really have no experience in breeding.

Heres the only RO resource I could find, and it does have some goodinfo in it:http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12047&forum_id=17

If you have breeding questions, you can post them in the rabbitry,where the breeders would see them better and be able to help you out.Also, you could pm Tinysmom or Pamnock..both are great breeders and Imsure would help you with any questions.

Best wishes!
 
Thank you so much for all your replies!:D I am pretty new to this whole bunny business.Velma is the first rabbit I've had, well besides the Easter presents Ireceived as a kid that were kept outside. I will definatelycheck out the link you provided and I also plan to talk to myvet. I'm taking her in for a check-up sometime this month.
 
I have decided to go ahead and get Velma spayedbefore I get her a new friend and will be calling various vets thiscoming week to make her appointment. :)
 
I think thats probably best. For her health and for bonding her with another.

Have you checked out our rabbit savvy vets to find one in your area?Also, theres some info in the resource center on what questions to askthe vet and such.

Keep us posted. I'll be praying for your little one. She sure is a doll!
 
Yes I did and luckily there is one listed thatis in the town I am living in. :D I also checked out some ofthe questions and what to talk to the vet about. I will begiving him a call this coming week.
 
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