Buttercup n Charlie
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone. This post is mostly a question/ask for guidance from those of you with experience on the matter. We currently have one bun, but would like to embrace more in our lives. Here are the different opinions we've heard about bonding. Firstly we'd like to know the truth/myth behind these statements and then would like guidelines on how to adopt more buns! So here's what we've been told:
1) When buns bond to other buns, they tend to forget about their humans and are not as playful/cuddly any more and tend to be more interested in their bun companion. Truth or myth? What happens if you have 3 instead of 2?
2) It is easier to bond buns in pairs (as in one on one), rather than multi way bonding (as in 3 or more at once). Truth or myth?
3) It is easier to introduce PAIRS of bonded buns (as in two on two) rather than introduce a 3rd wheel to an existing pair. Truth or myth?
4) Brothers/Sisters tend to stay bonded or are easy to bond. Truth or myth?
Having digested all that, here are the constraints we are working with: Space-wise, we can probably house about 3-5 small buns. However, we can only have two separations of the buns. Meaning that if we had to separate non bonded buns into different spaces at any given time, we only have two spaces to work with. So let's say we had 2 buns that are not bonded and therefore separated. We could not add the third bun (even though we have space overall) until we bond the 2 first in order to free up one of the separated areas. Additionally, sure we have the space, but we dont want to bring on a bunch of rabbits all at once, but would rather take the growth slowly to make sure we can handle it and give them the proper care and not overwhelm ourselves.
So the question is, how do we introduce more buns to the family? Considering we can have 3-5, a couple of opposite pairs sounds perfect (i.e. 2 boys 2 girls
). We already have the one doe. So what should we do next? Should we:
1) Get another doe first, and then try to bond the two and then perhaps get two bucks (brothers or bonded) afterwards and bond them all? The concern for me here would be bonding the 2 does, since buttercup is pretty territorial I dont know how I would move the new doe into her living space without a fight! Also this depends on truth/myth # 3 being true so that the 2 pairs are relatively bondable. The good thing is that this lets us evaluate how well we can handle the first two and if we want more.
2) Get a couple of bucks first, bond them to buttercup and then get a final doe (or not depending on how we're doing with the load). Less worried about the territorialness here, because I would have to expand her living arrangements anyways for all three to fit, so it would kind of be "new" to her and somewhat unmarked. But I'm fearful of how hard it will be to first bond two bucks to one doe and then bond a final doe to the trio.
3) Do it one by one - get a buck, bond to buttercup. Then get another doe and buck one at a time and bond those two. And then finally try to bond the two pairs, and if it doesn work we can always have two separately living bonded pairs. This feels like it's ideal ... except the space issue. Once we bring the 3rd bunny in, I dont know where we would put the 4th bunny until 3 and 4 bond :S Of course I could instead try to bond number 3 with the first two, but then we're left at the same position as we were with our second approach that we mentioned above.
As a final note, the gender distribution I'm mentioning above of course is completely theoretical; it just sounds like a "happy family" If we fall in love with 3 more does, then 3 more does it will be, but lets just go with the flow above for the sake of discussion!
Am I being paranoid? Am I overthinking it? What are your thoughts
1) When buns bond to other buns, they tend to forget about their humans and are not as playful/cuddly any more and tend to be more interested in their bun companion. Truth or myth? What happens if you have 3 instead of 2?
2) It is easier to bond buns in pairs (as in one on one), rather than multi way bonding (as in 3 or more at once). Truth or myth?
3) It is easier to introduce PAIRS of bonded buns (as in two on two) rather than introduce a 3rd wheel to an existing pair. Truth or myth?
4) Brothers/Sisters tend to stay bonded or are easy to bond. Truth or myth?
Having digested all that, here are the constraints we are working with: Space-wise, we can probably house about 3-5 small buns. However, we can only have two separations of the buns. Meaning that if we had to separate non bonded buns into different spaces at any given time, we only have two spaces to work with. So let's say we had 2 buns that are not bonded and therefore separated. We could not add the third bun (even though we have space overall) until we bond the 2 first in order to free up one of the separated areas. Additionally, sure we have the space, but we dont want to bring on a bunch of rabbits all at once, but would rather take the growth slowly to make sure we can handle it and give them the proper care and not overwhelm ourselves.
So the question is, how do we introduce more buns to the family? Considering we can have 3-5, a couple of opposite pairs sounds perfect (i.e. 2 boys 2 girls
). We already have the one doe. So what should we do next? Should we:1) Get another doe first, and then try to bond the two and then perhaps get two bucks (brothers or bonded) afterwards and bond them all? The concern for me here would be bonding the 2 does, since buttercup is pretty territorial I dont know how I would move the new doe into her living space without a fight! Also this depends on truth/myth # 3 being true so that the 2 pairs are relatively bondable. The good thing is that this lets us evaluate how well we can handle the first two and if we want more.
2) Get a couple of bucks first, bond them to buttercup and then get a final doe (or not depending on how we're doing with the load). Less worried about the territorialness here, because I would have to expand her living arrangements anyways for all three to fit, so it would kind of be "new" to her and somewhat unmarked. But I'm fearful of how hard it will be to first bond two bucks to one doe and then bond a final doe to the trio.
3) Do it one by one - get a buck, bond to buttercup. Then get another doe and buck one at a time and bond those two. And then finally try to bond the two pairs, and if it doesn work we can always have two separately living bonded pairs. This feels like it's ideal ... except the space issue. Once we bring the 3rd bunny in, I dont know where we would put the 4th bunny until 3 and 4 bond :S Of course I could instead try to bond number 3 with the first two, but then we're left at the same position as we were with our second approach that we mentioned above.
As a final note, the gender distribution I'm mentioning above of course is completely theoretical; it just sounds like a "happy family"
If we fall in love with 3 more does, then 3 more does it will be, but lets just go with the flow above for the sake of discussion!Am I being paranoid? Am I overthinking it? What are your thoughts
