For those of you who have bonded two bunnies...

[danaii]

I did my introduction last week, and it should still be there.



Long story short, my best friend and I adopted Chewie, a 3.5 month oldneutered male Holland Lop from the Humane Society. When wegot hime, I worked days and my friend worked nights, so we were able tospend a lot of time with him.



Well, naturally my friend's employer (who sucks) put him on a dayschedule as well, so Chewie is alone most of the day. He's ina room, but not locked in his cage. When one of us comesthrough the door, he immediately greets us, and follows us around andis adorable.



But now I feel guilty, because he seems so bored and lazy when we firstwalk in, before he realizes we're there, so we're thinking aboutadopting a spayed girl bunny.



So after reading the other posts, here are my questions:

1. Does age matter a great deal? The bunny we're looking at is a Holland Lop mix, female, about 1.5 years old.

2. I assume we'll need two separate cages, right? But then,if they bond, do we still need two cages? We don't have a*ton* of room, but it is doable.

3. What do you do if they don't bond, or if the Humane Society doesn'tlet your bunny pick out his new friend before you get said new friend?

4. Do most bunnies bond?

5. Will Chewie still be affectionate with us?

6.Does breed matter? Should I go with another Holland Lop?

7. Anything else?



Thanks in advance!!

 

[HoneyPot]

danaii wrote:

:wave:Hey - ok answered below..

1. Does age matter a great deal? The bunny we're looking at is a Holland Lop mix, female, about 1.5 years old.


Age doesn't matter - 1.5years is fine with a 3.5 mth

2. I assume we'll need two separate cages, right? But then,if they bond, do we still need two cages? We don't have a*ton* of room, but it is doable.


2 separate cages to start yes, when they bond completely, 1 cage willbe fine as long as it is big enough to house both rabbitsconfortably. You should look into NIC cubes (search the forum- tons of threads on NIC cages). You can build a temporaryNIC cage and once they are bonded, deconstruct it and use it tobuildone BIG cage (or for shelving as it wasmeant).

3. What do you do if they don't bond, or if the Humane Society doesn'tlet your bunny pick out his new friend before you get said new friend?

Most will let you - call ahead and see if they will. Iimaging the Humane Society may be more open to letting you bring inyour bunny than some other kinds of shelters.

Also you have to be prepared for them not bonding. You never know...

4. Do most bunnies bond?

Yes and No. There is no guarantee - some just won't no matterhow hard you try... but I find that pretty rare. My coupletook 5 months to bond which is a long time, but they dideventually.

5. Will Chewie still be affectionate with us?


Yes, I found that Misty was still affectionate with me after we gotCharlie -however, her attention did shift from always wanting ourattention since now she had someone to play with and hang out with allthe time. It did not change the fact that she still lovedhaving us pet and cuddle her, but she did not need us asmuch.

6.Does breed matter? Should I go with another Holland Lop?

Breed doesn't matter no.

7. Anything else?

If you can find a bun thatChewie will not attack on sight atthe humane society... you should be good togo. Lookfor them ignoring each other, or both grooming. Checking eachother out would be even better! Good Luck!




Nadia



Thanks in advance!!

 

[Haley]

:yeahthat

And the most important bit of advice I can give you is be prepared incase they dont bond. Make sure you have the time, patience, money, andspaceto devote to 2 bunnies even if they never can be housedtogether. Its definitely a possibility.

Thats why taking him to meet her is such a good idea if you can. And Ithink most bunnies are so much happier once they have a buddy. :hug2:

 

[cmh9023]

Hi, I live in Milwaukee too. I noticed yourquestion #3 about what if the Humane Society doesn't let Chewie pickout his friend. I was just wondering if you already had aspecific girl or a specific Humane Society in mind? The reason I ask isbecause there are some Humane Society's in the area who are great aboutknowing a lot about rabbits and their specific needs, knowing how to doa date, how to know when a date is "successful", etc. But Ihadan experience at oneHumane SocietywhenI was looking for a partner for one of my girls that really wasn't thegreatest. I felt like I knew more about buns than they did, and thedating process was really ineffective and just kind of weird.I know there are a lot of cutie pies in our area who could use awonderful home and a great partner like Chewie. In fact, I just started"dating" my newest little guy (in the avatar) with a girl from the WIHRS. If you feel like chatting about the places in the area that aremore "bunny savvy", you can PM me at[email protected].

 

[naturestee]

WI HRS is great, so is Soulmate RabbitRescue. I'm fostering a bun for them right now, although I'mtrying to bond him with two of my others so I can keep him.

And I agree 100% with everything Nadia wrote. Also make sureyou read up on bonding. There's a thread with lots of info onit in Bunny 101:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12072&forum_id=17

My personal favorite site:
http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm

 

[danaii]

Thanks for all of your replies!

Actually, the new bunbun is going to have to wait a bit, because mybest friend (at whose house Chewie is residing) got laid off from hisjob yesterday. I found out last night.

We just can't afford another bunny right now, not to mention the factthat, until he gets another job, he'll be able to spend more time withChewie. So once he gets a new job, we will resume the searchfor a new companion.