MyJuneAngel
Well-Known Member
I see that many of you have several rabbits and a lot of them have to be caged separately and sometimes in different parts of the house even. I'm not really sure how to ask, but how does this make you feel? I hate having my animals separated. It makes me nervous when I have to worry about whether these two or those two will get along, etc. Mine have always stayed together as much as possible (aside from keeping the male and female in a single but divided cage). After some re-homing and rearranging we are down to 3 rabbits. We have teenaged sisters from one litter and their younger brother from the next litter. The girls are bonded and I want to try to bond them to their brother as well.
My cats and dogs all get along and they all like the rabbits so the thought of having to keep the rabbits separate when all of the other animals share the same space at the same time bothers me. We had an issue once with a dog that couldn't live with our other dog or with the cats. We had to re-home her because it was too much for me trying to separate them and work out the logistics all the time of where each dog/cat would be so as to not end up with a fight on my hands. They had a few bloody fights before we re-homed one of them and it was extremely stressful on me. If my rabbits were to get into such a fight, I'm afraid I would have to find new homes for them too.
So far, it looks like it will be easy enough to bond Thumper to his sisters. They have been caged side by side before, with just a NIC panel in between them. They groomed each other through the wires (both girls took turns grooming their brother) and they laid side by side for a good amount of time. Hunny got ticked off and began thumping (first time I've ever heard/seen her thump) so I thought maybe she was irritated with Thumper and I moved him to his old enclosure in a different room (he's so sad in there by himself!). He was obviously not the problem as she continued to thump for a few hours making it known that she was ticked off. In retrospect, I think she was trying to get some attention. My daughter usually does all the bunny chores and plays with them every day and she was away for the night so I think Hunny felt neglected. The first chance that the girls got to roam the living room they went straight to Thumper's enclosure and sat against his gate talking to him and nuzzling him. They haven't been together in shared space recently but they all run in the same areas when they are out of their cages so their scents are all over and no one has tried marking either (though Thumper may not be old enough for that yet).
When we are home, I would like to be able to have all 3 rabbits out with free run of the downstairs. We have 2 dogs (a german shepherd and a westie) and 3 cats who also have free run of the space. Do you think its just a pipe dream or can larger groups of rabbits live together peacefully? We don't plan on more than the 3 and I have heard of bonded trios so I am hopeful. I just can't stand the idea of having to take turns letting the rabbits out. There are only so many hours in the day and having to take turns with them means a lot less exercise time, not to mention a lonely Thumper in a cage all by himself.
My cats and dogs all get along and they all like the rabbits so the thought of having to keep the rabbits separate when all of the other animals share the same space at the same time bothers me. We had an issue once with a dog that couldn't live with our other dog or with the cats. We had to re-home her because it was too much for me trying to separate them and work out the logistics all the time of where each dog/cat would be so as to not end up with a fight on my hands. They had a few bloody fights before we re-homed one of them and it was extremely stressful on me. If my rabbits were to get into such a fight, I'm afraid I would have to find new homes for them too.
So far, it looks like it will be easy enough to bond Thumper to his sisters. They have been caged side by side before, with just a NIC panel in between them. They groomed each other through the wires (both girls took turns grooming their brother) and they laid side by side for a good amount of time. Hunny got ticked off and began thumping (first time I've ever heard/seen her thump) so I thought maybe she was irritated with Thumper and I moved him to his old enclosure in a different room (he's so sad in there by himself!). He was obviously not the problem as she continued to thump for a few hours making it known that she was ticked off. In retrospect, I think she was trying to get some attention. My daughter usually does all the bunny chores and plays with them every day and she was away for the night so I think Hunny felt neglected. The first chance that the girls got to roam the living room they went straight to Thumper's enclosure and sat against his gate talking to him and nuzzling him. They haven't been together in shared space recently but they all run in the same areas when they are out of their cages so their scents are all over and no one has tried marking either (though Thumper may not be old enough for that yet).
When we are home, I would like to be able to have all 3 rabbits out with free run of the downstairs. We have 2 dogs (a german shepherd and a westie) and 3 cats who also have free run of the space. Do you think its just a pipe dream or can larger groups of rabbits live together peacefully? We don't plan on more than the 3 and I have heard of bonded trios so I am hopeful. I just can't stand the idea of having to take turns letting the rabbits out. There are only so many hours in the day and having to take turns with them means a lot less exercise time, not to mention a lonely Thumper in a cage all by himself.
I would like them all together as much as possible. I think it's just my personality though. As a kid we had a goat that lived inside the house with us, our cats and dogs. None of our animals were ever separated other than hamsters or birds and the hamsters were still out in their little balls as often as possible.
