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Help - Bonding Questions!

Cheeky

Young Bun
I have a few questions on bonding a neutered male and female, these are:-

1) Do they have to be the same breed/size

2) I was also wondering about age. My female bun is approx. 5 years old - is it best to bond with a bunnie around the same age as thinking what would happen if she bonded with a much younger rabbit; if anything happened to her then he would be left on his own

3) If when you try bonding they continually fight, at what point do you stop trying? I ask this because I tried to bond my female with a male some years ago and I think (looking back now and reading threads on this forum about bonding) that I probably panicked and gave up too early which makes me feel quite guilty as they could have had a few years together cuddling and grooming etc before he passed away.

Just a few questions that are going through my head at the mo LOL!
 
1) Do they have to be the same breed/size
Neither matters, however it is best to avoid a giant with a tiny nethie. It is how they intreract with the bun you choose which is the desciding factor. Like humans react with different humans, buns react differently with individual buns.

I was also wondering about age. My female bun is approx. 5 years old - is it best to bond with a bunnie around the same age as thinking what would happen if she bonded with a much younger rabbit; if anything happened to her then he would be left on his own
Age again does not matter unless you have a frail bun, which really would not cope with having an energetic bun running around it. You neet to descide how long you wish to continue having rabbits about before you descide on the age of a rabbit you bond with it. If you are about to have major life changes to your own life, it may be best to avoid getting a youngster.

3) If when you try bonding they continually fight, at what point do you stop trying? I ask this because I tried to bond my female with a male some years ago and I think (looking back now and reading threads on this forum about bonding) that I probably panicked and gave up too early which makes me feel quite guilty as they could have had a few years together cuddling and grooming etc before he passed away.
Rabbits should not be left to fight, if bonding is done on totally neutral territory, they should be pulled apart for a a very short while before releasing if they do lockon to each other. Nipping, mounting and a degree of chasing should be tolerated.

Some rescues will help you with bonding if you get your new bunny partner from them. Ask about, this helps you with ensuring that you have the right partner for your bun.
 
Bonding two rabbits can be quite a tricksy process, especially if you have two headstrong buns that both want to be the one wearing the trousers. I agree pretty much with Janice-arc but I will add one thing. While age may not have too much of a bearing on the success/faliure of a bonding you have to bear in mind that a significant age gap will probably result in the older bun passing first and therefore leaving the younger bun being lonely and needing to be bonded again. Matching their ages as closely as possible will limit the ammount of time a bun will have to spend on their own. (its not something a new owner wants to think about really but it should be taken into consideration.)

As for the fighting, if it really is 'continual' then they should be separated. sooner rather than later. rabbits can be nasty little things to each other when properly motivated. I'd say if the fur is flying its time for a time out. Its unlikly that two buns that cant tolerate the presence of another rabbit are going to fall in love after beng left to fight it out. In the wild if rabbits met and faught one of them would run away before serious injury occured. In a home or rescue centre environment the submissive rabbit cant escape and so the dominant rabbit takes it as being "I wont run away" rather than "I cant run away".
 
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