Please help our grieving bunny

Hi, I'm another new user and am desperate for some advice. I am in a real pickle:? We lost one half of our bonded bunnys about 6 weeks ago, it was awful even though it was expected, she was very old. We are waiting for her replacement, she is coming from a sanctuary after being dumped in a plastic bag, with her babies and pregnant again:evil:
Unfortunately, in the meantime, we have had to deal with a rat at the bottom of the garden, and as a last resort a friend brought his ferret and a dog. Obviously our bunny was well out of the way and the rat is gone.
My problem is that although we have cleaned and disinfected his hutch, he is not happy. He only uses his hutch at night really. He is let out at 7 each morning and has full run of the secure garden till he is tucked in at night. But he does not want to go in the hutch and has to be lifted in. We are worried about all the upset for him. He has lost his partner, we need to get him more comfortable in his hutch again plus I am now worried about the timing of introducing a new lady friend who will come with one of her female babies. HELP!!

Firstly welcome :wave:. Secondly, sorry to hear about the loss of one of your bunnies. I'm glad to hear that you are arranging a new partner for your remaining bunny as he'll be much happier. However, I'm not sure that a female and her baby will be the best choice of partner for him. Have you thought about going along to a rescue and letting him choose his own partner? I've never had a mother and baby before so I don't know how protective they are with them but she may object to an unknown male being around her.

As for getting him into his hutch - you say he has to be lifted in. Firstly, are you sure he has not injured himself in some way and it's actually painful for him to jump into his hutch? (I'm not sure how high it is off the ground). If he's in good health, could there be some other reason why he's worried about being in the hutch? Do you think the rat problem could have been an issue? I'd be surprised if he doesn't want to be in there just because he's lost his partner, unless of course he's simply lonely. Is there anyway you could move him indoors until his new partner arrives? In six weeks time, it'll be mid-April so you could, potentially put him back outside then as it'll be warmer.

Hopefully someone with more experience will come along with some more advice but I wish you all the best - please let us know how you get on.