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What to do with Dudley

What should I do with Dudley?

  • Get him a new friend of his own

    Votes: 5 27.8%
  • Bond him with the other two buns

    Votes: 12 66.7%
  • Something else (please specify)

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • Total voters
    18

Santa

Wise Old Thumper
Well so Dudley is all alone now that Santa has gone :( They were very close, always snuggling and grooming. My initial reaction was to try and bond Dudley in with my two lops, but now I'm wavering and wondering whether I should just get him another companion :? Dudley is 7 years old now but still fairly active, healthy and boisterous. She would need to be an older (5+ girl, already spayed, and I don't think I could deal with knowingly taking one on with existing health problems at the moment). Not least because I would hate to bond him again for his new companion to leave him again soon afterwards :cry:

Dudley's house is a 3-storey 5ft long Ryedale, attached permanently to an 8*4 run. It is down the side of the house so doesn't exactly have much of a view, and it is on concrete, and the neighbours have an enormous great silver birch tree overhanging it which constantly drops stuff over it, making it very hard to keep clean. They also have a 10*3 forsham ark run for grazing time on the lawn. It's ok spacewise but I don't think this is ideal really which is why I initially thought it would be good to try and bond him in with the other two and dispense with the stuff down the side of the house (or tidy the hutch up and keep it for fosters next year).

But for a while all four buns were bonded and while they were ok together, Dudley was a little bit of an outcast and was definitely bottom of the 'pecking order' and not altogether happy. That was three years ago though, so I'm wondering if it's worth trying again because they are now all 7 years old and the dynamic might be different if there are only 3 of them? If Dudley bonded they would all be living together in a 4ft Wendy house attached permanently to a 12*6 run. It is in the shady part of the garden and is easy to attach a run extension onto to give extra grazing without needing to pick them up and move them from their existing home.

What does everyone think? I change my mind every few minutes :?
 
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I think it would be worth trying him with the lops, to see how they get on. If if doesn't work, then nothing lost, get him a girlie friend. If it does work, you'll have a run to house more bunnies in:D
 
I don't see a problem with trying him with the lops and seeing how it goes, then if it doesn't work you can consider getting him a pal? As you know the group dynamics can change drastically from 4 to 3 or whatever?
 
I suppose if you could see into the future and know that he would get on with the other two, it would be nice to have three together! But I don't know how difficult it is to bond rabbits - never tried and too afraid to do it. I just think that if possible 3 together would be nice and he'd have more space. Sorry - I'm a bit useless!! :wave:
 
Yeah trying him with the other two was what I originally thought, then hubby asked me if I was going to get another one and I said I was going to try him with the lops, and he said 'but you tried that before and it didn't work'. I wasn't expecting him to be the one saying that, so it's made me doubt myself now :?

It's not going to be possible to have him as a housebunny sadly - hubby wouldn't allow it, we have 2 cats and we work all day, so it wouldn't be best for him.
 
i think i would get him a friend. Your set up is great, especially for nethies. I think about my trio and i think, pebbles is left out quite alot and i dont think id do it again. I know jelly was the one left alone so its a bit different, but if dudley ends up being the bottom of the pecking order, then he could be left out alot and then it could be a massive change for him.

Pebbles being at the bottom is often chased about, and i think with dudleys age despite him beig active he would probably be happier chilling in the sun with an older companion, than chased around being at the bottom of the group.

Bless him :( i love Dudley :love:
 
Yeah that's what I originally thought, then hubby asked me if I was going to get another one and I said I was going to try him with the lops, and he said 'but you tried that before and it didn't work'. I wasn't expecting him to be the one saying that, so it's made me doubt myself now :?

We did talk about this a while ago if you remember and you said you didn't think you'd get another permanent bun, and would try a trio? I think maybe another bun would be ideal for Dudley but not for you perhaps so why not try a trio first? I think you will know pretty soon if it is going to work or not?
 
i think i would get him a friend. Your set up is great, especially for nethies. I think about my trio and i think, pebbles is left out quite alot and i dont think id do it again. I know jelly was the one left alone so its a bit different, but if dudley ends up being the bottom of the pecking order, then he could be left out alot and then it could be a massive change for him.

Pebbles being at the bottom is often chased about, and i think with dudleys age despite him beig active he would probably be happier chilling in the sun with an older companion, than chased around being at the bottom of the group.

Bless him :( i love Dudley :love:

Oh you see that makes sense to me! A nice quiet life.... snuggly little wife.... I can see how that would work!
 
We did talk about this a while ago if you remember and you said you didn't think you'd get another permanent bun, and would try a trio?

Yeah I did...it's just the worst possible trio combination out of the four :? But then three years has passed and they are now all 7 so maybe they have all chilled out more than I think.

I trust you to help me make the right decision on Saturday :) For now though, I like Donna's idea the best.
 
We did talk about this a while ago if you remember and you said you didn't think you'd get another permanent bun, and would try a trio? I think maybe another bun would be ideal for Dudley but not for you perhaps so why not try a trio first? I think you will know pretty soon if it is going to work or not?

Agree with Lou.

Trio is worth a go, you never know how it will turn out. If not, a fried of his own would be lovely.
 
well we're heplful - it's half n half at the mo!

Have just dropped Beau off for his bonding, and the couple next to him have only been together 5 days and are SO in love :love::love::love:
 
I would try the trio first, things may well have changed now they're all in their senior years. :) If it doesn't work, then you could get Dudley his own companion.
 
Whilst I've no experience of it, I would think that the dynamics between a 4 and a 3 would be quite different. Although, there is still plenty of opportunity for one to be cast out in a 3 (certainly is with piggies anyway).

My view would be that you try something that meets your own circumstances first, eg. if you really don't want to take on another bun currently, try the 3-some bonding first, and then reconsider if it doesn't work.
 
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