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After bonding- neutral cage?

Shall I upgrade or wait? Please give reasons in a post :)

  • Upgrade

    Votes: 7 63.6%
  • Wait

    Votes: 2 18.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 18.2%

  • Total voters
    11

nessar

Warren Veteran
I have at the moment a single male living in a 4ft x 2ft rabbit cage, and I've been itching to upgrade him for simply ages. I've been putting it off as I know it helps to introduce newly bonded bunnies into a neutral cage, to stop one of them becoming terrotorial.

So I was waiting till he was bonded, but now (long story) he may be staying single for a good while. So I want to upgrade him, but I dont know how important it is to put them back into a neutral setting? If he gets a friend, they will be doing the actual bonding at a rescue and then I will bring them home.

What do you reccommend I do? Upgrade or wait?

How important is it to have a neutral cage to be put in after bonding?

The upgrade in question will be a 4/5ft x 4/5ft NIC cage if that makes a difference. He is locked up at night but free-range all day at the moment, and if she behaves herself they will do the same when bonded.

ETA added a poll for funsies :)
 
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Personally, and i'm no expert on bonding as mine kind of bonded by accident, but I would upgrade him to a larger home now and worry about the neutrality issues as and when it comes to it. Like i say i'm no expert but i am sure as long as you completely gave your existing buns house a good going over with some white wine vinegar, and the same with the toys etc then you shouldn't have any problems. But if he's going to be on his own for a bit then i'd give him some more space anyway, i'm sure he'll enjoy it! ;)
 
what about upgrading now, then bonding, then neutralizing by cleaning the set up throughly in vinegar? I asked once and apparently even after bonding you don't want to let them around something that hasn't been neutralized.

If its not a long wait I'd just give him more free range time to kind of make up for it, then bond, then upgrade.
 
i wont add to the poll as im not experienced.

but if you are making a nic cage anyway, perhaps it would help if you took it apart and created a new setup for introducing once bonded???
dont know, would that help?
 
I would upgrade now and then when bonding is done completely disinfect the enclosure (use a bit of white wine vinegar) to make it neutral again :)
 
You can neutralise a cage after bonding buns in a neutral place.

A 4 x 2 foot cage is unsuitable to keep a rabbit in therefore I would suggest getting something suitabe for a pair of rabbits which you can neutralise once you bond your rabbit with a friend.
 
You can neutralise a cage after bonding buns in a neutral place.

A 4 x 2 foot cage is unsuitable to keep a rabbit in therefore I would suggest getting something suitabe for a pair of rabbits which you can neutralise once you bond your rabbit with a friend.

Ditto to this. I use a 4ft x 2ft rabbit cage as a playpen for my hamsters - it isn't suitable as long-term accommodation for rabbits at all so I would upgrade a.s.a.p. :)
 
He's only being kept in at night, he gets all day free-range, surely its not that unsuitable? If it is, then is 4ftx4ft really big enough for a pair? I dont have enough room for a bigger cage. I may be able to make it 5ft but not sure till I try it.


Obviously I will wipe down everything wipe-able with vinegar, but surely he will still realise its his cage even if it doesnt smell the same? Or will he realise but not care? Changing the setup of it would be a good idea, but its really just going to be a big square, with one small shelf, not that creative.
 
I neutralise with vinegar and it doesn't take long. When I put the buns back in they don't suspect a thing and just get on with the fresh bond. They probably do know it's the same thing, but they don't care - it's just the territorial smells they care about. It really doesn't take much to neutralise a space, as long as it is generally kept clean.

If they are free range or have a free ranging space, I don't see anything wrong with a 4ft indoor cage.
 
He's only being kept in at night, he gets all day free-range, surely its not that unsuitable? If it is, then is 4ftx4ft really big enough for a pair? I dont have enough room for a bigger cage. I may be able to make it 5ft but not sure till I try it.

The bigger the better really so if you could get to 5ft that would be fab - 4*4 is 16 square feet; the normal recommendation for a 'base' (with additional free range/exercise time) for an average sized pair is 12 square feet so 4*4 does meet that.

I would upgrade now too, even though he is only shut in at night that is still at least a third of the day and bunnies tend to be active at dusk/after dark so he will be shut in at a time he is likely to want to be active unlike you and me who would just want to sleep!

It is possible to neutralise accommodation after a bond so I wouldn't worry too much about that. If you keep the 4*2 cage, it would be a good size to start off a new bond in :)
 
Thank you everyone who posted so far, I will be having more NIC cube type things delivered in the next couple of days. Will have 6 boxes, which is 96 panels which should be just about enough hopefully, couldnt get hold of any more.


I see 2 people have voted 'wait', can someone give me reasons for this? Dont want to rush into this and make a mistake.

And more opinions or advice welcome :wave:
 
I'm also interested in knowing the answer to this too as I'll be bringing home a bonded pair soon hopefully, although it's too late for me as I've already built her a new NIC cage recently, I got far too excited about building it and couldn't wait, plus she's so much more happier! I have been told though that it should be ok to neutralise thoroughly, this also includes all my carpets etc and anywhere else in the house she's been and to change a few things around in he cage so the original bun finds it's not quite the same as before, hopefully someone who knows their bonding stuff should be able to let us know.
 
I'm also interested in knowing the answer to this too as I'll be bringing home a bonded pair soon hopefully, although it's too late for me as I've already built her a new NIC cage recently, I got far too excited about building it and couldn't wait, plus she's so much more happier! I have been told though that it should be ok to neutralise thoroughly, this also includes all my carpets etc and anywhere else in the house she's been and to change a few things around in he cage so the original bun finds it's not quite the same as before, hopefully someone who knows their bonding stuff should be able to let us know.

I have done lots of bondings over the years and I would definately recommend if someone can increase the size of their accomodation to do it earlier rather than later. As long as you do the preparation work for bonding which includes neutralising everything there should not be a problem.

The more space the better.
 
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