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Should I or shouldn't I?

LauryStevens

Mama Doe
I can imagine the answer most people will give would be no, but I thought it'd be good to air my throughts anyway just to see what peoples views are, pro's and con's and all.

We have 2 pairs of rabbits. Blossom and Thumper are a male/female neutured/spayed pair who are both a year old. Skittles and Bella are (currently) an unspayed pair of girls at the age of 4 months and shall be booked in by the RSPCA soon for their spay.

We have the opertunity to adopt another rabbit. No sex has been decided upon yet and wont be until we're sure if we should continue to proceed or not. The new rabbit would be a young rabbit, most likely 8 weeks or older. Once our current rabbits are all fixed we'll be attempting to bond them over the colder months, but currently they live side by side.

We know we can afford another rabbit, but can not perminantly set up another run/hutch, only temporarily if needed. My partner and I have agreed to really give this situation much thought before we even view the potential adoptee, if we agree to try taking things further, we'll view the rabbits and see how we feel after. If we do plan on potentially adopting another then we'd be enclined to try bond him/her straight away in the young girls pen area to see if there is any agression. If agression is shown we know we'll agree not to adopt the rabbit. If they're ok we'll leave them as they are for a few days to see how they bond.

thats just one big hurdle, the next is to try getting him/her neutered/spayed before he/she gets too hormonal for the girls (less likely if it's a girl i'd imagine), then to try keep their bond strong, then try bonding all 5 together without any seperated bunnies. We are very well aware that Blossom our eldest girl is in charge, and Thumper follows closely behind.
 
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Why do you want to bond a younger un-neutered rabbit? Why not give a chance to an older neutered bunny?

Out of interest why can't you set up a second permanent home?
 
Why do you want to bond a younger un-neutered rabbit? Why not give a chance to an older neutered bunny?

Out of interest why can't you set up a second permanent home?


Our friend had an accidental litter and needs help to try find homes for them, she said we can have one but we're just thinking long and hard about it first. It's not because we are looking for another rabbit, otherwise I would have gone older, but essentially we are still helping another rabbit, who just happens to be young and I see nothing wrong with that just because he/she may be younger.

We have a very large set up for our rabbits currently which we cannot really extend anymore, a temporary setup can be made, but anything permanent isn't really possible at current.
 
I wouldn't try it. As you could end up with them all falling out and having 5 single buns and nowhere to house them all
 
I would say no, purely based on what you've said about not being able to have a permanent second set-up. I would only take on an extra bunny if I had a back up plan in case bonding didn't work, or the bond broke down in several months time (more likely with a younger bunny yet to discover it's hormones). They may well all get on perfectly for the rest of their lives, but I think it's wise to be prepared and know that you will be able to cope if something does happen and they need to be split.

Is there a particular reason why you want to bond the two pairs? If it's so they can have more space, I would suggest just sticking to the 4 you have and bonding them rather than adding an extra bunny as well.

If you do decide to take a youngster on though, please don't put him/her in the girls' pen area as they will be very territorial of their space - all introductions must be on neutral territory.
 
I am aware of terittory issues but seeing as though my 2 girls are young anyway it might have been ok (you don't know until you try) and we wouldn't take on the rabbit knowing that they wouldn't all get on.

Never mind, I'm sure it'll find another home.
 
I am aware of terittory issues but seeing as though my 2 girls are young anyway it might have been ok (you don't know until you try) and we wouldn't take on the rabbit knowing that they wouldn't all get on.

I wasn't saying not to try at all :) but if you are basing your decision to take on another bunny on whether the girls readily accept a newcomer then an intro in a neutral space is the most likely to succeed (especially as you don't know whether the girls will be protective of their own space or not).

I mentioned it because it seems a shame to not give an introduction every possible chance of success.
 
Could you take the bun on a trial? If the bond works fantastic and if it doesn't you havent lost anything but a bit of time.
 
I would say no, purely based on what you've said about not being able to have a permanent second set-up. I would only take on an extra bunny if I had a back up plan in case bonding didn't work, or the bond broke down in several months time (more likely with a younger bunny yet to discover it's hormones). They may well all get on perfectly for the rest of their lives, but I think it's wise to be prepared and know that you will be able to cope if something does happen and they need to be split.

Is there a particular reason why you want to bond the two pairs? If it's so they can have more space, I would suggest just sticking to the 4 you have and bonding them rather than adding an extra bunny as well.

If you do decide to take a youngster on though, please don't put him/her in the girls' pen area as they will be very territorial of their space - all introductions must be on neutral territory.

I agree, if the bond doesnt work out and you can't have another permanent set up, you will be in a tough situation. I know you want to help your friend but sometimes it isnt possible :( x
 
Well the idea was to trial the rabbit to see how it all went. The two girls we were planning on bonding them with are now booked in for a spay under the RSPCA funding on Wednesday as they are now 4 months old and our vet is happy to do the procedure. The younger rabbit is currently 5 weeks old so we'd need to wait a few weeks yet. If we change our minds as we still haven't discovered every possible option; we hope our current two would of had plenty of time to heal and there for ready to see a new friend. Our little two girls are angels but I am aware that it can all change in a second.

We'll see. :) I have some photos of the potential rabbits if anyone wants to see? I already know which one I'd like out of the cute bunch.
 
Previously I might have said yes, but after my experience of the last couple of nights I'd say it could be really risky if you cannot have another permanent set up. I had a mother and two sons who'd been together for several years and since getting more comfortable in their new home their bonding's fallen apart and I've had to separate Izzy for his own safety. I'm starting to think that although there are very successful groups of bunnies out there, it's a huge risk and not something I'd be prepared to risk again.
 
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