Pippin's new girlfriend is a BOY! (mmm wondered why they weren't getting on . . )

So a while ago we were contacted by someone who had been given what they thought was a wildie - after it had been found inside a town centre pub by their father/ex husband. [NB I HAVE queried this story but do now believe it - suspect rabbit had been caught by something and escaped and become disorientated somehow - though NO parks near that area of town).

I went round to see it at their house and confirmed it was a wildie, estimated it was about 9 months or so, but did no more, it was in the girls lap all the time and I did not want to scare it. . They had already taken it to a vet for a health check. They were wanting to keep it, and were hoping it would bond with their house bun . . they took it back to the vet gave it its myxi jab and then later again to same vet for its VHD.

It wouldn't bond with their house bun (neutered male) and so a few days ago (after they had had it just over 2 months) they contacted me again and said would I take it as I had Pippin our hand reared male wildie and he would like a nice wildie female . . .

So it came here a couple of days ago and we tried a slow bond process, but Pippin was being very unfriendly (uncharacteristically) . .

They had a real chasing session this morning and I said (jokingly) to Steve - perhaps we best check that this IS a girl!!!

Upended the bun and lo and behold . . . . PLUMS!!!

THREE vet visits and it was wrongly sexed each time!!!:shock::shock::shock: They are large and well developed plums - and I suspect the bun is about 9 months old (its bigger than Pippin) so its not as though they've only just dropped in the last day or so . . .

Thank god I don't use their vets . . . Have rung the original people to tell them to swap their vets:lol::lol::lol:

Now what am I meant to do with a 2nd wildie male??????

[before anyone says let it free . . . although I agree thats what should have been done when it was first found, its now been in close human company for about 10 weeks - I really don't think its an option any more - especially as we have no idea how on earth it got into a city pub so would not know where to release it].

oh dear ... :?

Just checked the vaccination certificate they gave me for 'her'.

Was vaccinated at Companion Care vets :roll::roll: on the 13th Oct - so has been with humans since the beginning of October (as that was a week after they got him - a week after 'she' was 'found')

Given that they were trying to get 'her' used to humans by cuddling 'her' all the time I suspect its far too late to even think of releasing back to anywhere. we have foxes on all the commons and allotments round here so there is no chance of a 'soft release' type of thing,

Looks like its us or nothing . . wondering whether we could make the best of a bad job by trying to construct a wildies only area further towards the bottom of our (overcrowded) garden . . it would have to be an aviary style thing due to the foxes but maybe with more pipes etc than we have on our own . . .

Steve (OH) wonders if we could slip him and Pippin in with a group of agoutis we have - one of which is x-wild I think.

parsnipbun said:

Just checked the vaccination certificate they gave me for 'her'.

Was vaccinated at Companion Care vets :roll::roll: on the 13th Oct - so has been with humans since the beginning of October (as that was a week after they got him - a week after 'she' was 'found')

Given that they were trying to get 'her' used to humans by cuddling 'her' all the time I suspect its far too late to even think of releasing back to anywhere. we have foxes on all the commons and allotments round here so there is no chance of a 'soft release' type of thing,

Looks like its us or nothing . .

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Is there no wildlife charities near you that could help. We have a couple near us including tiggywinkles

I might trying ringing them . .

after 3months intensive human contact not sure how he would do if set free . . I know the wildlife places try and handle as little as possible before release. I guess there is also an outside chance that he was caught as a young one and raised somewhere and escaped - hence the found in a pub bit?????

I know wildlife centres do sometimes keep wildies if they are too use to human handling

parsnipbun said:

I guess there is also an outside chance that he was caught as a young one and raised somewhere and escaped - hence the found in a pub bit?????

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Or he could be a half-wild who was handled as a youngster but looks no different to a full wildie?

I have a half wild and she really doesn't look any different to the wild ones I see hopping around - despite her mother being white. Well, she perhaps has slightly more white on her underparts than you'd find on a full wild rabbit but that probably varies.

could be . . . he looks identical to our Pippin - who is a hand reared wildie (brought in by someones cat from the fields).

We do have a x-wildie who is very similar but chunky with a white dab on his nose.

parsnipbun said:

THREE vet visits and it was wrongly sexed each time!!!:shock::shock::shock: They are large and well developed plums - and I suspect the bun is about 9 months old (its bigger than Pippin) so its not as though they've only just dropped in the last day or so . . .

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That would actually be about right for a wildie, they mature much slower than domestics so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for them to drop plums at 9/10 months.

What's his behaviour like? That's probably a better gauge of the type of home he needs, if he's relaxed about human interaction then a pet home, if he's not particularly handleable then a protected colony might be better.

Is Pippin neutered? It might be that both neutered they'd bond anyway.

Tamsin said:

That would actually be about right for a wildie, they mature much slower than domestics so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for them to drop plums at 9/10 months.

What's his behaviour like? That's probably a better gauge of the type of home he needs, if he's relaxed about human interaction then a pet home, if he's not particularly handleable then a protected colony might be better.

Is Pippin neutered? It might be that both neutered they'd bond anyway.

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Pippin is neutered (and very used to humans) - he was ok with Parsley (also unnetered) when he was with that group - but Parsely took to chasing him a lot so we had to split it. Pippins plums dropped at about 5 months I seem to recall - though we delayed having them off.


I really think its unlikely that the new buns dropped in the last couple of days - it would be SUCH a co-incidence. I have spoken now to the original family and they say the vet didn't seem very confident of rabbits (though tbh plums are plums whatever mammal they are attached to:shock.

Behaviour wise it is a bit difficult to say at present as he has only been here a couple of days . . .
when we saw him at the other place he was happy to sit on her lap - but apparently got upset when they put him in the dining room in amongst the family (but that was on laminate flooring in a very bright open plan room).

He is happy enough when Steve holds him, and puts his ears up after a few moments and looks round. He hides all day (same as Pippin) and then races around at night (same as Pippin).

Obviously he is not as happy with humans as Pippin (who has never known anything else) but he is not terrified all the time.

I am taking him to my vet tomorrow and will se what she says - if we are keeping him he will need to be neutered - so i guess thats decision time - as once neutered he could not go into a semi wild situation I guess.

You may be right about pairing them once neutered - in fact not realising his sex we had placed him in an area that Pippin had already been in for a few days - as in our experience Pippin had never ever attacked any other bun so we guessed he was quite a subordinate bun. We would obviously be a lot more cautious if trying again in future.

I missed the bit where you said it was only a couple of days since you'd got him I expect his character will come out more in time, he does sound quite relaxed if he's happy to be held already tho.

Have you any picture of the new rabbit? I know that daylight hours have an influence in whether wildies have their balls pulled inside their body or hanging externally.

This could have something to do with why tasmins wildies balls didnt drop till 9 months and pippins dropped at 5.

Irishmeat said:

Have you any picture of the new rabbit? I know that daylight hours have an influence in whether wildies have their balls pulled inside their body or hanging externally.

This could have something to do with why tasmins wildies balls didnt drop till 9 months and pippins dropped at 5.

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will get a piccie as soon as he is out during daylight hours!! he really is identical to Pippin .

Looking forward to it. I must try get pic of my wildie 2 but everytime i try he bolts for his pipe.

i ment the amount of hours of daylight in the day, like in late spring there would b more daylight than november and this would cause dropping of the balls. balls are puld into the body during the neutral season

parsnipbun said:

will get a piccie as soon as he is out during daylight hours!! he really is identical to Pippin .

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I think it was Novemeber/December Scamp dropped his though :lol:

Tamsin said:

I think it was Novemeber/December Scamp dropped his though :lol:

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Ya I believe the neutral season is roughly from july to november. Balls drop then around december in preparation for spring time breeding, Changes in the length of days then trigger breeding. I must find the scientific paper where a number of tests were carried out under artificial lighting conditions to examine the responce of the testis to hours of light. I know that in his book Ronald lockley remarked at how testis were not present in mature bucks he captured during the neutral season. Wildies are most docile in this season so it is possible that it would be the best time to introduce them to a partner (attempt to pair them up) eventhough it is likely that wildies as pets will be castrated they still might have the instinct to be more docile in this season... just a thought.