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Owners like you.....?

Hi there,
First I would like to stress I am a very responsible rabbit owner. And am now pretty well read and experienced....since....
Since the accidental litter (don't miss judge me!) two vets, the pet shop and the breeder all sexed Lilly as a girl. he used to pull his bits up when turned over!
So one weekend our 2 house buns had babies. We were camping and my mum was feeding them. The day we returned I found the nest of babies and we moved Lilly (the male). But it was too late and 31 days later 4 more babies arrived. We designated a whole conservatory to them. The mum had access to the both litters but the litters couldn't access each other. And Lilly was in a pen recovering from his castration.

Very quickly I became quite the expert on rabbit behaviour and it has actually been a totally lovely experience. Especially for our children. The pet shop said they would have them all off me at a young age. But by then I had learnt that pet shops weren't that great and I wish I knew then what I know now about rabbit rescues etc.
So we decided they were our responsibility and if we could find suitable homes for any of them it would be helpful but only if they were the perfect bunny family. Other than that they were ours.

However, two little male buns went to their new family at about 18 weeks old. And then got returned due to the dad in the house developing a serious allergic reaction. Since these two have returned they have not stayed friends and had a bad fight which has resulted in me separating them. One of them was bonded with four others but it was getting a bit unfriendly so I moved him to be alone :-( and the other is also alone :-( They are due to be done in about three days time. I will endeveour to bond them again. But I'm not sure they were ever going to be good together. They are alpha males I think and probably need a lady bunny (the females were out numbered massively 9 males only 2 females.

One rescue centre has advertised for me on this web site but no luck. So I am asking if anyone knows of any other sites/forums that serious bunny owners would look. Owners like yourselves.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jo
 
Are you in the UK? I think that this is probable the most popular UK site but someone else should be around soon who might know otherwise. I am on one other site but it seems to be more Americans. I am in the USA though. Do you have pictures of your bunnies on here? People love to see pictures. That might help a little.
 
Are you in the UK? I think that this is probable the most popular UK site but someone else should be around soon who might know otherwise. I am on one other site but it seems to be more Americans. I am in the USA though. Do you have pictures of your bunnies on here? People love to see pictures. That might help a little.


Yes I'm UK based. Cheshire.
I'll get photos on, but I'm not great with technology!
 
No real help I'm sorry (unless I win the lottery) :roll: Just wanted to say well done for being a responsible owner and I hope you get some help with your buns x
 
I think a big part of the problem will be they aren't neutered yet. It's very common for male sibblings to fight when they reach sexual maturity - which is right on the age they are. You may find they calm down a lot a few weeks after neutering.
 
Yeah, they all need to be neutered/spayed. Then those 2 males can be re-bonded. Are you going to keep them all if possible? I take it that the others haven't fought yet? If you get them neutered soon (not exactly sure how old they all are, but males can be neutered at about 12 wks, and females at about 5 months) you may be able to keep them from fighting. It might actually be lucky that they're mostly all males because males can be neutered earlier than females.

Neutering that many will be expensive but if you ask it's possible that a vet will give you a refund, vets sometimes do that when you get many animals neutered at the same time.
 
I don't have any real advice for you but well done on trying to do the right thing :D And photos would be lovely if you can do it!
 
I think neutering would be a good thing, however I have 2 brother who are both neutered and they hate each other and will fight and cause bad injury, there is no guarantee they will ever go back together. Your best bet is to get them both neutered females if they won't bond. Adding 1 female to them together may not remedy the problem if the boys are not getting on together already, infact it may make it worse. Rabbits live in matriarchal societies where the majority of the time the female will be the dominant rabbit, this can cause fights if the 2 males are also quite dominant as there will be a struggle so neither becomes bottom of the pack.

Hope that makes sense :)
 
Well done for doing your research and not taking them to a pet shop! It's a difficult one as you have lots of males and only a couple of females. Do you have any friends with single females who could be bonded with your males (once neutered of course!)? It is possible to bond neutered males with each other but there is still a chance they might fall out at some point...
Good luck, I hope you can sort something out for them x
 
All the others have been neutered and spayed, including the poor hard worked mum.
These are the last two and the vet is doing one free.

I have spent ages bonding them and observing them to see who doesn't like who etc. because there was some fighting as they came of age. One female and male went to a friend, and 2 other males were also rehomed and they are all fine.

I have a female and male living in a pen together as that particular male fought with all other males. Even after neutering.
I have two brothers living with mum and dad as a foursome and they are all fine too.

But now the two little brothers who are fighting are in two separate areas of my kitchen it looks like a fortress!
They are booked in for Wednesday to have their bits removed. I know it will calm them. But whether or not enough to bond with each other or their litters I'm not sure?
I have no other friends who are interested and don't know anyone with a single female bun. I've even been trying to get my mum to have one! But at a bit of a dead end now. They are all so sweet and very very tame and domesticated.
Hence why I'm asking on here.
Thanks for all your words of support and advice.
 
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