alistair@newsham68.wanado
Young Bun
Last weekend I finally had to say goodbye to my 13 and a half year old girl, Jess (yes 13 1/2 years old!). She had been bravely fighting and eye ulcer and only days before the vet said it was the best he'd seen it look. Unfortunately she took a turn for the worst and 3 days later passed away. The consolation is that she was comfortable and snuggled in hay and straw in her bed with her man, Ollie, with her. I rescued Jess and her sister over 8 years ago and they were 5 then. She successfully bonded with 2 males, having out lived her sister and the first male (who was Cedric, see my post "I seem to have lost my fur", many will recall him!). I am now in a quandary as to what to do for the best with Ollie.
I have been giving homes to rescue rabbits for 17 years, 11 buns in total. I currently have another bonded pair Maize and Einstein. A separate area of my garden is given over to the rabbits, they live in large sheds/ play house and have the freedom to dig, chew, run, mooch as they please in a large outside area. One pair comes out from early morning to lunchtime and then I swap them over. So I have more than enough space to have a trio and they'd have free run all day. My concern is that Einstein was VERY aggressive when I bonded him with Maize to the extent that I thought it would be my first 'failure'! I had never heard a rabbit squeal in pain like Maize did when he bit into her ear! I then failed to close a hutch door properly a few days later, both got out and......bingo! They sorted it out for themselves with minimal fuss and are now the closest of friends and not a squabble between them.
So, do I risk a trio? Risk injury to Ollie? Risk upsetting the current bond between Maize and Einstein? We have decided that after 17 years we don't want to keep introducing new rabbits and my ideal would be to let my 'trio' continue to live happily altogether in the sheds/ large outside area where they'd have free run all day. I have the support from the rescue centre where Ollie came from to help with bonding in a neutral venue. Unfortunately they are having to close down so she can't take Ollie back to try and rehome him with a female. My other alternatives are to leave Ollie as a single bun, which is a no as far as I'm concerned, or to try and find him a female in need of a friend. He is the most gorgeous, calm, gentle young man and it is so sad to see him clearly grieving for Jess at the moment.
Btw, all of my buns are of course neutered and vaccinated so no problems there.
Any views/ advice would be welcome. X
I have been giving homes to rescue rabbits for 17 years, 11 buns in total. I currently have another bonded pair Maize and Einstein. A separate area of my garden is given over to the rabbits, they live in large sheds/ play house and have the freedom to dig, chew, run, mooch as they please in a large outside area. One pair comes out from early morning to lunchtime and then I swap them over. So I have more than enough space to have a trio and they'd have free run all day. My concern is that Einstein was VERY aggressive when I bonded him with Maize to the extent that I thought it would be my first 'failure'! I had never heard a rabbit squeal in pain like Maize did when he bit into her ear! I then failed to close a hutch door properly a few days later, both got out and......bingo! They sorted it out for themselves with minimal fuss and are now the closest of friends and not a squabble between them.
So, do I risk a trio? Risk injury to Ollie? Risk upsetting the current bond between Maize and Einstein? We have decided that after 17 years we don't want to keep introducing new rabbits and my ideal would be to let my 'trio' continue to live happily altogether in the sheds/ large outside area where they'd have free run all day. I have the support from the rescue centre where Ollie came from to help with bonding in a neutral venue. Unfortunately they are having to close down so she can't take Ollie back to try and rehome him with a female. My other alternatives are to leave Ollie as a single bun, which is a no as far as I'm concerned, or to try and find him a female in need of a friend. He is the most gorgeous, calm, gentle young man and it is so sad to see him clearly grieving for Jess at the moment.
Btw, all of my buns are of course neutered and vaccinated so no problems there.
Any views/ advice would be welcome. X