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Experiences bonding nethies?

Squishies

Squishies

Warren Scout
Hi lovely people, I'd love to hear your stories (good and less good!) of bonding netherland dwarves or similarly energetic little buns.

I have a beautiful nethie cross buck, who is a particularly smart and sparky little fella.
...I had wanted to bond him with my pair of mini-lops to re-create a trio, but he proved to be a less than ideal match for my pair and is back to living (and running cute furry riot!) in the house with me.

Ideally I'd like to find him a girlfriend, as even though he gets lots of love and attention when I'm home, I can work very long hours at times and I feel terribly guilty when I have to leave him on his own for the day.

It may well be that the personalities of my bunnies were far too different, but I've heard from several people with far more knowledge of rabbits than I, that netherland dwarf buns can be notoriously tricky to bond -- any thoughts/ideas folks?

x x
 
I really don't think Nethies are more difficult to bond than any other breed. What you will need is a neutered female :thumb:
 
I can imagine nethies may be seen as more difficult because they're naturally more active and high strung.

I'd say normal bonding techniques with a neutered female would give you the best chance. Ideally one with a similar personality to his own.

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daphnephoebe said:
I can imagine nethies may be seen as more difficult because they're naturally more active and high strung.

I'd say normal bonding techniques with a neutered female would give you the best chance. Ideally one with a similar personality to his own.

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That'll be Rusty then ;):lol:
 
Thanks all - that's encouraging! My plan had originally been exactly that, to look for an equally bonkers female of similar size/breed/personality, but I have heard some quite mixed things about nethies having done some asking about!
...Does anyone have a really successfully bonded nethie pair they can share their bonding experiences of? : )

And for all those wondering what on earth MM is referring to, :lol: 'Rusty' is a gorgeous little female crossbreed that I spotted on the Northumberland RSPCA website, who sounded like the exact female equivalent of my little fella... sadly (or, luckily, depending on which way you look at it!), I didn't get a response to my enquiries about her, and (good for her), it now looks like she has been re-homed :love:

It may be time to start contacting more rescues in that case!
x
 
Squishies said:
Thanks all - that's encouraging! My plan had originally been exactly that, to look for an equally bonkers female of similar size/breed/personality, but I have heard some quite mixed things about nethies having done some asking about!
...Does anyone have a really successfully bonded nethie pair they can share their bonding experiences of? : )

And for all those wondering what on earth MM is referring to, :lol: 'Rusty' is a gorgeous little female crossbreed that I spotted on the Northumberland RSPCA website, who sounded like the exact female equivalent of my little fella... sadly (or, luckily, depending on which way you look at it!), I didn't get a response to my enquiries about her, and (good for her), it now looks like she has been re-homed :love:

It may be time to start contacting more rescues in that case!
x
Click to expand...


She did look like a right character - full of life and trouble :lol:
 
I've bonded nethies in the past and while they can be a bit more skippy than some other breeds, I don't think it's that much different. I suspect the problem you had with your trio was partly simply the fact that it's a trio, but also that lops body language differs a lot because of the way they hold their ears, so it can be trickier (but not impossible) to bond ***** eared and lop eared together as they don't speak the same language and don't have the same lines of sight.

I think it's more about finding a suitable personality match and hopefully you'll find a suitable companion soon :love:
 
Santa said:
I've bonded nethies in the past and while they can be a bit more skippy than some other breeds, I don't think it's that much different. I suspect the problem you had with your trio was partly simply the fact that it's a trio, but also that lops body language differs a lot because of the way they hold their ears, so it can be trickier (but not impossible) to bond ***** eared and lop eared together as they don't speak the same language and don't have the same lines of sight.

I think it's more about finding a suitable personality match and hopefully you'll find a suitable companion soon :love:
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Gosh, I never considered this aspect. It makes absolute sense though.
 
My bridge bun Bramble was a nethie, I bonded her with my now bridge bun Flop, who was an uppy eared lionhead cross about twice her size. She was like a Tasmanian devil when we introduced them and bit me through two pairs of thick gardening gloves. I think though that the issues were much more to do with my inexperience in bonding (first time ever) and giving them too much space. They did bond though and were very loved up for 5 years.
After Flop had to be pts, I adopted Parsley a nethie cross. They lived with him in a temporary run and hutch inside her aviary style run for a week as that was the only way I could be sure that his run would not be vulnerable to attack from predators as it was quite flimsy. We collected him on Sunday evening and so left introducing them until the Friday evening, so they introduced themselves through the bars. I've told this story before, but Mum visited whilst I was at work and decided to poke some hay so that it was half in Parsley's run and half in Bramble's as she thought that they would both nibble it and interact with each other. Bramble decided that she wasn't sharing and sat on her hay and pulled hay through from his side to eat it!
When it came to introducing them finally, I just popped them both in a litter tray on neutral territory and that was it, within a couple of hours they were relaxed next to each other. Nethies certainly have attitude but I don't think they're any more difficult to bond than any other breed, it's down to the individual personalities of each bun. Good luck!
 
Santa said:
I've bonded nethies in the past and while they can be a bit more skippy than some other breeds, I don't think it's that much different. I suspect the problem you had with your trio was partly simply the fact that it's a trio, but also that lops body language differs a lot because of the way they hold their ears, so it can be trickier (but not impossible) to bond ***** eared and lop eared together as they don't speak the same language and don't have the same lines of sight.

I think it's more about finding a suitable personality match and hopefully you'll find a suitable companion soon :love:
Click to expand...


I bonded a lop and a nethie recently with no issues. I think it's down to personality. I think if you met Squishies' little lad you would agree he is .. ahem .. a challenge and a half! Plus, two bonded lops versus one hyperactive flying rabbit ... :shock:
 
MightyMax said:
I bonded a lop and a nethie recently with no issues. I think it's down to personality. I think if you met Squishies' little lad you would agree he is .. ahem .. a challenge and a half! Plus, two bonded lops versus one hyperactive flying rabbit ... :shock:
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Yes of course, but I could cross a road blindfold with no issues but it doesn't mean that you could therefore conclude that there will never be an issue crossing the road blindfold ;-) There are always going to be various aspects to the dynamic of whether a bond works or not...but I do think that lop/non-lop increases the likelihood of there being an issue, in much the same way that crossing a road blindfold increases the likelihood of being hit by a car!
 
I bonded my Nethie Will (a true devil nethie:lol:)with Nancy after his sister Poppy died - it was the first time I had bonded and was dreading it but it was an easy bond.

Nancy isn't a Nethie she's a cross breed and twice as big as Will.

He chose her speed dating at the rescue where he had come from. I'm so glad I let Will choose as I had mentally picked out another Nethie who was available but it was hate at first sight.
 
Santa said:
Yes of course, but I could cross a road blindfold with no issues but it doesn't mean that you could therefore conclude that there will never be an issue crossing the road blindfold ;-) There are always going to be various aspects to the dynamic of whether a bond works or not...but I do think that lop/non-lop increases the likelihood of there being an issue, in much the same way that crossing a road blindfold increases the likelihood of being hit by a car!
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:?

I tend not to compare bonding rabbits with crossing a road blindfolded :lol:
 
Omi said:
Gosh, I never considered this aspect. It makes absolute sense though.
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I hadn't either & totally agree. No wonder I struggled to bond my trio with one uppy (I'll avoid the swear filter :lol:) one lop & one helicopter - Boo being deaf & visually impaired too
 
joey&boo said:
I hadn't either & totally agree. No wonder I struggled to bond my trio with one uppy (I'll avoid the swear filter :lol:) one lop & one helicopter - Boo being deaf & visually impaired too
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Like you JB, the trio I bonded this year was one lop, one helicopter ears and one uppy eared. One of the rabbits is stone deaf. One is a Nethie :)

They were bonded within 4 hours, no problems.

I think personalities are very significant where ease of bonding is concerned :)
 
(laughing) thank you, all, most sincerely, for your encouraging response/experiences - who knew, just how much humour such a little tiny bunny breed could bring?!

...I've heard a few times independently now, that uppy-eared and lop-eared matching can (clearly not always!) be trickier, due to different communication styles, so it's really nice to hear that some of you have had easier experiences than I did!

I kinda assumed (following the failed bond between my minis and the flying nethie, which I put down to differences in age/personality and circumstance), that I would indeed need to find him a girlfriend of a more similar breed and personality (small, uppy-eared and bonkers?!!) to have a better chance of success...
But because flying-bun is *so* very extraordinary (think nethie-meets-hyperactive-kitten, but also very affectionate/tame) I sought the advice of several much more expert bunny folks than I, and although all had bonded nethies, all mentioned (totally independently) that nethies themselves can be tricky compared to other breeds - hence the post asking to hear about the good, the bad, and the very difficult!

So I am feeling more positive having heard that with enough time put in to the searching/meeting (i.e. speed dating to find the right match!**) there may be a suitable flying-girl out there for him...?!

..the quest now, is to find a rescue who might be able to help -- very sadly, both of the bigger, well regarded rescues in my area are temporarily closed at the moment.
Perhaps I should put a separate 'looking for a bunny girlfriend' post on the rescue part of the forum; who knows?!

Thanks again everyone,
x x

**Den, loving the 'devil nethie' description! ha! 'Flying rabbit' is very, very active, and boisterous - 'rapscallion' is a good word!
 
Squishies said:
(laughing) thank you, all, most sincerely, for your encouraging response/experiences - who knew, just how much humour such a little tiny bunny breed could bring?!

...I've heard a few times independently now, that uppy-eared and lop-eared matching can (clearly not always!) be trickier, due to different communication styles, so it's really nice to hear that some of you have had easier experiences than I did!

I kinda assumed (following the failed bond between my minis and the flying nethie, which I put down to differences in age/personality and circumstance), that I would indeed need to find him a girlfriend of a more similar breed and personality (small, uppy-eared and bonkers?!!) to have a better chance of success...
But because flying-bun is *so* very extraordinary (think nethie-meets-hyperactive-kitten, but also very affectionate/tame) I sought the advice of several much more expert bunny folks than I, and although all had bonded nethies, all mentioned (totally independently) that nethies themselves can be tricky compared to other breeds - hence the post asking to hear about the good, the bad, and the very difficult!

So I am feeling more positive having heard that with enough time put in to the searching/meeting (i.e. speed dating to find the right match!**) there may be a suitable flying-girl out there for him...?!

..the quest now, is to find a rescue who might be able to help -- very sadly, both of the bigger, well regarded rescues in my area are temporarily closed at the moment.
Perhaps I should put a separate 'looking for a bunny girlfriend' post on the rescue part of the forum; who knows?!

Thanks again everyone,
x x

**Den, loving the 'devil nethie' description! ha! 'Flying rabbit' is very, very active, and boisterous - 'rapscallion' is a good word!
Click to expand...

Will's a flyer too, especially at the vets.

He has warnings on his records.

I forgot to say his partner Nancy is an uppy eared bun, not a lop.:wave:
 
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I bonded a nether with a dwarf lion lop, or something like that, she was nethie sized, I just put them together in a neutral pen, no fights, took them a few days to become very close as the lion lop was very nervous as she'd never been with another bunny before
 
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