New rabbit?

Our rabbit (a dutch) is now a three and a half yrs old and is a neutered male. He seems to have been quite happy living on his own in his 2 storey hutch (4ft long) and large outdoor run (about 20ft x 6ft). I have been trying to decide if we should get a playmate for him to keep him company. Lots of questions.....
I would try to rehome a neutered female probably 2yrs+.

If you introduce a new rabbit to such as established one what are the risks healthwise to both?
I have read about introducing a new rabbit and understand that you need to introduce them gradually, how do you do this without having 2 hutches?
Roughly how long does is normally take for a pair to bond?
Is it best to stick to the same breed or doesn't it matter.
Any advice gratefully received.
Many thanks

Hi there - welcome :wave:

My boy Rob was on his own for three years until we bonded him in November with Molly, a three year old rescue bun.

They were both neutered, and I agree that a male and female neutered pair is probably the best combination.

I don't think breed matters - probably personality is the greater issue, but your local rescue centre would probably let you take your boy bunny along and choose his own female girlie :wink:

Your boy may be put out at first, and territorial - neutral territory is very important, as is the ability for the buns to see each other a lot, but not actually be able to 'get at each other'. Short, supervised bonding sessions, with lots of toys and food as distractions should give an indication of how the bonding might go. All buns are different - fur may fly at first and then they may settle down, others may like each other instantly, some may take much more work :wink:

Rob and Molly took about two weeks to bond completely, where we could leave them together all day. This isn't long though, and was very much helped by Molly's good nature, as all Rob wanted to do at first was hump the poor girl :?

I think you will find it is worthwhile when you see your bun snuggled up with a friend of his own. I love the fact that when we are not around to keep them company they have each other.

Many thanks for your thoughts. Smartie is a very human friendly rabbit and I think he would benefit from a lady bun friend. When you introduced yours did you use two hutches? How did you keep them separate while introducing them?
FInding neutral territory will be difficult as Smarts has the run of the whole garden when we let him out of his run. When he comes in the house he goes most places too.

I was pleased to read that your rabbits were of a similar age too. I am just worried that they will not get along but as you suggest it may be possible to take him along to choose.

Many thanks once again.

Reading Rabbit Rescue will do dating for rabbits - it is best to ring her as she doesn't update the website often (on main RR page). There is also Sue at Bracknell Rabbit Rescue and Greenfields in Bracknell too who will be happy to help if they have any suitable bunnys. The Diane Brimblecome Centre will also allow you to take your rabbit along to meet potentials but most of their's are already paired.

I took Zeus round the rescues till I found a female that wasn't scared of him, it took a couple of months to bond them. As they both lived inside it was easier to keep them togther but apart using a ferplast cage for Athena (which I already had).

I am not sure how to suggest bonding without setting up a temporary home next to your original rabbit's home. May be better to wait until summer when you can set something up and don't have to worry about insulation etc.

I used the bathroom and parts of the garden when bonding my two, the garage worked well too!

Caz

Some of the rescues will not only let you take you bun to meet the potentials but once you have selected one do the bonding for you. So your bun stays there for a holiday (usually a couple of days to a eek) and they do the intros. Then when you bring them home if you don't have bonded rabbits you've atleast got a head start on the process.

Tam

Awesome! Rabbit Dating service!!!!

Bunyip said:

Smartie is a very human friendly rabbit and I think he would benefit from a lady bun friend. When you introduced yours did you use two hutches? How did you keep them separate while introducing them?

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Rob's a bit of both bunny - he goes out to his playhouse outside during the day when we work (or chat on the forum :wink: ), and comes inside at tea time / overnight, where he has free run, as he is litter trained. When Molly first arrived we made a large run area for Molly in one of the rooms - we let Rob in the room so they could sniff at each other through the panels. It wasn't entirely neutral territory, as like your bun Rob has been all over the house, but it wasn't the room that he gets fed in, his toys are in etc.

We adopted Molly from Lynda (CARROT), who kindly gave us the loan of a large outdoor hutch - we put Molly outside in this during the day, right next to Robs outside run area.

I wouldn't have felt comfortable putting them in the same cage/run area and leaving them alone during the first couple of weeks. I think you would possibly need to get something to make a run area in the house, or seperate housing area outside. There are some good indoor / outdoor housing ideas in some of the other posts.

I'm trying to bond my two females at the mo and one of them Sugar has , like yourself, a 4 foot two tier hutch what i do is put the ladder that seperates the top and bottem floor it leaves a hair line gap at one end but at least they can smell each other as well and i put them together in the garden and sometimes in the run which is in theory sugars but the it is coming along slowly but surely...

Thanks for all your great advice. Caz I have looked up Reading Rescue but I cant find it? Is it the RSPCA site? I think I will try and ring some of the ones you suggest and see what they have that may be suitable. It would be great if you could bond them at the rescue but I'm not sure Smartie would like to go on holiday, he hasn't been away before.

Here you go the details for most of the rescues mentioned are here: http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/centres.asp#Berkshire

Thanks Tamsin, I shall have a look.

Yup it is the RSPCA site - I found her very helpful with tips for bonding them (before I discovered this site) and she offered to take the rabbits in and bond them if I wanted, but with Zeus being prone to stasis I wanted to ensure I was able to keep him with me as my vets are always on standby !

Caz