Well what had been a quest to find a 3rd Rabbit for my bonded pair ended up in me taking on two Rabbits!
Some of you may know I’ve been trying to find a suitable Rabbit to bond with my grumpy bonded pair (Stroppy and Scarlet). I’ve had loads of problems with email communications between Rabbit owners/rescues, got as far as arranging to pick a Rabbit up and then the owner decided she couldn’t part with the Rabbit in question which was understandable, as a result of this I told several people I had found the Rabbit I was looking for then only to be empty handed in the end!
Well I had decided it was not to be after the above until I heard about Libby. Jill kindly offered to let me foster Libby and try and bond her with my bonded pair as Libby was the sort of tempered Rabbit I was after. Confident and a bit feisty!
On Jill’s advice we kept Libby well away from my female Rabbits until she had settled in her new surroundings and made friends with Steve and myself. We then VERY slowly started the bonding process on neutral territory.
After a few days of saying hello through a pet carrier with no problems we very briefly attempted first introductions.
On first introductions they all ignored each other then Scarlet got a proper look at Libby and lunged for her. We had to separate them. Scarlet tried this several more times every time we had to intervene.
Libby surprisingly tried to keep well out of the way of Scarlet and never once tried to attack her. I was expecting a few fireworks from Libby.
On the other hand I could see Stroppy and Libby bonding with each other as they chased each other a bit, pulled a little fur and sniffed each other a lot. Typical bonding behaviour. Neither showed any signs of aggression.
The main problem is Scarlet as she was VERY jealous and seemed to be protecting her man. It appears that Stroppy and Scarlet have a much stronger relationship then I originally thought and introducing ANY 3rd Rabbit to this pairing is going to cause jealousy and other problems. Libby through no fault of her own made this VERY clear when we attempted bonding the 3 of them.
I’m not keen to try bonding ANY Rabbit with my bonded pair again as I believe it will only end in someone getting injured whether that is Libby or a different 3rd Rabbit.
Funny thing is when there is a cage separating Libby and Scarlet they are fine with each other. Mainly sniffing or ignoring one another. No sign of aggression whatsoever. My bonded trio, which consists of two females and a male, are not bothered in the slightest by Libby’s presence.
Both myself and my partner got very attached to Libby the first few days she was with us and I was dreading sending her back down to Jill. So after some discussion with Jill and some rearranging of our front room to accommodate her cage we decided to keep her and bond her with a boyfriend!
Elaine has a gorgeous Netherland Dwarf boy who I am picking up some time after the 13th Jan and will be Libby’s new man all going to plan.
Will post photos in a few weeks.
If you’ve got his far feel free to have a sherbet or two!
Louise
Some of you may know I’ve been trying to find a suitable Rabbit to bond with my grumpy bonded pair (Stroppy and Scarlet). I’ve had loads of problems with email communications between Rabbit owners/rescues, got as far as arranging to pick a Rabbit up and then the owner decided she couldn’t part with the Rabbit in question which was understandable, as a result of this I told several people I had found the Rabbit I was looking for then only to be empty handed in the end!
Well I had decided it was not to be after the above until I heard about Libby. Jill kindly offered to let me foster Libby and try and bond her with my bonded pair as Libby was the sort of tempered Rabbit I was after. Confident and a bit feisty!
On Jill’s advice we kept Libby well away from my female Rabbits until she had settled in her new surroundings and made friends with Steve and myself. We then VERY slowly started the bonding process on neutral territory.
After a few days of saying hello through a pet carrier with no problems we very briefly attempted first introductions.
On first introductions they all ignored each other then Scarlet got a proper look at Libby and lunged for her. We had to separate them. Scarlet tried this several more times every time we had to intervene.
Libby surprisingly tried to keep well out of the way of Scarlet and never once tried to attack her. I was expecting a few fireworks from Libby.
On the other hand I could see Stroppy and Libby bonding with each other as they chased each other a bit, pulled a little fur and sniffed each other a lot. Typical bonding behaviour. Neither showed any signs of aggression.
The main problem is Scarlet as she was VERY jealous and seemed to be protecting her man. It appears that Stroppy and Scarlet have a much stronger relationship then I originally thought and introducing ANY 3rd Rabbit to this pairing is going to cause jealousy and other problems. Libby through no fault of her own made this VERY clear when we attempted bonding the 3 of them.
I’m not keen to try bonding ANY Rabbit with my bonded pair again as I believe it will only end in someone getting injured whether that is Libby or a different 3rd Rabbit.
Funny thing is when there is a cage separating Libby and Scarlet they are fine with each other. Mainly sniffing or ignoring one another. No sign of aggression whatsoever. My bonded trio, which consists of two females and a male, are not bothered in the slightest by Libby’s presence.
Both myself and my partner got very attached to Libby the first few days she was with us and I was dreading sending her back down to Jill. So after some discussion with Jill and some rearranging of our front room to accommodate her cage we decided to keep her and bond her with a boyfriend!
Elaine has a gorgeous Netherland Dwarf boy who I am picking up some time after the 13th Jan and will be Libby’s new man all going to plan.
Will post photos in a few weeks.
If you’ve got his far feel free to have a sherbet or two!
Louise