New addition - wish me luck

I am very excited and I think even more apprehensive.

Tomorrow we are picking up Monty’s new house mate, Dominique, a white French lop, from a rescue centre in cornwall.

I first spotted her through the search on the rehome website, and when passing last week my bf and me stopped in to see her.

The reason for my apprehension is, once at the centre and reading her info sheets it seems that so far she has not got on well with other rabbits, and had a couple of fights. The centre thought that the home environment would be perfect for her, as she hates small spaces, and that she is likely to get on with another rabbit if she had more space to live in.

I was a little bit uneasy because I’m not sure I’ll be able to cope if she picks on Monty.

But, poor Dominique in only 8-9 months old and has been in the centre since at least Oct. This poor big bunny has spent most of her life in the centre (it’s a very nice centre), she is one of their longest residents, overlooked by other people because of her size. There was no way I could not at least try to bond her with Monty.

I have never bonded rabbits before, and to be honest feeling a bit scared. I’ve stair gated the dining room, where Monty spends most of his time, and the kitchen where Dom will first take up residence. They will be able to get used to each other through the gate, and I intend to move them to our large bathroom when I first put them together. This can either go perfectly, or horribly wrong. I’m prepared for the worst.

I’m sure Dom will like her new bigger home, and just pray that Monty is happy to share me with someone else.

Any hints and tips will be greatly welcomed.

Keep your fingers crossed for me

Adele

(sorry for such a long post)

ooh good luck

Will you still keep her if they don't bond instantly? I hope so as it sounds like you've really thought about what a big bunny needs.

If you have 2 cat carriers, a good start to bonding would be to take Monty to the rescue, then on the way home, after you've driven for about half an hour, stop and try them in the same carrier - Most likely Dominique will be too scared and upset by the journey to attack him, and hopefully will see him as a rock to cling to! If not, then I guess slow introductions as you've planned, but the car ride usually works.

The danger with using a baby gate to seperate them is that if there's hostility someone will get their face bitten, which is what happened when I brought a girlfriend home for Benny! If you can get some cage mesh from Wilkinsons, and fix that over the bars, with cable ties maybe, it will be safer.

Or maybe weave the mesh in and out of the bars depending on what type of gate you have and then fasten with security ties. That will keep the mesh nice and sterdy and you wont have to worry about it falling off if they chew the ties.

You sound alot like me I'm getting a girlfriend for my boy and suddenly all my knowledge of bonding has gone out the window and I don't know what to do anymore. :lol: !

Yes, I have thought about taking Monty, but it's about 1.5 hour trip each way, and I'm not sure if that's too long for him, what do you think?

I also thought about mesh for the gate, in case Monty could get through the gaps, but they are far too small for that but I defo will now to avoid any face biitting.

Thanks for the tips

toffeepudding said:

You sound alot like me I'm getting a girlfriend for my boy and suddenly all my knowledge of bonding has gone out the window and I don't know what to do anymore. :lol: !

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yes and then there's me - I know all the theory but I'm rubbish at it, as 3 single bunnies and 9 single piggies will testify :lol: but I'm good at spotting the pitfalls as a result of my failure I guess

Ohmygod - I know exactly how you feel. I'm so worried about Lolly and Valentino fighting when they meet this afternoon.

I was thinking about it all last night.

I'm sure you'll be able to bond them eventually, may just take a bit of patience and time. You never know, it may be love at first sight !

Is the rescue going to supervise their first date?

we bonded a pair last year, it took 5 weeks in all.We started with the hutches about 4 foot apart facing each other and alot of grunting and stamping went on!! then we divided the run into 2 with mesh and after a while they started to lick through the mesh and we tried them out together and it worked!!