Help with bonding

I have had a horrid time recently when I bought a baby male bunny from the RSPCA as a mate for my female house rabbit flopsy (10months and spayed). I kept them apart but allowed them to sniff each other through a divider as per all the literature.

But two days ago the baby managed get into Flopsy's living area and a huge fight ensued. To cut a long story short, the baby had its tail ripped off and the rest had to be amputated by the vet. While at the vet we discovered that the baby was actually female.

This would explain why they showed no signs of liking each other. I will
probably be taking the baby bunny back to RSPCA once she has recouperated. But I just wanted to double check that two females are unlikely to bond? Is there any chance they will like each other? I
also read somewhere that once they've had an agressive fight they will
remember it making the bonding process even worse.

I'd appreciate if you had any thoughts or comments on the situation.

Thank you for your help

Kind regards

Amy

So srooy you had this bad experience
Female rabbits can be bonded but I would be wary of trying this pair again after such a bad fight. How old is the baby?

RE

The baby bunny is only about 12 weeks. I'd hate to put her through anymore trauma. However she is looking much more spritely today.

I have to say this is outside of my experience with bonding. But like I say I would be very wary of trying to put them together again. I am glad the baby is feeling better though Female rabbits can be extremly territorial and since the baby got into the older does territory I'm not surprised it didn't end well
Perhaps someone with more experience of this sort of situation can advise??

I am sorry to hear your baby bunny got attacked. I hope she recovers well. Your resident female was only protecting her area.

I assume bonding will be hard with these two now but will leave the experts to advise you further!!

I did bond two girls once, but it took a long time before I could keep them together. I'm sure others have experiences too, hopefully positive ones.

Sorry to hear about the baby. If you can afford not to take her back if I were you I'd try to rehome her yourself through here and rabbit rehome, at least then you can be assured she's getting a good home.

As for your female bunny, I would take her along to a rescue that does bonding and allow her to 'pick' her own mate with help from the rescue owner rather than trying it yourself again. I took my bunny Pippa and it was easy!

I'm sure if you put an appeal out for a home for the baby, someone will be able to find space for her.

Good luck!

kayjay said:

Sorry to hear about the baby. If you can afford not to take her back if I were you I'd try to rehome her yourself through here and rabbit rehome, at least then you can be assured she's getting a good home.

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Did you see she came from the RSPCA? I expect they require buns to go back to them if it doesn't work out

Spacegirl said:

kayjay said:

Sorry to hear about the baby. If you can afford not to take her back if I were you I'd try to rehome her yourself through here and rabbit rehome, at least then you can be assured she's getting a good home.

Click to expand...

Did you see she came from the RSPCA? I expect they require buns to go back to them if it doesn't work out

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Yes, you're right, I wasn't thinking about the RSPCA rules just thinking of finding her a good home. In that case I'd have to keep her and go from one to four buns :lol:

I imagine the issue was more that she invaded your other rabbits territory rather than what sex she was. Female rabbits are particularly possessive of their home - even spayed females to a certain extent. That's why bonding should be done on neutral territory. I imagine your orginal female found the 'invador' and tried to chase her off - as the baby wouldn't (couldn't) leave she attacked her to drive her off.

With neutral territory it's possibly they would bond though you'd have to be very careful and females are less likely to work out than female-male pairs.

I would certainly have words with the RSPCA either way - they should be able to correctly sex rabbits.

Tam

Yes, I would have trouble taking her back and I think I would end up with four too :lol:
But, you do have to be sensible about how many rabbits you really want and if two is how many you feel comfortable with then stick to that.

I agree with Kayjay. It is best to take your female to a rescue and find her a boyfriend there. I did the same with my male bunny, and luckily he fell in love with the first female we tried. I'd take the baby back the RSPCA and explain the situation. It can't be the first time that one of their bunnies didn't bond with another.

I have 2 bonded girls, and don't have any problems really. It was a group of 3 girls originally, but Moonshine and Flopsy had a fall out with Smudge, resulting in Smudge needing surgery, so she had to leave the group. This has just made Moonshine and Flopsy even closer than before.

I certainly wouldn't be put off trying to bond girls. Moonshine and Flopsy were actually bonded before they were spayed. I think that keeping buns completely apart helps them forget each other.

Hope everything works out whatever you decide to do.

Nicola

Thanks for all the comments! Baby bunny is much better now. She's hopping around like a mad thing. however, even tho I love her to pieces there isn't enough room in my house to keep two rabbits separately.

I could let them out in shifts but ideally I'd like them to have free range all day, every day together. Flopsy hasn't been very happy being locked up while I give Rosie (new name for the baby) a run around.

So sadly I'll have to take Rosie back once she's finished her course of antibiotics. And yes you are right, the RSPCA ask that you give animals back to them if there are any problems.

I like this idea of taking Flopsy down to the rescue centre. What should I do when letting her choose her mate? And how do I know that they love each other on first sight?

Thanks again everyone :wink: I've definately made my decision.

BTW this is a great forum... better than the other one I was on!