any advice would be most welcome

[ted1]

Last week I lost one of my rabbits,little Sam..this leaves me with one,Sandy ,who is a 6.5 year old brown lop..since Sam died she has become more outgoing playing around,letting me stroke her more etc,talking to a friend and she said this was probably because she was on her own so basically bonding with me..
I have been offered a male neutered 1.5 year old black and white lionhead rabbit which currently is with a group of other rabbits and is getting picked on..at one stage his nose was bitten..currently residing with a lot of guinea pigs...
not sure yet whether Sandy and him would get on,but my intention was to build another hutch ,and put it next to hers,and gradually let them get together ,ie in the garden etc,until possibly such times as the same hutch..if it failed then would keep them in separate hutches,though my main motives are threefold..to get her a companion,help the the "bullied bunny" and also I do like seeing rabbits playing in the garden..Sam isnt here..it isnt a case of "sam2" but another rabbit that Imay be able to give a good home to...has anyone any ideas ,thoughts,plans or ways of doing this for me?perhaps someone has done the same..many thanks

 

[Sarah1991]

Last week I lost one of my rabbits,little Sam..this leaves me with one,Sandy ,who is a 6.5 year old brown lop..since Sam died she has become more outgoing playing around,letting me stroke her more etc,talking to a friend and she said this was probably because she was on her own so basically bonding with me..
I have been offered a male neutered 1.5 year old black and white lionhead rabbit which currently is with a group of other rabbits and is getting picked on..at one stage his nose was bitten..currently residing with a lot of guinea pigs...
not sure yet whether Sandy and him would get on,but my intention was to build another hutch ,and put it next to hers,and gradually let them get together ,ie in the garden etc,until possibly such times as the same hutch..if it failed then would keep them in separate hutches,though my main motives are threefold..to get her a companion,help the the "bullied bunny" and also I do like seeing rabbits playing in the garden..Sam isnt here..it isnt a case of "sam2" but another rabbit that Imay be able to give a good home to...has anyone any ideas ,thoughts,plans or ways of doing this for me?perhaps someone has done the same..many thanks

Your girl may be 6.5 so she is a more mature lady but she isn't old yet! She would most likely love another partner, but you do have to be aware of the risk of it not working. If so you may have to keep two separate rabbits and then ideally get them another partner each? Would the person offering you the rabbit allow you to give him a ''trial period?'' and give you a couple of weeks to try bonding first and see how it goes?

Also, is the male neutered? I'm assuming that your girl is spayed? This is the most important thing as bonding becomes complicated when hormones are added into the mix.

Also just out of curiosity who offered you the young buck? Rabbits aren't supposed to live with guinea pigs so where he is at the minute really isn't ideal. It would be lovely if you could offer him a home.

Bonding is complicated but if it is done right it can be very successful, I'm sure there is a bonding thread here somewhere.

 

[ted1]

hiya sarah...yes Sandy is speyed and the male is neutered..with regards to a trial period ..that is ok too..where he is at present is a place where I used to work....there are numerous rabbits living together with a massive hutch/pen and quite a large are to play in..it seems that when one started picking on him..the rest sort of followed suit!!hence living with the guinea pigs at present..

 

[Sarah1991]

hiya sarah...yes Sandy is speyed and the male is neutered..with regards to a trial period ..that is ok too..where he is at present is a place where I used to work....there are numerous rabbits living together with a massive hutch/pen and quite a large are to play in..it seems that when one started picking on him..the rest sort of followed suit!!hence living with the guinea pigs at present..

It would be beneficial to get him out of the situation of living with the guinea pigs, it's really not ideal. Rabbits and Guinea pigs have very different needs and a lot of people make the mistake of thinking its fine for them to live together. You don't want him to get used to living with the guinea pigs!

It seems that everything is right for you then, there's no reason why you can't try and bond your girl with this new rabbit! As long as you use a neutral space (i.e not her own living space) to introduce and bond them, it should be ok. You never know it might be love at first sight, but there can sometimes be complications which mean you have to do ''bunny dates'' short supervised periods together until you feel they are fully safe together! There are lots of people who who do bonding's all the time! Any questions about the process feel free to ask us!