Wintermoon
New Kit
Hi everyone, I have recently joined this forum to get some bonding advice. I'll try to keep this post from being too long!
I have two bonded house bunnies, Myloe (neutered male, approx 1.5 years old) and Marmalade (spayed female, 6 years old) who have lived together for almost a year. I adopted Myloe from a local rescue shelter and they were bonded after Marmalade's previous life partner passed away. They currently share a double bedroom and free roam safe upstairs areas.
Several months ago I took in Roo (neutered male, 10 months old). This was unplanned, he came to me through a friend of a friend who had purchased him on a whim as a gift for her toddler - shocking no one, they quickly got fed up with him and were planning to release him if they couldn't get rid of him. To avoid seeing this happen I took him in despite having no plans for a third bunny. He is kept downstairs and is totally separated from Myloe and Marmalade.
For the most part, Roo is a dream bunny, however, he does have some behavioral issues. He's very dominant, will bite (without breaking the skin) if he doesn't want you to touch his things and will get very cross if I vacuum a room he's in which has led to me having to ensure he's not in the room if I don't want to have my feet attacked! This behaviour gets ten times worse with other rabbits. I attempted to bond him with a spayed female and it was a disaster no matter how slowly we took it. He just seems to hate other rabbits and his default behaviour is to attack, even on neutral territory and with the proper slow introductions, swapping of possessions, etc. He gets very agitated and seems quite defensive.
I'm at a loss of what to do. He doesn't seem unhappy, he loves cuddles, he'll jump up on my lap and sit there whilst I am working, at night he's usually sprawled out on the sofa watching TV and he loves puzzle games so I set one up for him every day with a few leafy greens to help keep him entertained. I just worry that he doesn't have a friend and that he may get lonely. On the flip side, I hate seeing him so unhappy when he has another rabbit near him and I don't want to have to keep returning partners he refused to bond with.
Do I accept he likes the single bunny life or do I keep pushing to find him the right partner? Any advice would be really helpful!
I have two bonded house bunnies, Myloe (neutered male, approx 1.5 years old) and Marmalade (spayed female, 6 years old) who have lived together for almost a year. I adopted Myloe from a local rescue shelter and they were bonded after Marmalade's previous life partner passed away. They currently share a double bedroom and free roam safe upstairs areas.
Several months ago I took in Roo (neutered male, 10 months old). This was unplanned, he came to me through a friend of a friend who had purchased him on a whim as a gift for her toddler - shocking no one, they quickly got fed up with him and were planning to release him if they couldn't get rid of him. To avoid seeing this happen I took him in despite having no plans for a third bunny. He is kept downstairs and is totally separated from Myloe and Marmalade.
For the most part, Roo is a dream bunny, however, he does have some behavioral issues. He's very dominant, will bite (without breaking the skin) if he doesn't want you to touch his things and will get very cross if I vacuum a room he's in which has led to me having to ensure he's not in the room if I don't want to have my feet attacked! This behaviour gets ten times worse with other rabbits. I attempted to bond him with a spayed female and it was a disaster no matter how slowly we took it. He just seems to hate other rabbits and his default behaviour is to attack, even on neutral territory and with the proper slow introductions, swapping of possessions, etc. He gets very agitated and seems quite defensive.
I'm at a loss of what to do. He doesn't seem unhappy, he loves cuddles, he'll jump up on my lap and sit there whilst I am working, at night he's usually sprawled out on the sofa watching TV and he loves puzzle games so I set one up for him every day with a few leafy greens to help keep him entertained. I just worry that he doesn't have a friend and that he may get lonely. On the flip side, I hate seeing him so unhappy when he has another rabbit near him and I don't want to have to keep returning partners he refused to bond with.
Do I accept he likes the single bunny life or do I keep pushing to find him the right partner? Any advice would be really helpful!