Would anyone be able to "mentor me" re bonding?

[serendipity]

I know it's a big ask but I'm looking for some support, maybe via email, somebody who I can turn to for advice.

I have several rabbits living alone at the mo and hope to bond them at some point, at very least, into pairs.

I'm not sure how to start and who to put together but aim to start in a few weeks.

At present I have:

One year old male, being neutered Friday.

Six month male, being neutered Friday.

One year female, gave birth Monday to a litter of I think 4. She will be spayed in a few weeks.

3 babies ages 5 weeks. Not sure whether male or female, despite the guides on here, I still can't tell.

We cannot keep them all, but could keep 2 pairs so my thoughts were to attempt to bond the female with a male and maybe a female baby with the other male?

Would love to keep them all but not enough space unless they ALL bonded and that's not realistic so will be looking for new homes for the babies I guess

 

[Phill]

If you can give me a little information about each bun that would be great. Obv you wont be able to bond mum if she just gave birth on Monday you will need to wait until the babies are about 8-9 weeks before they can leave her and then have her speyed. The boys hormones can take anything from 2 weeks to 6 to calm down and it's better to wait for about 6 weeks after they've been done to cond them with a girl if she's unspeyed as they can still get her pregnant.

 

[areia]

I dont mind helping either as phill says they need time to get over there hormones first 2 males one hormonal female deffinatly need time ,


buttttttt will say if you want one boy with one female baby, Im sure this pair could be bonded first and theorically the easiest to bond, obviously neuter all you can first, neutered boy can go with a baby girlie ( youngest at 8 weeks wouldnt rerally advise younger id personally wait till baby is 12 weeks old )old and neuter her as soon as shes ready ,

have had a foster male sort of adopt 7 babies ,and one adult male bonded with a young girlie, though aunty janice bonded these 2 as im to scared to bond my own, but they were there easiest bond of my lot

or you can wait a bit longer bite the bullet and have a group of 4

 

[alio71]

Have just bonded a group of 6. 2 bonded pairs and 2 new ones. As the others have said everybun needs to be neutered and free of hormones before you start. PM me if you like and I'll try to help. :wave:

 

[serendipity]

Thanks. I have:

Bouncer who is the male one year old and lived originally with Wiggles , my female one year old. Vets told us they were both female until the birth of Crackers (6 months).

So Bouncer and Wiggles were then seperated, Wiggles remained with Cracker, the baby. When Crackers was 4 months we discovered a nest with three babies.

So Crackers was moved so both males were now living seperately and are being neutered on Friday. I'm assuming trying to bond the two males wouldn't work.

So Crackers moved out but Wiggles was already pregnant again and gave birth this week. She started to attack her older three babies so they are living together in another hutch now. I hope to re-home them when they are 8 weeks or so.

 

[areia]

Thanks. I have:

Bouncer who is the male one year old and lived originally with Wiggles , my female one year old. Vets told us they were both female until the birth of Crackers (6 months).

So Bouncer and Wiggles were then seperated, Wiggles remained with Cracker, the baby. When Crackers was 4 months we discovered a nest with three babies.

So Crackers was moved so both males were now living seperately and are being neutered on Friday. I'm assuming trying to bond the two males wouldn't work.

So Crackers moved out but Wiggles was already pregnant again and gave birth this week. She started to attack her older three babies so they are living together in another hutch now. I hope to re-home them when they are 8 weeks or so.

:? Id find another vet or somone who knows how to sex bunnies by the look of it hun

 

[alio71]

The boys may well be able to be bonded. I have 2 bonded males. What is your ideal plan and what accomodation do you have for them? I think if you suggest what you would ideally like to achieve then maybe we could work on a plan from there. Where abouts in Warks are you?

 

[Phill]

Bonding boys is possible, it does depend on the personality of the buns involved, but this also stands for female - male bonds and female-female. i am just in the process of bonding a 4 3 boys and a girl.

As alio71 says, if you can give us some details of the accomodation and what you would like to acheive, also a little bit about the buns personalities eg are they relaxed, playful etc, we can probably help you along the way with a plan for them

 

[serendipity]

You guys are great!

At present we have each rabbit in a hutch with run, we would like to end up with them in a chicken coop style scenario with big run if that makes sense? They'd be able to have the run of the garden at times too.

Ok So Bouncer, white and grey, (1 year male and neutering this week) is as his name suggests! Lovely and bouncy, adores our cat, nosy, excitable. Hates being held unless on his terms but not aggressive or anything - actually none of my rabbits have ever bitten me.

Crackers, brown, (6 month male) is very shy. He'll only let me hold him and is very wary. However, if he spies Bouncer he goes mad, gets very aggressive and nips at his hutch in anger - wheras if Bouncer sees Crackers he just jumps about excitedly!

I had them next to each other in their runs but have had to seperate as Crackers kept exaping and trying to get in to attack Bouncer - Bouncer kept putting his nose through his run and being nipped, bless him.

Wiggles, black, is my year old female. She is incredibly tame and laid back - lets me near her babies from day one, I have held them from 5 days old without her getting upset at all. However she rejected her older litter in favour of the new litter, I think there are 4 in the new litter but as they were born on Monday I've not got too close.

Then our older litter comprises three. I don't plan to keep them although might if I thought I could bond them but would prefer to see two homed together and maybe keep one? They are 5 weeks, one black, we call it Bracken, one grey, we call it Thistle and one brown, we call it Copper.

And that's our rabbit family! Costing me a fortune but all very much loved!

 

[Phill]

I would be tempted given Crackers reactiomn to bouncer to bonc cracker with wiggles, as she seems to be a laid back girl there shouldn't be too many problems.

Bouncer sounds as though he could do with lots of bunnt friends and action! I would fine out what your babies are and then go from there. the boy babies bits should look round (like a little willy) you have to very gently pull them (can't quite explain it) up a little way towards their tummy to see, and the girls shoud have basically an upsidedown V.

Once you've had Crackers and Bouncer done, give them 4-5 weeks for their hormones to settle, by that time you should know what the babys are and you can decide how many to keep. Boys can still be fertile up to 6 weeks so i wouldn't attemp any bonding until then. Baby boys can be done from 4 months so if your going to keep any of the boys have them done asap.

Let us know what you've got baby wise and that will let you decide what you want to try bouncer with.

 

[alio71]

Yep in agreement with Phill, only thing I would say re accomodation if you are trying to get a large bonded group is consider a shed or playhouse type thing. It won't really cost you anymore money but will give them more room and cleaning is so much easier. I'll pm you my email address and then you can get in touch if you need anything.

 

[serendipity]

Hi, small update.

I now have both boys neutered, they were done last Friday.

I then have 3 babies who are 6 weeks nearly but I have a home for 2 of them. The baby that will be left, I think is male again.

Then we have mum and her new litter.

Mum will be done when she has finsihed feeding these. I don't want to keep any of the new litter if possible but have no homes for them yet, I think there are 5.

So it looks likely I may end up with 3 males and a female. I can see it working to bond my females with a male, or even a partnership of 3 but 4? I can't see 2 males working well either.

Any thoughts? My friend says near her a rescue offers a bonding service but I can't find anything like that round here.

 

[alio71]

I have 4 boys together with 2 females and they are fine. If you pm me whereabouts you are I will ask a couple of my contacts and see if they know anyone near to you if you would like.