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Single rabbit guilt

Jasperello

Warren Scout
My boys ended up being separated because of fighting and now each lives alone in a double hutch + run in the garden. They are 6 months old, and we're neutered 8 weeks ago.

I feel guilty every day that they don't have companions. I try and give them as much love & time as I can but I work mon-fri full time so Im not there all the time.

They've been apart for 1 month now and I can't stop thinking they need companions. But I don't know what to do for the best, I guess in my mind I was thinking I can really only realistically afford to get 1 girl, so one boy would still be alone, but I thought that's still better than neither being bonded.

Any opinions agreeing or disagreeing would be welcome please!

Secondly, I've finally heard there is a single female, 6 months old, up for adoption local to me.
If I were to go ahead with getting 1 of my boys bonded with a girl, Im wondering about getting her, get her spayed, leave her to settle down from that for a few weeks then start to bond her with one of my boys in a month or so?

Lastly, I spoke at length with a p@h member of staff who told me bonding never fails, it can just take some time... How true is this statement in people's opinions? Because just flicking through posts on hete I'm not sure bonding us always successful as she definitely claimed!

Desperate for some more knowledgable people to advise me please!
 
I'm no expert, but I don't think what p@h said is true about bonding never failing!
I would say that there are rescues that provide a bonding service for a fee, you may want to enquire about this, all their rabbits will also be already spayed, so you wont have to worry about getting this done first.

Bunnies are always happiest having a bunny friend, so you are doing the right thing, there are many expert rabbit people on here, so you will get good advice from others, let us know how you get on. :)
 
Thanks for the reply :)
Ooh ok I'll look into other rescues around here & see what they offer!
Just a quick google search and look on here seems to make her claim look a bit exaggerated, and I worry that if bonding failed there is no way I could keep 3 bunnies separate permanently I just don't have the space for that! I feel like I need to do my bit to save a rescue bunny tho & hopefully give it a forever home so would like to give it a go
 
4 weeks post neutering isn't that much really. It took a good 2-3 months before Smudge's hormones settled enough for him to be bonded, so I wouldn't give up on the idea entirely. Was the bonding in a completely neutral area? Were they put together and left, or separated? I've learnt from experience not to write off a bond too quickly. It took three goes with Mini and Nutmeg before they would tolerate each other and then they became good friends and followed each other everywhere.
 
I don't think I explained myself properly, My boys were together from birth in the same litter, we bought them together and they were never separated, had the neutering together and stayed in a double cage at the vets too. But after lots of bites to each other after their neutering and my littlest requiring stitches to fix a foot wound inflicted by the other, we couldn't keep them together any more. Couldn't risk coming home to find the worst had happened. I've been advised by many people that we can't out our boys back together and I wouldn't risk it, I can't deal with the worry all day wondering if they are getting along. I now know a boy girl pairing is better anyway so I would rather try that tbh :)
 
Have you thought about possibly rehoming one of your males and taking on a rescued female? I know it's difficult to do but I was in a similar situation where I had a male/male pair and and male/female pair. The male/male pair kept falling out. They were fine up to about 8 months and I managed to rebond them but then a couple of months later they fell out again. I rebonded them again but again they fell out. I realised that I didn't have the space for 2 pairs so ended up rehoming one male through an rspca branch (so I knew he would go to a great home which he did). I then bonded my other male with my male/female pair so now I have a trio and they get along great.
 
When we got Rex we were told we were told by P&H that we could only have one of the brothers as they would fight.

Can you do what we do and have a gate between the two boys, so that they have companionship and can wash each other, but not get anything more than their head through?
 
I don't think I explained myself properly, My boys were together from birth in the same litter, we bought them together and they were never separated, had the neutering together and stayed in a double cage at the vets too. But after lots of bites to each other after their neutering and my littlest requiring stitches to fix a foot wound inflicted by the other, we couldn't keep them together any more. Couldn't risk coming home to find the worst had happened. I've been advised by many people that we can't out our boys back together and I wouldn't risk it, I can't deal with the worry all day wondering if they are getting along. I now know a boy girl pairing is better anyway so I would rather try that tbh :)

Snap, that happened with us too, twice actually we had trips to the vet, one time resulting in stitches. I'm not saying try again, I'm just saying don't necessarily write it off completely :)
 
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