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Advice needed

roxyroller88

Mama Doe
We've got the opportuntity to get another Rabbit. We currently have 3, Hiro, Sylar and Bill, all boys. We never intended on keeping Bill, we got him because he had been handed in to p@h with his brother. His brother got rehomed without him, he'd been there 3 months and was getting depressed so we decided to take him home and get him vaccinated and neutered. But obviously we fell in love with him and he's here to stay! We tried to bond them into a trio but it was unsuccessful. We were going to try again at a later date but then Hiro got poorly and stressful situations aren't good for him so it's not a route that we are prepared to go down anymore :(
Our pair live upstairs and are free range and then we have Bill that lives downstairs with us so he gets plenty of company. He is free range most of the time but he does have a cage/pen set up because he is a bit naughty and can't be trusted on his own for long periods of time... he's probably bored and lonely.
We want to get him a friend and we have found a lovely 5 month old doe that has had a rough start in life. We'd love to take her on but she isn't spayed and because of the way our buns are set up we don't have anywhere to put her until we are ready to start bonding and obviously if it doesn't work we haven't got the room to home another single bunny.
Could we try bonding them before she is spayed? Or is there no chance of that working at all?
Some way or another we need to get him a friend but we are thinking that a spayed doe would be an easier route... but I've got a real soft spot for this doe we have seen.
Thanks
 
You could try bonding before she's spayed but bear in mind her hormones will be all over the place - she may well react aggressively, much more so than if she was neutured that's for certain (I have a spayed doe who was very aggressive to my buck, and still is on occasion so imagine if she were not spayed!). Also if he mounts her (which isn't that uncommon even for castrated bucks) she could well have a false pregnancy which isn't too good.

Unless you can try bonding before hand, I would pass this one and wait for a spayed doe. That being said it would be unwise to take on any bun spayed or not if you don't have anywhere to put them should it go wrong. It can and does happen, even a bit down the line, but sometimes from the get go. You would need an emergency back up plan that still gives each bun adequate room (RWAF standards) should a bonding ever fall out. Some bondings are straight forward, I'll stick my neck on the line and say *most* don't happen overnight. xx
 
I personally think you could do with an easy as possible bond after the stress you've been through with Hiro which probably means a spayed bun (a chilled out lady in her early 20's ?)- maybe one he has the chance to meet first (I personally like that method). Good luck with your decision - I can tell it is a difficult one x
 
That was the original plan. We were going to take him to a rescue and let him choose a partner himself and then let them bond them for us. Unfortunately I think that this might be a better option for us :(
 
A lot of does are not that hormonal at 5 months but some are. I would see if he likes her as you feel positive asbout it and she needs a good home :thumb: My Bobbie lived with Roger until she was 14 months old and never showed any hormonal behaviour up until just before I had her spayed.
 
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