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Advice on bonding rabbit to existing single rabbit.

Hi,

This is my first post here.

I have a 14 month old female rabbit. She is neutered and injections up to date. She has a reasonable size outdoor pen about 15 feet x 6 feet with her hutch inside. She has the complete run of the pen at all times (day and night) as it is safe from predators. Sadly I did not read enough about rabbits when getting this first one, so really missed that I should have got 2 for frienship etc. Which I now regret.

However I would like to get another rabbit too keep our bun company. My initial thought was to get a rescue rabbit for rehoming so discussed with the RSPCA, they were not willing to let us have one as they say the rabbits need to live next to one another separated for a couple of weeks in an adequate sized space, my original plan had been to divide the existing run in half and put the new bun in one half, however they advised that this would not work as our female rabbit considered the whole run her territory. It is very difficult for me to create another run next to our buns (Dandelion) existing run of adequate size to satisfy the folks from the RSPCA so adoption looks tricky at least from them as we can't satisfy their criteria in the short term with two rabbits.

Reading posts on this forum other bonding methods are suggested. So here is what I do have:

A large (20 ft x 10 ft) (emptyish) wooden shed which could be used for moving both rabbits into for bonding it would be neutral for our existing bun as she has never been in there, I could fit two reasonable pens in there for bonding to keep them separate or try to use one of the other bonding methods in the stickies, i.e putting them into 1 enclosure with only food and water and supervising them. Would this be ok ?

Once bonded however I worry that if I try to put them both back into the outdoor enclosure occupied by Dandelion she will become territorial, as it's and outdoor space it's hard to wash down.

Any suggestions ?

My intention would be to buy a youngish male rabbit, our girl is pretty forceful and highly inquistive I think probably a slightly more subdued male would be the way to go ?

Thanks for any advice, I would really like to get another rabbit to keep ours company however want to make the right choices.

Thankyou.
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum :wave: a neutered male would be the best match, if you go to a rescue they will help suggest possible partners and can sometimes do the bonding for you. The rabbits will be vaccinated and neutered already. You can find your nearest rescues on rabbit rehome.

Your other shed sounds like a good place for bonding :thumb: as for moving them back to your rabbit’s previous accommodations I would clean and neutralise with vinegar/water mixed 50/50, and not move them there until their bond is solid.
 
It's such a shame the RSPCA had this view, anyway as Zoobec said your big shed would be fine size-wise. Choosing anew rabbit won't be easy if you are looking for a subdued one as you won't really know his personality. I would look for a rabbit which is a bit bigger than your female as you don't want a situation where she bullies him, as some females will. If he is bigger she won't feel like attacking him so much and he really needs to be able to stand his ground. How long have you had your female?
 
Thanks so much for the reply. We have had our female rabbit since she was 12 weeks old. Shes great but could do with a friend.

I have had another look at our other shed, it is actually bigger than I thought, the shed is 12ft wide on the inside by about 20ft long. I thought I could make two pens in it, 6ft x 10ft each say, side by side which would give both rabbits 60sq ft of space per rabbit which meets the RWAF space requirements. I could leave a mesh divider between the two so the rabbits could see each other for a couple of weeks etc as recommended by RSPCA, then try bonding in the other rabbit free part of the shed.

Assuming we could find ours a friend they could then return to the outside run again. I don't want them to live in the shed permanently as i just sort of feel they should be out in the open air, although obviously people keep rabbits in the house perfectly happily for both rabbit and person.

Do you think this might be a good idea ?
 
Hi Dandelion 2018,
i am not a rabbit expert by any means but it looks to me like you are a very caring & responsible pet owner & imo there are many many reasons why you should forget about the RSPCA and progress with getting a companion for your bun (Dandelion??). For sure you could've gone to Pets @ Home and done it by now but you didn't. that's good enough for me.

My advice would be source a rescue bun from somewhere on this forum.

Regarding bonding, i may have been incredably (sp) lucky but have recently bonded a young male to an older female & all went great. I suspect that this is the best combo, which is what you have.

Please don't let the RSPCA experience dishearten you. Go for it.


Just re-read your post before i clicked 'reply'. I can't believe all that RSPCA rubbish. As you might tell - I'm not a fan of them


P.S. regarding bonding methods, i checked things out before i started looking for a companion for my rabbit, but have to say i disagree with the methods i read & watched. they always seem to be put together in a very closed environment. my inclination would be to give them as much space as possible.
 
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Your suggestion of 2 runs in your shed sounds fine to me, or if you find a neutered boy and are feeling brave, you could put them together in your big shed and see how it goes without the runs. Start early in the morning when you have a day free and you might be pleasantly surprised.
 
Ive been looking on rabbitrehome. Org.uk

Lots of rescue places on there that are not rspca. Try one of those. Most help you with bonding.

Will be sorting a wife for my bun after xmas.


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