Bonding a baby with older rabbit

Hello!

I am messaging for some advice. I had the most gorgeous French lop who unfortunately died a couple of weeks ago, aged nearly 7. He lived with a 5 year old spayed dwarf lop (although quite a large dwarf!) She is now lonely and I have temporarily brought her into the house so she has company and I can work out what to do with her.

I want to get another French lop but can’t find any in rescues. How hard would it be to bond her with a male baby French lop? If anybody can offer any advice that would be great.

Thank you

I'm so very sorry you lost your boy a few weeks ago.

As for your question, in my experience it's quite easy to bond a baby to anyone, because they're automatically the subordinate rabbit, but you might get into trouble when they get older and hormonal and develop a stronger personality, as first of all, you'll need to get him neutered, of course, and second of all, he might not like being the subordinate rabbit anymore and he and your girl bunny will have to decide who's boss again, and you always have the risk that they won't get along anymore. So, personally, considering all that, I always think it's less trouble to bond two adults together, as you already know the new bunny's personality and you'll know very quickly whether they'll have a good bond or not.

I also want to ask, are you really set on another French lop even if you can't find one in a rescue? I just think getting a bunny from a rescue is such a lovely thing to do. They'll also support you if you have trouble bonding, and will take the bunny back if the bonding doesn't work out, and you don't always have that guarantee if you get a baby from somewhere.

I bonded a 10 week old male bunny to a two year old neutered female. The baby was very affectionate and just won over my doe, although every interaction was supervised as he was still so small.

I split them up every night, but it didn't affect the bond and neither did neutering. When the baby was six months old they moved in together and were inseparable for six years.

Hi, I have two neutered 1 year old male rabbits. They are fully bonded and love each other A LOT. I am looking at getting a third bun to add to our family. I have experience with bonding as I have done it before with my boys BUT they were bonded pre neutering and then they were both neutered together (at roughly 5 months). I had no issues with them before/after and their bond is as strong as ever (one is naturally more dominant and one subordinate) . If I add a female baby bun (who won't be spayed yet as too young) would this create issues? I would obviously follow all the steps necessary for bonding and get her spayed as quickly as (safely) possible. I can't find anyone's experience with two neutered males and an unspayed female bun. I am hoping that as I will have her home at 8 weeks old, her hormones won't kick in for a few months and then as soon as they kick in, I can get her spayed so it will be fine.

Let me know if you have any advice to share!!

(Ps: the baby bun is from a friend's rabbit who had an unexpected pregnancy so needs a home roughly August time, I would LOVE to take her in but want to get it right).

Thank you