Single baby rabbit, neutering and then adding in female from rescue

[New_member]

Hi

I’m currently weighing up my different options for finding some bunnies. An old friend has just posted on social media that she has baby rabbits, all reserved apart from 1.

So I was wondering, could I get the last baby (it’s believed to be male), keep him on his own until he’s old enough to neuter and then find a single female rescue bunny? Or is it cruel to keep him alone for a period of time until the time is right to adopt a friend for him?

 

[Cinnabun14]

How old is he? I would be more concerned about whether or not he's okay to live without mom yet.

I haven't had rabbits for long (and I would check this advice with some of the more experienced members), but I think you can put baby rabbits together. It will form a baby bond, which may not last through puberty, which is why it's recommended that both rabbits be fixed as soon as possible. So I believe you should be okay to find a rabbit friend for him even though they're both babies, but again, I would double-check this with a more experienced member.

 

[New_member]

Thanks so much for your reply. The baby is coming up to 9 weeks and my friend is letting him leave from 10 weeks. From what I’ve read, babies can leave from 8 weeks so I think the age should be ok?

 

[Omi]

I think this could work well As Cinnabun says, he should stay with his Mum for 8 weeks, but I'm assuming you are considering just reserving him at this stage.

Important to make absolutely certain of the kit's sex (it's not always that easy to sex baby bunnies), before you start looking for a rescue bunny.

 

[New_member]

If I go ahead, he wouldn’t come home with me until he was 10 weeks and I’d wait to get a rescue bunny until I’d had the baby neutered so would know for sure what it is by what parts have been removed.

I would of course give the baby lots of my time but I’m just concerned he would be lonely for the period of time he would still be a single rabbit.

 

[bunny momma]

Often people have a single bunny for a while before acquiring a friend/a new friend. For example when a bunny friend passes and it takes time to locate/acquire a suitable new friend. If you get this baby bunny, you will eventually need neutral space (an area that is not the territory of the baby) for bonding when you get the rescue, so you may want to keep an area for that purpose.
Those forum had a lot of good information in the notes in each section.

You may also want to consider adopting a bonded pair of rescue bunnies.

 

[New_member]

Thank you for your reply . I have seen that my local rescue will take in your bunny to bond with the one you’re adopting from them until they are bonded which I thought would be a good option as I have no experience of it myself.

I am also waiting on a reply from the rescue about adopting a bonded pair so just weighing up my options at the moment

 

[tonibun]

Rabbits can cope quite well on their own for a while so no need to worry about that. As long as you talk to him nicely. If you do get a bunny from your friend, find out if he is used to eating veg so you can carry on giving him small pieces, and also keep him on the same food as he is getting with Mum. When he gets to about 12 weeks you can change him onto a different food if you want, but do it slowly.