Will NON-Bonded Bunnies Play?

[Hokankai]

 So today I decided to let the older kits (4 weeks old now?) play in the rabbit room upstairs since it’s more space then the pen in my room. Well that’s where Theodore’s cage is. The babies were zooming and binkying around and seemed very intrigued by Theo. They kept trying to dig into his cage and say hello to him through the bars. Theodore was very interested in the babies and perked up the most I’ve seem him so far! He sat up and would watch them through the bars and meet them nose-to-nose through the bars. 

I don’t know anything about rabbit-rabbit aggression and was wondering what would happen if I let him run around the room with the babies? Would he attack them? If he could get along with them it would be a great way to draw him out of his cage and into being more active. He just got neutered so nothing’s happening right now, but would he play with them if I let him out of his cage while they’re in there? 

[KytKattin]

I would advise against it unless you plan on keeping any of the babies. They are going to start getting hormones (probably about the time it would be safe to let him run around). And rabbits aren’t like dogs, that can just meet and play together for a while before going on their merry way. They bond, and like to keep those bonds. The only exception I could see to this is if you had a larger colony of 10+ rabbits, with some coming and going. Then they would have other rabbits they already knew and have less problems with others coming and going (as unfortunate as this sounds, similar to what they would experience in the wild with predators).

[LittlePuffyTail]

I think it’s too risky. Fights can happen in the blink of an eye and bunnies can do some serious damage to each other.

[Hokankai]

I can’t imagine Theodore doing anything but okay, just thought I’d ask . I guess they’ll just have to be his little bunny-television through the cage bars. Haha!

[Elrohwen]

Yep, way too risky. Rabbits are very territorial and until they’re bonded, most see another rabbit as a trespasser. There are plenty of rabbits who won’t fight with a new strange rabbit, but they don’t enjoy their company either. Otto, for example, can be put with just about any rabbit and he’ll hang out like it’s no big deal, but he’s not enjoying his time with them and “playing” – he’s just trying hard to pretend the other rabbit isn’t there.

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