An accidental giant.

[RetroSquid]

We lost one of our dear buns a couple of months ago and have finally decided to get our remaining bun (Link) some company. So, we headed down to our local adoption centre.
I immediately spotted this beautiful brown lady who had been mistakenly named Rupert (Apparently due to the bun who was in that pen before her)

The chaps in there seemed to know a lot about her, she was five months old, had been with them for three of those five, but she was a big girl, not the typical cute bun you see, but she is a stunning lady.

I handled her a little and then made the decision that she would come home with us, and she is now named Navi.

I had Link and Navi’s cages side by side to behind the bonding process, she was very stampy the first night, but did well considering she hasn’t been in close proximity to another bun before.

Navi and Link have seen each other for a week now, and have even had a couple of opportunities to sniff at each others bottoms and the likes and seem to be getting on well.

Both myself and my wife did start questioning her actual age, though… She acted like a young bun, she was just very big.

Anyway, She has just been dropped off at the vets to be spayed and it turns out that she is indeed only approximately five months old, she’s just a slightly overweight giant rabbit… 

Now, I am wondering, as I/we have no experience with giant rabbits… The fact that she is a giant, and our little Link is a little smaller than her already, will this affect their relationship?
They have already started bonding, Link has been so lonely since we lost Zelda that he’s been trying to bond with the cats, but he seems very taken by this bun.

Is there anything we should watch out for regarding her size and should we be worried about Link at all?…
She’s such a gentle little sweetheart and has showed no signs of aggression towards him, even as a full doe, so I’m not worried about her temperament at all.

 

Any advice would be muchly appreciated.

Thanks

[Roberta]

Check out Bullriders Blue and Baby, then be reassured a big bun can bond quite safely and well with a little bun.

[MoveDiagonally]

I’m sorry for your recent loss.

Her being a giant shouldn’t affect their ability to bond, rabbits don’t care about size. There are few people with bonded differently sized bunnies. The biggest difference with giant bunnies is they need a lot more cage space. I’m not sure how big she is but for large bunnies the minimum recommended cage size is 4′ X 4′, 16 sq ft (a fully extended X-Pen) and a lot of people lean towards at least semi free roaming. Obviously giant bunnies also eat MORE but it’s the same stuff smaller bunnies eat.

I think some giant bunnies have more joint and heart issues later in life much like big dogs do. But she’s young so that’s not a huge concern right now.

Congrats on your new bunny! I hope we get to see some pictures soon!

[RetroSquid]

 Thanks. the bun we lost was a true friend, used to groom me for hours ^_^ He was only about 12 – 18 months old and we only have him for about five months, but he was perfect. and it’s taken me a while to actually even bond properly with out other bun, but I can’t help but love the little bugger!
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/125887/Default.aspx

Our situation is a little frustrating at the moment, we have just had to move back into a flat that we own just while we sell it before we can buy a house, so we’re a little in limbo with out three cats, three ferrets and now two buns, but my work schedule allows me to be home most of the day all week, so the buns get a lot of time out and spent with me and/or my wife, and Link, he seems more than happy to be sitting in his cage by me while I’m at the computer. But we are just waiting on that all important interest in the property and we’ll be back to having dedicated safe rooms for the buns to just be in.

She’s only a little bit bigger than my little bun so far, so I’m not overly worried about their cage sizes in the short term, Their cages are basically just eating/sleeping quarters anyway.

You mention problems in old age, as with dogs. 
I also assume she will have, just as with larger dogs, a significantly shorter life expectancy?

 

“Edit” 
A couple of pictures.

This is Link.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=583947408310974&l=83c2552923

Navi.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=584629788242736&l=f1a8036661

Link & Navi
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=583467355025646&l=ca1ef8ceef

[Tate]

Hi! Congrats on the new addition!
I have a flemish giant that’s recently been added to my family.. She is 3 months old and about 8 lbs now! My other rabbit is a netherland dwarf and is 2.5 lbs (at 3 years old). I was wondering the same thing about size, mostly just worried that the flemmie (Lucy) would inadvertently hurt the dwarf (Velvateen). I’ve been assured it’s not much of an issue at all. I’ve noticed that Lucy is a little rough, but she’s young and not spayed yet so I’m not surprised by how she acts with Velvateen. For the most part, she’s a big lazy rabbit that lounges for hours. From what I’ve read, the bigger breeds of rabbits are much more relaxed so I’m hoping that she will be easy to bond with Velvateen after her spay.
As for life expectancy… I can’t really figure that out because there are conflicting things on the internet about it! One says 5-7 years, another says 10-12 years… :/
Anyways, congrats!

[Valkyrie]

Congrats to you and Navi! I love their names btw!
My friend Tanya had a bonded pair of Flemish giant and Netherland Dwarf; there was never any problems between them. They also lived to about the same ages – I just can’t remember what the exact age was. Flemmies are generally pretty lazy compared to their smaller counterparts so you may find Link running circles around Navi. You can laugh when they are in the opposite roles of their namesakes.

[jerseygirl]

I hoe you don’t mind that I’ve inserted the photos here.

Link:

[jerseygirl]

Navi:

Definitely not a little fairy but wow she is gorgeous! Be sure to share a picture when she’s fully grown.

(I wasn’t able to open the pic of them together) I imagine that theyll make a stunning pair.

[RetroSquid]

Oooh, thanks… Maybe I have aa total n00b moment, but couldn’t figure out how to actually insert them.

She’s had two days of recovery from the spay and she already seems like nothings happened… she even did a couple of little binkies last night.
So cannot wait until she’s well enough to properly get them acquainted!

[Author]

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