Another bun and no bonding experience?

[skibunny8503]

So for anyone who saw my post in the Lounge section about my spoiled bun having a huge cage now, we’re wondering if we should get another bun.  Archie is great, runs around but sometimes look a little lonely in his cage.  I’m not sure if we should get another rabbit or not.  We have a NIC cube condo that is 4 grids by 4 grids and part of it is 3 stories high   Is that plenty of room for 2 buns?  I don’t know anything about bonding.  We were looking at this rabbit http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=12762354  (Archie is also a mini lop)  Is it good to have 2 lops together or should one of them have ears that are up or doesn’t it matter?  Is it hard to bond a female and male together?  I know that I don’t want to end up with 2 rabbits that dont’ get a long because we really don’t have anymore room for another cage (at least not perminately) 

I have no experience in owning 2 buns and am a little hesitant on getting another one; so any info on bonding or anything would be realy nice

 

Oh and I don’t know if this is important or not but I’ve never had a female rabbit before.

[Beka27]

Two buns is a big undertaking. Bonding is not a simple process as you can see from the threads on here that end with two separate bunnies, rather than one pair. Some can bond, some cannot. Since there is no guarantee of bonding, before you adopt a second bunny, you would have to be okay with having two separate bunnies forever, just in case. If there is no way you can keep two separate cages, I’d recommend that you just keep with one. They would need to have separate cages or pens during the bonding process. This can take a couple weeks or a couple months depending on how much time you devote and how they react to each other.  After they are bonded, then they can live together.

Your best bet would be to take Archie dating and let him pick out his own female bunny. This may or may not be the bun that YOU like. Breed of bun, size, adult age… does not matter. Sex usually DOES matter. Opposite sexes have a greater likelihood of bonding than same sex pairs.

This is the best article, in my opinion, regarding bonding and the process… 

Love Match: A Guide to Bonding Your Rabbits - HRN

I love having two bunnies.  The whole process was absolutely worth it.  I was prepared that in case they did not bond, they would live separately and have separate playtime each day.  But since they bonded (in 3 weeks of one-hour long sessions), they have been inseparable.  I am more of an insider now looking in.  They do their own thing to a large extent and I am a “quiet observer” of sorts.  But it made my Meadow happy, and that’s all that matters to me.

 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I don’t think I could say it any better then Beka did. You’ll want to think carefully on it and plan, and it does cost more. But its worth it

[skibunny8503]

Thanks Beka!  I did email the woman from Judges Park about Gracie and sent her pictures of Archie and his cage. She said there won’t be a problem with us adopting her and for him to meet her first.  She emailed me the application form that I’m filling out right now.  I told my mom about her and she’s like “Aw I want her!”  I’m sure we’ll fall in love with her and we can try to make room somewhere, but if we can’t I know my mom might want her (we’d call the shelter first and make sure it’s ok)  I really do hope they can bond but if not, maybe there’s another girl there he can met.  There’s not to many buns around here and that place has the most (it’s about an hours drive).

My brother-in-law has a good sized dog cage that would be nice for the other cage that we can use.  Part of me wants to keep him all to myself but the other part of me says to adopt another one.  We’ll take him up there and see how he reacts to other rabbits, if he has a good reation then we’ll get her but if not, we’ll keep him as a bachelor. 

Thanks for the link, I’ll read that over and forward it to my husband

[skibunny8503]

We set up an appt. for this Saturday for him to go see her and if it goes well then they’ll bring her down to our house later on in the week to make sure everything looks like for her and will leave her there.  I figured out for cost it won’t be to much different, we’ll just have to buy more litter which is only $6 for the 40 lb bag of wood stove pellets and buy more pellets.  We have plenty of hay we got from my brother-in-law (his in-laws work on a farm) and for veggies, at least in the summer we’ll save some money by growing our own. 

[Beka27]

Don’t forget vet care tho! Vets definitely don’t do a “buy one get one” on multiple pets, so that is something you’ll have to take into account as well. Good luck! I would see if he can meet other females while you’re there too. You might be surprised by who he gets along with.

[skibunny8503]

I’ll ask her if she has any more females but when I looked on the site a lot of them were either already bonded with another male or had a sister and you had to get both….which is great if you want 2 buns already bonded but only want one.  They had one but said doesn’t get along with other buns so should stay single.  We’ll see on Saturday when we go.  I’ll keep you guys posted!

[Beka27]

Oh, I see. Well, that’s good at least that they’re not spliting up existing pairs. Another option if Archie and the female don’t get along and there’s no one else, they can contact you when more female rabbits come in. There is usually an influx of rabbits into shelters in the months following Easter. With your application, you’ll be approved, so then it’s just the matter of finding the right rabbit. Are there other shelters near you too? What about the one where you got Archie?

[skibunny8503]

That’s a great idea, thanks Beka!  No, they don’t have any rabbits at the place we got Archie.  There’s one rabbit that isn’t far from us but I don’t know about her, they gave her the name Miss Chevious and said she is very misscheivious and she gets into a lot of things and has to be supervised when out of her cage.  There’s a few other shelters around here but most of them only have dogs and cats, the other ones don’t have any rabbits. 

I was reading on the bonding link on the site about the “stunt doubles” and am going to buy a stuffed animal and put some of his hair in it and give it to her since there is time inbetween when they see each other again. 

[BinkyBunny]

You’ve received some great advice! Vet bills are what will always keep me down to two bunnies. (plus we have a cat) so three pets is our max when it comes to saving for vet emergencies.

Also, there are pairs that are same-sexed, but most of the time it is challenging though there are exceptions.

Try Petfinder.com if you haven’t already.

Good luck and keep us updated.

[skibunny8503]

Thanks binky! Yup that’s where I was looking was at petfinder.com  I did however look on craigslist really quick today and saw a free rabbit, 2 years old that is house trained right in our area!  I emailed them and asked what breed and sex the rabbit was and asked for a picture.  No replies yet though. 

Yeah it’s to bad the vet doesn’t do a 2 for one deal.  I’ll def. keep you posted   Is it Saturday yet??!!

[dlscanne]

I ditto the advice that everyone has given you! I got a second rabbit relatively recently, and has ended up being a lot of work, time, and effort, but I love every minute of it so it works out for me. My rabbits are thus far not bonded. The process can be extremely time-consuming, and you must be prepared to be diligent. I would definitely recommend doing some research and really making sure it is something you want to deal with if they never end up getting along.

Not to discourage you though! I love having two bunnies and are optimistic and am prepared in case they must always be separate. I love both of them. One is still quite young, and I think that might be the problem right now. Young bunnies can be trouble makers as we all know. Its good you are looking at adult bunnies. I did not let my bunnies “choose” each other. I would strongly recommend that you do!

Although I could probably afford having 3 bunnies during an average month, I know when a vet trip is in order I thank god I only have 2! I consider that extra amount I could have spent on food for a 3rd as extra savings for the vet.

[Beka27]

I think Miss Chievous is at the rescue where I got Max! That name sounds familiar. Is it the one in Youngstown?

[skibunny8503]

Posted By Beka27 on 03/04/2009 2:34 PM
I think Miss Chievous is at the rescue where I got Max! That name sounds familiar. Is it the one in Youngstown?

Yup she’s in Youngstown! When did you get Max?  

 

I’ve thought about it all yesterday and today and I’m confident I can handle another bunny.  I know I have the time to do it since I’m home all the time and don’t have much else to do anyways haha!  I know if I start putting a little bit off to the side each month then if anything major ever happened I’ll have that money.  We do eventually want to move them into the basement and I’m sure this summer we will realy get working on it to put carpet and insulate it better and they can be down there.  I just keep going to her profile and want to adopt her, it makes me so sick how her previous owners treated her.  I wish I had enough money to start my own bunny rescue

I read all of that link about bonding and read about it on this site and am going to start reading about everyone else’s experience.  I’m getting excited!  To bad we won’t be able to take her home Saturday.  I feel confident that they’ll get along but I could be completely wrong.

[Beka27]

I got Max June 6, 2008. Here is my bonding thread. It has links to youtube vids. https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/forumid/11/postid/53315/view/topic/Default.aspx

I did not take Meadow with us. It was 90+ degrees, 3 hours roundtrip, and I had fallen in love with Max during the 2 month adoption process so I wanted him regardless. NOT the way to go about it. You’re doing the right thing by letting them meet first. In our case, Meadow is… difficult. I think she would have fought any bunny, so I am not sure how much bunny dating would have helped us in her case. She was a royal pain thru out the beginning, but Max was used to other bunnies (he was kept in a warren-like environment with about 20 other bunnies), so his patience really helped. It’s as much about their individual personalities. If you have two that both have to be dominant, it’s going to be very difficult.

Does this girl have experience with other bunnies? Has she ever been bonded to anyone, or been allowed playtime with other bunnies?

[Beka27]

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!

I just looked at her petfinder page for the first time. You didn’t say she’s a BLACK AND WHITE bunny! I love black and white bunnies!!!!!!!!!

obviously…. ;o)

[skibunny8503]

I’m not sure, but I’ll ask the lady on Satuday.  I’m assuming she was never bonded with anyone.  I think the bunnies that are bonded are the ones that might be in a foster home.  Wow, so Miss Chevious has been there for awhile!  Two months, really?  How come? 

I thought of something yesterday and couldn’t really find any place that had an answer.  Archie’s cage is always open during the day; when we get a girl, do we leave him in his cage and let her run around a bit by herself when they’re not bonding where he usually runs around or would that cause problems?

[Beka27]

Oh, okay. Well I didn’t know if she was around another bunny in her “old life”, not that the rescue would necessarily be aware of that I guess.

It took two months b/c the woman who runs that rescue (a very sweet woman!) does it all by herself out of her home. So it’s her and just her. She runs a rescue and sanctuary for ferrets and birds, and she has about 30-35 bunnies total. Many of them are older or have chronic health problems, so they are not up for adoption. She has a couple flemish giants that are therapy buns. They go to hospitals and nursing homes and visit with people. She makes her own bunny treats and toys and sells them at flea markets, to help fund her rescue. This is all in addition to her regular job, so… she is a busy woman. At first she had computer problems, so it took her a long while to respond back to me, and then the application process took awhile. And then when I was approved, I had to prepare for the second bun. Buy more supplies, I bought two xpens. It was a lengthy process for us.

Archie is going to have limited runtime during the bonding process. After they are bonded, they will get no outside runtime for at least 1 or 2 weeks after. They will be quarantined in the final cage together to cement that bond. During the process, I would give one bun an hour or two out, then the next out for an hour or two. When the first bun goes out, put the second bun in the first buns cage and close it up. After runtime, the first bun gets returned to where the second had been, then the second comes out. Every night you will switch cages to prevent them from being overly territorial of either cage. Expect marking. There will probably be poop everywhere, but it’s normal during the process.

As bonding gets closer to being completed, I’d suggest you only allow them out during the bonding sessions. These later bonding sessions can probably be at least 1 or 2 hours long. So they only get to play if they are together and are well-behaved. If they fight, they both get put back in their separate cages.

Try not to think too far ahead just yet tho. Take it one step at a time. ;o)

[skibunny8503]

If she was with other buns it was only when they were out of their cages..since she was only in a 2×2 cage.  We’re going to redo the NIC cubes again *sigh*  and making 2 seperate condos that look exactly alike and just set them a few inches apart.  We were going to just get a dog cage but it’s smaller and it doesn’t seem fair to each bun to put one in a bigger one and one in a smaller one; I think Archie would have a fit   That way I won’t have to buy a big thing of linolium and I’ll just disinfect the big piece already down.

Thanks!  I’m glad I asked or I would have done that wrong.  When I put the other one in the 1st one’s cage do I take Archie’s litter box out into the living room because when he goes to the bathroom he just runs into his cage and goes there.  Or would I put her litter box out for him to go in?

Good thing I don’t have dark carpet!  LOL! 

Haha I know I know, I ALWAYS get ahead of myself on stuff! 

 

Oh wow!  Where exactly is that shelter because I couldn’t find any addresses.  I had never heard of it before I looked on petfinder. 

[Beka27]

I guess that depends. You could open Archie’s cage for his runtime and let him run back in there to potty, and then when his time is up, put him in the other cage. You’ll figure out what works for you. The whole point in switching cages, like I said, is they use the other’s items, they are in each other’s territory. This includes dirty litterboxes. As long as they are both healthy, there’s no danger in them sharing eerything.

[Marcibun]

It’s Saterday! I’m can’t wait to find out what I happened! I hope all went well.

[skibunny8503]

Everything went great!  We let him out of his travel cage and he went right up to her and they touched heads.  No fighting at all!  They didn’t groom each other, pretty much went up to each other and sniffed.  The girl’s coming on Monday at noon to drop her off!!  We’re so excited and they looked so cute together!  I posted all about it in the Lounge section.  Better start cleaning up the house for Monday

[Marcibun]

Wow, that’s great! I’ll go check out that other post too

[skibunny8503]

This is Brett (Skibunny’s husband) typing…we just had our first bonding experiment. It didn’t go over so well. Lots of mounting by Archie and Gracie being petrified. My wife is currently blow drying archie because the water spray bottle had no affect on him what-so-ever. Gracie was panting heavily and her heart was racing. Archie even tried face mounting her once but we put a quick stop to that. The bonding session ended with us pulling Archie out of there right before Gracie decided to fight back. Here’s to better luck tomorrow.

[Beka27]

Hi Brett! It will take time. Read up on the process, take it one step at a time. You may even have to start with stressing (washing machine or a car ride) before going into neutral territory. It’s not uncommon for the bunny date to go one way in neutral space and things to go differently in the bun’s “home turf” so don’t despair.

[Ruffles&Daisy]

You guys are freaking me out. We are going on Friday to get our new little girl and are crossing fingers for smooth bonding sessions. Keep us posted.

[skibunny8503]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice!  We took them on a car ride today which really helped!  After that we put them in a small pen and he started his mounting again.  I emailed the woman at the shelter about how it was going and she said to pick him up everytime he mounted for too long so he would associate mounting to being picked up.  It really worked.  I think he just had to get all that sexual frustration out.  Gracie has been really good, no biting at all, she just lays there.  Right now we’re getting past the 20 min. mark and they’re being so good!  Archie has been grooming her (Gracie hasn’t moved though haha!) and he just flopped over and is grooming her!  I’m glad that he’s not mounting her, hopefully it’s out of his system. 

Here’s some pics!!

[jerseygirl]

How cute! In that 2nd picture – it looks like she is very subtly thumbing her nose at him – with her ear!! lol

[Beka27]

They look so cute together!!!!!

[LilynJestersMama]

Awesome progress!!!  Glad to see that!!  I hope we reach this point soon too 

[BinkyBunny]

That’s great progress!

[Author]

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