Bonding a blind man and a baby

[Hati]

Hello, all. I got Geronimo three months ago after I lost my dear Lilly. He was rescued from a hoarder along with over 100 other rabbits, and due to some fighting between them he’s blind or at least partially blind in one eye, and being a REW he doesn’t see very well out of the other. When I first got him, he used to jump at every sound and crash around his cage or whatever room I had him in at the time, but he’s calmed down a lot since. He’s a slow and gentle fellow, and he’s learning to bump things gently with his nose and get a feel for things rather than charging with no frame of reference. He’s a happy, sweet fellow who likes to play and dig and believe it or not, binky. He’s gotten quite relaxed around me now, taking treats and greens out of my hands and even asking for pets sometimes. I’ve been thinking since I got him that it might be good to have another rabbit with him, someone who’s there to help guide and comfort them while we’re away at work or something. Mo’s still a little skittish, but he’s pretty relaxed around the other animals(even my cats!), so I think he may be ready. My boyfriend, knowing this, bought me a baby Netherland Dwarf(the same breed Lilly was). We’ve gone to see him, but he’s still not quite old enough to come home. He’ll be ready at the end of the month. In the next few weeks, I’m going to be getting Mo a bigger cage and getting him set up in it. I’ll be putting the baby in the smaller cage for the time being, in the same hallway Mo lives in. They’re both male, Mo’s fixed and the little one will be once he’s old enough as well.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how exactly I should go about bonding them? I know to have them housed next to each other for a few months and let them meet on neutral ground for a while, but I’m still a little worried about frightening Geronimo. He’s never shown any signs of aggression as long as I’ve had him, so I’m not as worried about him hurting the baby.

[binkie]

When I bonded my bunnies one was still a baby. I kept them in neighbouring hutches for a couple weeks but not months as they met thorough the bars and were fine. However, I would wait for the younger one to be neutered before bonding them so you don’t go through that awkward teenager stage of ‘I must make babies…’ as this could cause problems with a blind bunny as it could scare him. Two things I found rlly helped when bonding mine was placing poo in each others hutches before them meeting so they can smell each other and also when bonding I used a sieve to separate any fights. There weren’t many but they normally happen when bonding bunnies so when the fought I put a sieve between them so they couldn’t bite but weren’t completely cut off from each other. Hope this helps x

[Hati]

Hello, Molly! Thanks for the response. The sieve is an excellent idea, thank you!
Since I’ve had the baby home a few days now, I figured I’d give a little update. I decided to call the little guy Pontiac.

He’s really quite a sweetie. Already pretty friendly, and he hasn’t seemed to have any problem with Mo, either. Sweet and happy little boy, just what I wanted for Mo’s buddy

Now, I’ve never bonded rabbits on my own, I’ve had solitary buns and one year-old brother and sister pair who had already been bonded. Im not entirely sure what’s normal behavior. As I said, Ponty has no problems with Mo. Seems to ignore him for the most part, really. But Mo seems a bit territorial. He stomps at him sometimes and occasionally tries to bite at him through the bars of their cages. Could this just be because he cant see Ponty too well? I do also have their food dishes hooked next to each other, could he be getting territorial over that?

[vanessa]

Cute bunny 🙂 I’d keep them separate untill they are both neutered/spayed and have had 4 weeks to recover. Then – start bonding. In the mean time, they’ll get to know eachother. Keep a minimum 6-inch distance between their living areas. They might get along fine for a period, but once the youngster starts getting hormonal, things could change in a heartbeat. Apart from an unplanned buny litter, unspayed/unneutered bunnies will end up fighting. Don’t worry about their behavior for the moment. You have at least 5 or 6 months to go before you can really start bonding them.
As for the blind bunny – I have a blind bunny. I would focus on making his living arrangements compatible. Keep his food/water/furniture in the same place so he learns what is where. Figure out a system for how to handle him. Use the same sounds to indicate what you are about to do. One sound for “going to pet you”, another for ” going to pick you up”, etc. Mine bunny is deaf and blind, so I can’t use sounds. I pet him on the head and either run my hand down his back before picking him up, or move from his head to left or right ear to “steer” him toward his salad plate. By doing the same thing, he doesnt’ get startled when I handle him. When bonding them, your blind bunny will have to figure out how to tell that the other bun is approaching him. Having his hearing will make it easier.

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