Bonding Anomalies

[Dface]

Preface: this isn’t something I plan to do or anything like that, more observational ranting. I also didnt put it in bonding because I dont want new members thinking this is an okay method of bonding

When I was growing up NOBODY neutered rabbits. But plenty of people kept them, often in pairs sometimes more, without proper bonding and often without incident (some people did have “bad luck” so to speak) which definitely perpetuated the idea that litter mates kept together will  not fight and will essentially be “bonded”, although having said that, it actually seems to be more common around the place than I thought-the more people I talk to the more I’m told they’ll be fine together. I was in the pet-shop of a woman who owned 6 rabbits, three pairs of litter mates, never having bonded any of them and which had not been neutered. It baffled me! 

Recently I met a person through a friend who owns a whole shed of rabbits, about 20 free range, not breeding so I think the males are at least neutered. I asked how he bonded them and he looked at me like I was speaking another language, as he just put them in together. But he doesn’t have fights. Is it down to the fact that there is so many they find it easier to just find a friend they like more and so negate the fighting?

I’m not trying to support this way of doing anything, I just feel slightly agriefed that my own pair decided to spend months acting chaotic and evil when other people were like “BE FRIENDS” and lo and behold they had the perfect pairing! 
Has any one else seen stuff like this?

[Sirius&Luna]

I think I read once that the bigger a group of rabbits, the easier it is to add a new one to the group, as they’re already used to lots of bunnies and another one doesn’t really affect them. They’re also more likely to protect a submissive bunny from the dominant one. [Source: http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm but not sure about reliability!]

I also would assume that these people with the casual attitudes care less about their rabbits in general, so perhaps the man who has 20 rabbits do fight sometimes, and he just doesn’t notice. He can’t possibly check 20 for injury every day. If they’re free range perhaps there’s also enough space for them to get away from each other.

[Deleted User]

This is really interesting and I have thought of this myself the other day. I was watching some videos on YouTube and I came across something that is done in the US where rabbit owners go each weekend to take their rabbits to do obstacle courses and jumping. It wasn’t an official thing, just like a casual group. Everyone has their rabbits in the same huge hall and they all had close contact with the other rabbits, some in harnesses but some not. There didn’t appear to be any issues and all the rabbits seemed happy. I wondered if maybe the fact that the territory was neutral that they were able to share the same space. I’ve also seen at petting farms where rabbits are just put together in large groups. Perhaps they are able to establish a more natural hierachy

[joea64]

I imagine that’s how they’re able to carry off events like Midwest Bunfest, where there must be tons of rabbits in the convention hall, and also the big adoption events that many rescues stage regularly. Actually, though, at the Friends of Rabbits adoption event I went to in July, all the buns were in cages separated by bonded pairs/groups or singles, and they’d be taken out one or several at a time for people to meet, with several inches of space between each cage, so there wasn’t that much interaction going on between the various buns.

[Author]

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