Bonding bunnies – lots of questions

[FluffyBunny]

So, we’re probably getting another bunny sometime between mid-April and early May – possibly a little later, but around then.

We plan to take Mr. Bunny to a shelter to do bunny dating, if they allow it. Has anyone here done this before, and what should I expect, look for, etc. ?

Also, since there is only one place I can keep them during the bonding – the downstairs bunny room – how would you guys suggest making part of the room not Mr. Bunny’s territory until they can live together? I was thinking of setting up an exersize pen or NIC cubes covered by towels and cardboard blocking off a corner of the room in advance so Mr. Bunny would forget about that corner, and thoroughly cleaning the floors and walls in that space so it wouldn’t smell like Mr. Bunny and then that space would temporarily be the new rabbit’s home. Would this be good enough?

I am trying to learn as much about bonding as possible, do you guys have any favorite pages on it? Also, all bonding tips are welcome

Mr. Bunny is a 2 year old neutered male rabbit who is smart, extremely friendly and very social. And before you ask – I definitely don’t want to end up with 2 bunnies that couldn’t bond, but if that happened, I’d live with it and could give them seperate attention and out times.

[MooBunnay]

My first recommendation is to read the bonding information on this site – if you are looking at the menu bars up top, it is under the “bunny info.” section. This will give you a lot of the basic information.

One thing that I always mention to people is that “ignoring” is not a bad thing! If you introduce two bunnies and they ignore each other, or better yet, groom themselves in front of the other rabbit, it is actually a good sign. This means that they are trying to show the other rabbit that they do not pose a threat.

Also, do not chose a mate for your bunny on size/color or anything other than personality, bunny love is very non-discriminatory and trying to force something between two rabbits that aren’t getting along well can be very difficult.

When finding a place for your new bunny to stay, I actually do not think it matters too much if that area smells like Mr. Bunny – the important “neutral” area is the one that you do the bonding in which should not smell like either rabbit. Since Mr. Bunny already lives in your house and most of the house probably smells a bit like him, a great place to do the bonding would be in a bathtub. If the bunnies are getting along well, then put a towel down so that they can hop around, if they aren’t getting along so well, don’t put the towel down, and it will be harder for them to get in a fight because their feet will slip!

[BinkyBunny]

Moobunnay has given you some great tips!  I just wanted to double ditto to let your bunny pick his mate.  I remember my first bunny’s dating experience.  I, of course, would pick out bunnies I liked first – ironically, they hated him.  Then there was one bunny who wasn’t my first choice, but they seemed to do well. They also ignored at first, but that was a good sign, and so I took her home.   They were bonded within three days.  I fell in love with his choice (my not so first choice) because her personality was  spunky and comical.   I named her Rucy.    I am so glad my first bunny, Forrest, picked her out.   She has been such a great bunny!  And though Forrest passed, Rucy became the love of Jack’s life and she helped him come out of his shell. 

So as far as bunny dating – I found that being open to whatever my bunny wanted was the easiest and best thing.

 

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