Bonding experience?

[EleniandPrecious]

Hi everyone, I currently have 1 female rabbit (about 1 1/2– 2 1/2 years old) and she is the apple of my eye  She’s so affectionate and well behaved and her & I have a very close bond. I adopted her almost 6 months ago from a wonderful rescue and even though it hasn’t been that long, it’s one of those things where I feel like I’ve had her forever. I am not currently planning on introducing a new bunny as I feel I don’t have the proper space set up quite yet for the bonding to take place. However, when I move in about a year, I would consider it. If this is the case, of course I would go back to the rescue and do the “speed dating” thing so she can pick who she wants. We do spend a lot of time with her as it is, but I know bunnies feel happier when they get human attention and the attention of one of their own. At the end of the day, I just want the best for her while still maintaining the quality our relationship. So, what have been some of your experiences with adding a second bunny? Do you feel like you have time to distribute your attention? How is your bond with the two rabbits as individuals? And, when you interact with them is it always as a pair, or is it also each bunny on their own? Thanks! 

[Zombie-Sue]

IMHO, it’s a really bad idea to get another rabbit unless you want another rabbit. Don’t do it *only* for your current rabbit.

I never feel like I have to “distribute”, I guess it’s kind of something that comes naturally. I always feel like I have plenty of time for all of them. Bonded rabbits are rarely separated–I don’t know what your setup is. If they’re penned all the time, then you’ll have to pull them out individually I guess to pet them and such but if they’re free roam, then they can come to you as they please–they might come to you individually or together. I think my bonds with my rabbits as individuals are pretty strong. I appreciate the bunnies for their differences, and I also have the added benefit of watching how they interact with one another (:

[EleniandPrecious]

Thanks for your insight I agree about not only doing it for her, I would only go ahead with it if I felt it was best for us both. I am just trying to figure out if we are best as a one bunny or two bunny home. And thanks for sharing your experience…so when you go in the pen they won’t let you pet them since they are together? And my set up is that she is in a large puppy pen when we are not home, and when we are she is out with us, so we are mutually attached to each other

[Zombie-Sue]

My rabbits let me pet them when they decide it is time to be pet… LOL. It has nothing to do with how many of them there are. Tank was the same as a single rabbit.

[EleniandPrecious]

Haha oh I see, thanks

[Beka27]

I had a very close bond with my mini rex when she was a single bunny. We had her for 11 months before adopting our lop (this was back in 2008, our lop has since passed away). The relationship between Meadow (our mini rex) and myself definitely changed when she was bonded. I became more of the casual observer of their bond. She still enjoyed pets, but she was all about Max. Not everyone has that type of experience, but I just like to give a view of the other end of the spectrum…

[Zombie-Sue]

Interesting. What happened after he passed?

[mia]

My first two were already bonded when I got them but I had to work with them a lot to get them used to my place and myself. I’m much more close to them than my third, who I feel is more like a stranger. The third had to bond with the first two but once that was done, he was good to go in my place. We never really had to bond because he just played with the other two. Sure, I have sessions with him, just the two of us, for nail clippings, brushing, cleaning, etc but it’s not like the hard work I had to do with the first two. Don’t know how much is due to personality and how much with the different types of bonding that had to be done.

[EleniandPrecious]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experience and your honesty! I guess at the end of the day it depends on each bunnies personality as well as how they mix together. It’s good to know that while not all bunny/human relationships grow more distant, it is a possible outcome.

[Author]

Messages