Bonding male x male ?

[Heaven]

Hi everybun,

I know there are experienced owners on here with same sex bonded pairs, so very interested in hearing your thoughts.

I’ve been looking into adoption & finding a friend for Sam in future (yay!) but I’ve found a lot of places are strict about only bonding male x female pairs. I enquired prospectively about a bunny on Gumtree.com but the owner said she would only rehome him if he was going to be bonded with a female. I’ve also looked into the RSPCA &a another local animal shelter, but they both said they don’t generally allow it either. Apparently, males can be more territorial with each other, fight & “get seriously hurt” … hard to believe when thinking about S&L’s trio for instance (two of the calmest boys, Luna being the grumpy bossy one ;p).

I’m just wondering as I think it might be harder than I thought to adopt a male bun to bond with Sam, having come up against these blocks & he’s not even neutered yet! Of course I could potentially adopt a female instead, but it seems there’s a lot more boy buns around…and maybe I’m biased <3

Is this true in your experience, better to bond male x female? Do we think there might be any truth in what they’re saying?

[Heaven]

I just suggested to Asriel & Bombur that I lie and say Sam’s a girl, as they probably won’t check xD

[Mikey]

Typically the females are more territorial and aggressive while hormonal. Would you only be seeing neutered/spayed buns? Maybe that would change their minds? My male trio did wonderful and even after I had to split Badger from them (for health reasons), Blue and Bombur are still inseparable. They all bonded within two or so weeks, too.

[Heaven]

Thanks for your response Mikey! Yeah, the shelter buns all come neutered already, & Sam will have been neutered by the time I start properly looking. I just don’t understand the logic of male x female pairs only :/

[Mikey]

I really dont understand that logic at all either  Can you go in and meet some bunnies at different shelters and if you find one you like, say your bun in the opposite sex of that bun? If theyre all adamant about male x female, I dont see a way around it without lying, sadly.

[Heaven]

Yeah I may have to! Ah well, I’m glad none of the members on here have objected to a same sex pairing. Or could explain why the shelter would be so insistent about that?!

[SummsyPebbsie]

Neutered/spayed rabbits are less aggressive and make better candidates for bonding. Male/female bonding is usually the easiest to achieve, and in this case, being fixed is a must. Even if your rabbit is generally gentle and calm, when a new bunny enters the scene, you may see some very aggressive behavior.

Hope this works for you

SummsyPebbsie

[Heaven]

Thanks for your advice! Ah really, male x female is easiest to achieve? Have you had experience of that?

[Daisy]

Yes, female x male couples are by far easiest to achieve, as this is the most natural bond. The animal centers here will even create exclusively female x male couples, because they do so much better than same gender couples. Two females can go along as well if their characters match, but the couple will be less stable. Male x male couples are possible but the hardest to achieve. The harder to achieve a bond and the less stable the couple, the more space you need to prevent frustrations with each other.

[Heaven]

Thank you, that really clarifies things! The shelter was unable to explain that to me, they just refused the possibility of adopting another boy haha. I didn’t know that at all.

[Deleted User]

https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/

Just posting you a link for a website of a lady who has a rescue and has lots of experience with bonding bunnies. This is where I kept referring to when I was bonding my bunnies. If you scroll down the page there is some info on the best combinations of bunnies. There’s also some of her bonding videos on YouTube and she’s really good. So it might also come in useful for when you are actually bonding aswell, I just think she’s got a good attitude to bonding and seems to really know her stuff.

[Heaven]

Thank you so much for the link! Just read the entire page – extremely helpful and answered a lot of questions! I will definitely refer back to it when I come to bond <3

[Author]

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