Bonding Virgin

[Marl£y]

So I’ve had my bunny Marley for a while now, and I got him neutered about two weeks ago. My boyfriend loves Marley so much but is jealous of my pet so he decided to get a little black and white Mini rex, Hendrix (we looked at her hoohoo and it’s probably a girl but I could be wrong.) Drixie is a bunnnnnny. she is probably only about 12weeks old. I am excited about the challenge ahead to bond them after reading so many stories.

Does anyone know if I should wait until Drixie is older or would it be okay to try and start bonding them now? (Marley is about 5 to 6mths old.)

I can wait because I have ample room, but I read somewhere that its easier to bond bunnies when they’re younger. From what I’ve read this isn’t always the case but… man there is just so much to know about bunnies and my brain is only so big!

Anyway if anyone can help or give me some pointers I’d appreciate it to the fullest extent.

Thx soo much.

[Elrohwen]

It is usually easier to put them together when they are young, because young rabbits like companions and are less likely to fight. However, they typically won’t get along after hormones kick in, so I would keep the playdates supervised and not move them in together until the new rabbit is fixed – you don’t want them getting into a fight while you’re not home or something. I would give Marley some more time for his hormones to settle and the new bunny some more time to grown and settle in before introducing them, then they can do supervised play time until they’re both fixed – that’s how I would go about it, anyway.

That bunny is sooo little! I would guess quite a bit younger than 12 weeks, from that picture – maybe more like 5-6. Very cute!

[Marl£y]

Mebbe you’re right about Drixie, we got her from a really big bunny farm so that’s possible.
And thanks for the info!

[RabbitPam]

It is best to wait at least 4 weeks after the neuter to let the hormones settle down completely. She looks almost too young to get pregnant, but it can happen at a very, very early age and it only takes once, so I would give it a total of 4-5 weeks before the first face to face. In the meantime, they can be getting used to each others’ smells, possibly put a plush toy in with each of them and then swap the toys, so they can relate to the scent of the other and be prepared for a close encounter of the rabbit kind.

[Marl£y]

Thanks so much, that stuffed animal idea is really great and I’ll deff. use it.

[Beka27]

EEEEKKK!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby mini rex…. *faints*

Sorry… I’m back now. It’s a tough thing to try and recommend anything in this case. It’s 50/50 that they would get along. If they don’t get along, one or the other could be badly injured and require emergency vet care. I think it’s better to be safe than sorry, and wait until both are altered to begin the bonding.

[Marl£y]

lol Drixie made you faint??!!!

Well Marley is already neutered… does that mean I’ll have to wait another 4 to 6 months to get drixie spayed??? Not that it matters, that’s just not what I expected because she hasn’t even hit bunny puberty yet cause she’s so small, so I didn think that would be a big factor yet.

I dont want him to hurt her but I do want to be able to have them out at the same time. Is there anyway that in a month or so supervized play would be ok?

[Elrohwen]

Well, you do need to wait until Marley has been neutered for 4-6 weeks total. I agree with Beka that it really is 50/50 that they will get along at this point – I think the baby will probably get along, since she doesn’t have hormonal issues, but Marley might be overly interested in her, or territorial, and that could cause issues. I don’t see a problem with supervised playtimes, but I would always watch them carefully and separate if you see any signs of fighting. The last thing you want is for someone to get injured and to set back the eventual bonding process (because letting them play while one is a baby won’t really effect later bonding – after puberty it’s a whole new game)

[Beka27]

Posted By Marl£y on 09/27/2010 12:17 PM

 

Well Marley is already neutered… does that mean I’ll have to wait another 4 to 6 months to get drixie spayed???

In a word… yes.  If she is 12 weeks right now, she can potentially be spayed in three months, plus one month healing time… so four months.

You can do supervised playtime if you want, but all it takes is one bad fight for one (or both) to get injured, or for a bad experience to make bonding later on more difficult.  A fight can break out in a split second, and if this is your first time with two rabbits, you may not know how to recognize the signs of aggression so you can intercede before a fight starts.

This is one of the big issues with getting a baby bunny as a companion and not adopting an older, already altered rabbit.  If you adopt an altered rabbit, bonding can start that day or the next day.  With a baby, there is a big chunk of time where you will have two separate rabbits. 

Really tho, the time will pass quickly.  You can use this opportunity to get to know the new bunny one-on-one.

[Marl£y]

okay, that makes sense.

I dont want one bad fight to ruin bonding for dixie or marley. (And getting a bunny from a shelter is a great idea, but drixie isn’t mine she’s my boyfriends and that was ultimately his decision to make.)

I think that I’ll wait. I’m going to do the cages thing and the stuffed animal thing for a while until I get dixie spayed.

Thank you all so much for the advice.

[Beka27]

Also just to clarify your situation, you live with the BF, right? Once bonded in a few months, the rabbits won’t be able to be split up at all. There’s really no such thing as casually bonded bunnies. They become a pair and they are a pair forever. In an unfortunate turn of events, only one of you would be able to take possession of the pair, so you may want to discuss this ahead of time.

I wouldn’t have been able to resist that precious bunny either. I don’t blame him. Shelters/rescues are the ideal b/c the hard work (waiting… altering) are already done for you, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. They can still be bonded successfully when the time is right.

[Dreya T]

If it’s any consolation, we didn’t expect to have to split up our bunnies, but we’ve had them for a full month in separate rooms now, and it’s really not that difficult at all.

[Marl£y]

Ha thanks so much.
And We’ve been together for almost two years now (Me and the bf) so haha, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them splitting up. And if anything like that did happen we’ve talked about it, they wont be getting separated.
And you’re right Dreya, it’s not that hard. I’ve been switching their cages every night since we got Drixie so they’ll be use to each others smell, and they both have their own stuffed buddy. I separate their play times during the day and the only one that notices a difference is Marley.
So so far all is well.
Really appreciate the advice Beka.

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