Boyfriend refuses to let me get Charlie a girlfriend

[Cassi&Charlie]

Poor Charlie, he’s so used to me being home almost all of the time, but now I’m away for large chunks every day and he’s all alone. My boyfriend absolutely refuses to let me get another bunny, because Charlie was such a handful when he went through puberty and I think my boyfriend is scarred for life over the bunny ankle attacks etc that were directed at him.

Can anyone give me suggestions on how to make his life less lonely? Or maybe convincing arguments to get a girlfriend for him. The new addition would be spayed, rescued and an adult so most bad behaviours would be avoided right?

[BinkyBunny]

Well, if you get a bunny that is older, and already spayed, then that puberty stage argument should be nipped!

Also, if you take your bunny to a rabbit shelter for bunny dating, the bonding things will be a heck of alot easier!!! Also, one will get into less trouble when they have a buddy to hang out with.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

AHHHH I’m an expert here-you’ve come to the right place…My boyfriend is a stubborn stubborn guy, who doesn’t like mess, fuss, fur, poop, toys out, extra bunnies etc. etc. Our living room looks like a bunny jungle gym now, the bunnies are all free range and I just adopted my fourth/third rabbit.

PERSISTANCE -never give up. Stop bugging him if you sense he’s going to lose his temper and lighten the mood. Otherwise keep asking and asking. Talk about ‘when’ you get your new bunny not ‘if’

BARGAINING -Tell him what you’ll do if you get a new bunny. I had to promise to a limit on the number of toys out (never happened though) a limit on the number of litterboxes (didn’t do this either) took on taking out the trash as an extra chore and had to promise to vaccum stray poops every day, he gets to pick the movies etc. etc. USE YOUR IMAGINATION AND KEEP BARGAINING and if you’re truly evil, you don’t *have* to live up to every promise LOL

POUT “If I had another bunny….” Be creative

Keep us posted!! You can do it!

[Beka27]

bunny dating at a shelter should help make bonding easier, but even with that, bonding might take weeks or months depending on the temperament of both bunnies and how territorial Charlie is (and he might not seem territorial now, but that could change when an “intruder” is in the house!) do you have a Petfinder type site in AUS? with local rescues and searchable bunnies?  another nice thing (aside from getting an adult, spayed female) is that you can ask the people what she is like.  they should be able to tell you if she’s a spunky girl, if she’s a chewer or digger… you could try dating Charlie with the calmer ones only and see how that goes.

i think you should do some research about the bonding process first, and situate things so you could accomodate (sp?) a second bunny. they will have to be caged separately for a little while, you’ll need doubles of all the supplies, etc. your costs will double as well, twice the food, hay, veggies and vet care. there is always the minute chance that a bond will not happen. you’d have to be prepared/commited to keep both separately if that’s the case.

i am all for you getting a second bunny for Charlie. since we got our second, Meadow has been like a new bunny! but it was a long process. 3 full weeks of daily, one-hour bonding sessions. was it frustrating at times… definitely… was it worth it? absolutely…

this was a favorite article of mine when i was bonding, i would read it every single day. it’s long (i think 10 pages) so if you can print it out and keep it by the desk, i think you’ll find it helpful.

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

[Cassi&Charlie]

Thanks Beka, you’ve raised all the issues I’m really worried about. Charlie is very territorial, he doesn’t like male visitors in our house, barely tolerates female visitors, despises children and feels a bit concerned about my boyfriend when he snuggles with me on the couch. Is it possible that he’s bonded with me too much, and he wont like another bunny. I checked out an animal shelter, they have a gorgeous blue rex there who I had a hold of, but when I got back Charlie wanted nothing to do with me because I smelled like another bunny.
I want him to be happy and not lonely but I’m worried that he’ll hate another bunny and while I do have the capacity to keep another bunny seperate (only just) it would be a stretch as a long term option.

[Beka27]

not everybun wants a companion. if you can try to give him a good couple hours of attention, either morning or evening when he is most active, he should be fine.

and make sure he has a very large enclosure or condo to exercise in when you are not home. maybe combine the two. if you have a condo or cage, set-up an xpen and attach it directly to it so he has a larger space to play in, then you can take it down when you get home.

[Scarlet_Rose]

It sounds like he might be a difficult bun to bond, have you tried putting a stuffed animal companion in with him to see how he takes to it?

[BinkyBunny]

Rucy is a very territorial bossy bunny (though she has mellowed with age) but she doesn’t have a problem it seems with male bunnies. She was bonded with my “late” bunny Forrest within three days, and then after he passed away, she bonded with Jack very shortly too.

Maybe if you take him bunny dating at a local rescue, you can “foster” the bunny that seems to have the most potential in bonding.

[Cassi&Charlie]

Scarlet_rose, I did try the stuffed toy thing, out it under the coffee table, a favourite place of his and he atacked it, humped it and now ignores it (poor toby, he’s a stuffed black & white dog with long ears, looks exactly like Charlie)

I made a NIC condo last night (aaah 3 hours of effort for the basic one) to see if I could house another bunny there while bonding them and it seemed to work out well and was relatively cheap.

Now apart from boyfriend, the problem will be finding a bunny Charlie will bond to. There’s only one shelter near us (Charlie doesn’t travel well) and they don’t do bunny dates. I tried to explain the importance and the girl told me ‘they aways become friends, just sometimes it takes more time. Don’t worry about it’. Ignorant fool! So I was very unimpressed with her. The other option is a breeder but I refuse to go down that path.

By the way, the NIC condo was a smash hit with Charlie. He can now sit and glare at me on the top floor, overlooking the kitchen bench while I’m cooking dinner until I feed him a small bit of veggie. Much more effective than begging on the kitchen floor and less likelyhood of being stepped on.

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