Daisy and Ruby, our first bunnies!

[Luxray]

Hi there! I’m Luxray, and my boyfriend and I adopted two bunnies back in April. One is a Mini Rex named Ruby, and the other’s a New Zealand named Daisy (we wanted matching names, like flowers, but eh, cutesy it is). They are both sweet baby girls, going on 8 months old!

Why bunnies? Well, my boyfriend and I are currently still living with my parents for cost efficiency, etc., but the basement was starting to feel… lonely. One of my coworkers was just nonchalantly talking about animals, and I said “Hey, TSC has ducks right now!” and then she told me “Yeah, and Farm & Home has bunnies!” and I was like . One visit was all it took to fall in love! Ruby was the last one in her cage while Daisy was among two friends. I liked the white ones and my boyfriend liked the only brown one left, so… we kinda just decided to get two.

We were very quickly overwhelmed by the cost of maintenance and supplies, but our love for them hasn’t dwindled in the slightest. They are so sweet and cuddly <3 

As of right now, they still live in their cages with semi-free roam of the basement throughout the day (we’re gamers, so cords EVERYWHERE all the time) but I’ve recently been looking into getting an xpen and all that. I’m hoping before the winter we can get that taken care of, because right now their cages are against an unfinished outside wall and I definitely don’t want that to last very long. Are they as susceptible to the cold as they are the heat? And unfortunately, because of furniture placement and gas lines, they would still be pretty close to our gas heater. Is there any sort of wall I could place between their future xpen and the heater that would help? (I’ll post pictures in a different forum when their setup is more finalized)

They don’t get along very well, so we’re still trying to slowly loosen them up to each other… At the store where we got them we were recommended to either get two males or two females, so we chose the latter. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with anything. They’re both spayed and it has been about a month and a half since (their appt. was on July 30th). 

Phew, long post. Anyway, here are some pictures of our sweethearts! I should mention that these photos were taken at the end of April, so they were only around 8-9 weeks old. They are now quite a bit bigger! http://imgur.com/a/dxAQh

[tobyluv]

Hello and welcome to Binky Bunny! Rabbits can handle cold a lot better than heat. They usually prefer it to be on the cool side. If they are in a heated basement, they should be fine even if their cage is up against the outside wall.

I don’t know of any kind of wall you could put up between the gas heater and their pen. There are those large decorative wooden screens that you sometimes see someone changing behind in a movie, but I imagine those are hard to find and would be expensive. Are you afraid that the heater would be blowing on them too strongly? You could buy a freestanding pet gate or buy some cube panels and put them together to make a fence barrier, then drape a sheet over it or tie some large cardboard box sections to it to make it a solid barrier.

Actually, it’s usually a lot easier to bond a male with a female rabbit. Neutered and spayed, of course. Many people do have same gender rabbits, but the bonding doesn’t always work out as well. The people at the store probably told you to get same sex rabbits so that there would be no chance of litters. Most people who work in pet stores know very little about rabbits and often misinform the public.

Your rabbits are beautiful. One of my rabbits is a ruby eyed white New Zealand, and I think they are lovely, although not everyone seems to think the same.

[Q8bunny]

So sweet!

Now… you’re absolutely certain they’re both girls?

[Vienna Blue in France]

Welcome welcome all !! Great to have you here !!
Q8 has a good point – many a time people have had surprises about the sex of their bun !
Sounds as if they’ve fallen on their feet with you in the basement
Lots of bonding info on this site, hope you get there with your girls.
Can’t wait for the photos

[tobyluv]

Luxray said that they were spayed on July 30, so there is no chance of accidental litters.

Two good articles on bonding are:

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

http://rabbit.org/faq-bonding-multiple-rabbits/

Luxray, I don’t know what bonding techniques you have tried so far, but I’ve had a lot of success using an x-pen. My husband and I get in one along with the bunnies. We are there in case fighting erupts, or to stop excess humping, or to comfort a bunny that might be a little frightened. All of the 5 pairs I’ve bonded over the years, bonded easily and quickly, but they were male/female pairings. I hope that you can get your bunnies fully bonded and loving each other soon.

[Vienna Blue in France]

That’s Q8’s fault !!!!!!!!! She led me astray teacher !!!!

[Luxray]

Thanks for the welcomes, guys!

I’m sure they’re girls! Haha. Vienna, I have a link to the imgur album of them, or did you mean the photos of when I get the xpen? (It’ll have to wait for next pay day in two weeks.)

Thank you for the advice there, tobyluv. We went to Walmart earlier and saw a puppy/pet gate for cheap that we could probably throw a sheet or a small blanket over. I’ll get pictures once everything’s finalized to ask for more advice!

When we try bonding them, we take them both up to the bathroom or another neutral territory as suggested and kind of just monitor them to see how they react. We’re always right there with them, sometimes holding onto each of them gently so that there’s no, uh, bloodshed. I was told by the Farm & Home clerk (she actually has bunnies of her own) that New Zealands can be aggressive, but it’s both my bunnies that act out. Sometimes my NZ is sweet and wants to be friendly and then the Mini Rex tries clawing or chasing, and then sometimes it’s the other way around.

Right now, their cages are pretty close to one another because I thought it would help if the rabbits could see each other and kinda get to know their scents and everything. Is that a bad thing? Should I move one of the cages away or put something in between them so they can still smell and hear but not see each other?

[Azerane]

Hey there and welcome to the forum, I have never bonded rabbits myself but have a bonded pair (male/female). In the wild, male rabbits are usually the dominant gender, in the domestic situation, females are usually dominant. So having two females could mean that they are both vying for dominance. Keep doing what you’re doing though and work with them on bonding. Try to end sessions on a positive note and you should see progress. Some females take months to fulling get over their hormones after desexing.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Posted By Azerane on 9/18/2016 2:08 AM

In the wild, male rabbits are usually the dominant gender, in the domestic situation, females are usually dominant.

Not just in the wild then…..   

[Vienna Blue in France]

@Luxray – yes and yes for the photos ! Photos of your girls now and then photos of the set up
We liiiiike piccies;

[LittlePuffyTail]

Welcome to you all!

[Author]

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