dominant female lost her sister

[MD]

I originally adopted a pair of sisters from the same litter, but one of them (Misty) passed away last month, leaving Daphny all alone.  I want to get her a companion, but she is very dominant.  I visited the local SPCA once before and then decided to bring Daphny in to meet some of the male rabbits.  To say the least, it didn’t go very well.  There aren’t many submissive males there, and Daphny didn’t seem to like the 2 rabbits she met.  She mounted both of them, and they tolerated it for a while, but then the second one began to come towards her to attack, so we separated them.  They were both larger rabbits than Daphny (she’s about 3.5 lbs) and I’d like to find another rabbit similiar to her size.  Her sister was a little longer, but not by much. 

The odd thing that happened was that the worker helping me was so convinced that Daphny was a male that she started to pick up the rabbits and show me their genitalia.  I was really not expecting this, and it was very awkward for her to do so.  She also picked up Daphny, who hates being picked up and will try very hard to wiggle free and scratch your face off.  Daphny was not happy with this, or the poking around, and neither was I.  Daphny and Misty were both spayed at the same time by a rabbit veterinarian, who I consider much more of an expert than this shelter worker.  I’m sure she was trying to be helpful, but this was a very odd experience.

What I’m trying to figure out is how difficult it will be to find a calm, submissive rabbit for a very dominant female.  From what I understand, it’s easier to bond a male and female than two males or two females.  I know neutering helps male rabbits to calm down, but I don’t know how much so.

Right now, I live in Las Vegas, but I’m going to be moving back to the LA area within the next 2 months, and am thinking that I should just wait to find Daphny a companion until after I move.  Daphny didn’t like the rabbits she met and I didn’t really bond with them either.  I’m hoping I’ll have better luck when I’m back in LA county, because there are more several shelters spread around southern California.  Daphny seems to be doing okay with her plush bunny friend, but I can tell she’s getting bored not interacting with a real bunny. 

Daphny and Misty are the only rabbits I’ve ever had and when I met them both, I had this “intuition” or sense that they were the right bunnies for me.  I met Daphny first with another sister before I met Misty, but it didn’t feel like she was the right bunny (she also bit me).  Then I met Misty and knew I found the right match.  So I am expecting something similar when I find Daphny the right companion bunny.  I don’t know if that’s weird or not, but something seemed to click when I met my bunnies.

[MarkBun]

I have a very dominate female bunny too. It took me three months of dating to find a rabbit that she’d even tolerate in the same cage as her. Then was another 6 months of bonding until they finally became calm enough that I find a tuft of his fur only once a week from a small spat.

I would suggest next time you go dating, try a sedate female as well. It is possible that Daphny doesn’t like males period. Although in my bun’s case, she went completely psycho with another female.

[jerseygirl]

Probably would be a good idea to wait til you get to LA. Gives Daphny time to settle into new home. If you were to bring home another rabbit now, there’s no guarantee they’d bond in the 2 months before you move. So moving and keeping them separate, then settling and dealing with the territorial issues all at once would be challenging. Sounds like you have good instincts and may find her a friend in LA.
There may even be another rabbit (submissive)  that has lost it’s mate and is needing a new one.

[MarkBun]

When you get to your new home, try to have an area that your rabbit doesn’t go into. Keep it a nice, new neutral space for bonding.

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