Hello!

[Alicia Conklin]

Hello..and help!

We, just a week ago, got a little baby lop bunny who we named Cinnabun.  Originally we were going to keep him outside in a big coop and run that we used to have for chickens.  Then, since he’s so sweet and won my husband over with his cuddling and his binkies, my husband agreed to let him live inside.  He’s gone from staying inside just until he was a little older, to ok he can stay inside but only in the dog crate, to us looking into an even bigger dog crate and him having an attached run in a week.  

Of course being so in love with the little guy and wanting only the best for him..and doing some reading (albeit a bit too late..maybe I should have read this before we got him) I figured out that he really was going to need a friend and he was going to need to be neutered.  I thought ok we’ll get another baby, a girl, and get him neutered so they can’t have babies.  I found a little girl bunny who isn’t old enough yet, and figured we’d get her on the 30th and all would be well.  Wrong again.  Then I see he can’t be neutered until at least another month, he’d be fertile for at least a month after that and that even though she’d be a baby she COULD still get pregnant! Gah.  Don’t want that.

So now I’m at a loss of what to do.  Do I still get the baby bunny but keep them separate for a few months?  Should I tell the breeder no I don’t want her anymore and then look at a rescue (which there are none local but I could drive about an hour and a half to one, but…already checked..they do not do bunny dating and the only way to adopt is to just go to one of their adoption days and see if they have one you want at that time).  If I look at a rescue would my best option be to get one now and then have them get used to each other in different cages until he’s been neutered?  Or to wait until he’s neutered and healed and then start my search? I feel like that would be just prolonging the amount of time he’d be on his own, and also read that they tend to bond easier as babies before they hit maturity.  But how can I bond them as babies if they’d need to be neutered, so not really sure the best option.

[LBJ10]

Hi Alicia! Welcome to BB!

Here’s the deal. Baby bunnies love everyone. They form bonds with everyone. The catch? They do not form LASTING bonds. Once babies become sexually mature, any bonds they had with cage mates can go right out the window. It doesn’t matter if they are male, female, siblings, not siblings, been together from birth, or introduced later. Hormones can do strange things to bunnies and even the “best of friends” may start fighting once those hormones kick in. This can literally happen overnight too, like someone flipping on a switch.

The best advice for bonding bunnies is to have them spayed/neutered, wait a month for hormones to settle, then start the bonding process. You would do this whether they have known each other since birth or they are two adults meeting each other later in life.

If you really have your heart set on the bunny from the breeder, then get her. Just be prepared to have her set up in a separate cage until they are ready to start the bonding process. There are no guarantees, of course. But this is true whether they were together as babies or introduced later as adults. Some people prefer to wait until their current bun is spayed/neutered and then take them to meet potential friends at local shelter or rescue. This provides the best chance for bonding later on, but it isn’t 100%.

[MoxieMeadows]

Big welcome to BB! 

I’d say LBJ is right as well, about the whole bonding process.

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