how to introduce new bun to life as ahouse-rabbit?

[Bam]

My bunny Bam is an excellent free roamer, he’s non-destructo and litter-trained and of a mellow personality. He hops about a little in the apartment but not much and not at full speed. Couldn’t wish for a better bunny.

Now I have another bunny, though, who’s currently living outdoors. I’m planning on having him neutered asap (he was vaccinated a week ago, vet said to wait two weeks) and then wait a month before introducing him into the household. By then the temperature outdoors/indoors won’t differ as much as now, so that shouldn’t be a big problem.

But I can already tell that Yohio is NOT a calm, mellow and thoughtful type of bunny. He’s explosive and vigourous and full of energy and I fear he could rip my apartment apart in no time. IF i manage to get these two rabbits to accept each other, can I have one bunny free-roam and one in a cage when I’m not there to supervise?

This is 5-6 weeks into the future, but I like to be prepared. My apartment is just bunny-proofed cable-wise, because Bam never bother to destroy stuff like furniture, books, flooring, wall-paper etc. He’s shredded a few rag-rugs but those were his own to do as he pleased with.

[Beka27]

In short, no… They’re either both free-roam or both penned part-time.

This is one of the difficult things with adding another rabbit who is polar opposite in behavior. You often have to make sacrifices for the strength of the bond.

My advice would be to provide the largest space possible (I, for example, have two xpens combined to make a super large 4×8 foot space). It won’t be free roam, but it won’t be “snug” either.

[Bam]

That’s what I was fearing =/ I haven’t chosen my buns, they were found, Bam 1,5 years ago, Yohio 2 weeks ago, I would not purposely create such a mismatch. . I could probably fence off the kitchen for them to live in togeather and let them out to play in the whole apartment when I can supervise them. I will try to make this work as best I can and I don’t imagine it will be easy but that’s ok.

Yohio seems very young, maybe he’ll be a bit more subdued with the neuter and the maturity that comes with age. He’s not aggressive towards me one bit and he hasn’t destroyed anything in the outdoors hutch/run even if there’s stuff he COULD destroy like cardboard boxes and a cardboard-tunnel and a fleece-blanket and toys and stuff. But he is alert and does binkies and bunny 500s and he’s very brave and curious.

[Beka27]

The behavior is likely age-related too. Maybe as he gets older, he’ll mellow out and be able to handle more freedom…

[Elrohwen]

You will probably just have to pen them. They will definitely both need to be penned or both out – they can’t be separated.

My first bunny is also a dream and could easily be free range, but his partner is a wild child and would get into everything. While I dislike keeping them penned when I’m not home, the antics of the feisty bunny are so much fun. And they really don’t mind being in a pen all day since they just sleep, and can be together.

[Stickerbunny]

I have a pair like that too. One is a mellow, wonderful bun who is fine being left alone and running around the house. The other is a wild child that will destroy anything she can put her teeth to if I am not around to stop her. When they bonded, I lost my free roam bun and both have to be confined together. Powder won’t even go exploring in a room without his girl. As she ages, she’s getting a bit more mellow… but she loves to chew, so I am not sure she’ll ever be free roam really. What I did though was just convert one of our bedrooms into a bunny room, fully bun proofed it and let them stay in there when I am not home.

[Bam]

Bam is not much of a wanderer, but recently he moved house into the bedroom after having spent 1,5 years under the coffea-table in the living-room. Why he’s made this daring decision I don’t know. There’s a nice cardboard-box in there with old summer-clothes in it that wasn’t put in the basement over winter, and it seems like the perfect place for a bunny to rest in. Plus he’s figured out a way to wake me up early in the morning by making a plastic bag with towels in it crinkle until I wake up and hand him some pellets (yes, I keep a few pellets on my bed-side table for this purpose). It’s cute now, but it won’t be quite as cute in the summer when the sun rises at 3 AM.

It is true, bunnies don’t DO much during the day so being shut into the kitchen or the bedroom togeather wouldn’t be too cruel.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I think if you bond them and pen them in a large area with lots of toys, Bam will be happy because he will have a buddy. And you can let them out when you are home to supervise.

[Bam]

The problem is I dont really have a large area to pen off. There’s no place an x-pen-like structure wouldn’t be crazy in the way and the bathroom doesn’t hold the minimum requirements for 2 buns.

Yohio is getting sprightlier by the minute. I guess it’s because of the good food he gets now, and better living-conditions. He’s clearly bored and tries to gnaw his way out of the run. He’s like a puppy, really, but if he were a real puppy I could’ve let him out on the lawn to play. He flopped yesterday when I was in the run with him. It was like a seizure, he was breathing very heavily as he lay flopped, his chest was heaving. Then he was up and about again. He needs a much bigger run. Sth like 100 sq yards or so =( The run I have is just 40,3 sq ft and with the hutch that gives him a living-area of 64 sq ft. It was built for Bam who is a really lazy rabbit.

I fear I’ve made him a disservice.

[Author]

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