I need help- Bonding Tips

[MiniLopMad]

Hello, 

I own a male mini lop rabbit named Chilli. He is unneutered and friendly. Recently, I bought another little bunny. It is to young to know what gender, but everyone I’ve talked to thinks he’s a male. The young bunny is Chillis child.

anyway, I was hoping that someday I could bond these two, so that they can keep eachother company when I’m not at home. 

does anyone have any tips on what to do? When should I start bonding? There cages are next to eachother and they were grooming through the bars, but chilli bit the baby when he saw him getting his bowl of food first… The baby is not hurt, not even fur came out.

i can’t neuter them because of the cost and I’m worried about the stress it would put chilli through if he did stress. Is it possible at all to bond these two without any neutering needed?

thankyou

[Beka27]

Unfortunately, probably not. Both rabbits will need to be neutered if you want them to be safely bonded. I would focus on the older bunny first and get him neutered and give him time to heal. When the baby is old enough, it’s his turn to be neutered.

Do you have a rabbit vet yet? What kind of price quotes have you gotten in your area?

[kcomstoc]

You need to at least neuter the older bunny and honestly if price was the issue then why get a second bunny? Also you need to get the second bunny properly sexed because it could be a female (it is very hard to tell) so I would def keep them apart and if they are close enough to get bit then they are close enough to get busy (polite way of saying it). You don’t want that to happen it would be more expensive than neutering. Just my opinion.

[tanlover14]

I would definitely keep them separated until neutered. Especially if they have not been sexed by a vet yet.

I would strongly encourage not attempting un-neutered rabbits as well. They can seriously injure each other even if it seems they are getting along well.

I would follow Beka’s suggestion and do one at a time. Have you looked around for any low-cost neuter programs in your area for rabbits? Shelters can typically help with things like this.

[MiniLopMad]

Neutering a rabbit in my closest bunny smart vet costs around $200
I only let them sniff through bars for around 10-15 minutes, but chilli acts stressed when he’s to far from the younger one

I don’t why. The reason  that I bought the younger one other than to keep him company is because my friend needed a home for him by that day or she would release him into the wild, despite me telling her to give him to a pet shop or shelter..

I’m saving up to neuter Chilli so he will hopefully be neutered by halfway through next year..

Would it be better to not let them lick through bars at all until both have been neutered?

[kcomstoc]

Instead of keeping the bunny you could’ve taken him to a shelter or pet store (I’m not trying to get on you about being responsible or anything I’m just wondering why you didn’t do the things you suggested your friend do?) The most important reason for getting a second bunny is you wanted a second bunny, not all bunnies can get along and sometimes you have to have separate bunnies. I hope everything works out but I def wouldn’t let them interact until they are both neutered because you don’t know for sure if the other bunny isn’t a girl or boy.

[tanlover14]

Neutering CAN be expensive – my boy cost around $250, my girl was $300ish. My 2nd girl was done through a rescue though and her spay was much cheaper that way. If you can find a rescue you can ask them about potential low-cost neuters. They really may be able to help you out! Would you have the ability to drive a little further away if you could find a rescue (a little further away) that would help do low-cost?

I DO know what’s it like to take on another rabbit without knowing everything about finding a friend also. I got my 2nd rabbit rather quickly also. And sometimes the excitement of it all kind of takes over and it’s easy to forget about the other things that cost lots of money. Haha!!

Kcom’s right about the shelter – but definitely do not take the boy to a pet store! Oy, that’s how I ended up with my fourth. Pet stores are typically run by people selling rabbits for their cuteness and know very little about proper care (not all pet stores, but I’ve only found one in my area that treats a rabbit as they should be treated and they only keep a personal rabbit in their store with instruction on how to adopt if you are truly interested in one).

If the other one seems stressed when the other is far away there’s a good possibility that he’s become accustomed to the other rabbit being there. Some rabbits do establish a degree of bond from being in the same area as another rabbit – even without being allowed to be with each other completely. More of a reason to find more reasonable options to get them neutered – so you CAN allow them to be together. (Bonding CAN be very difficult though so don’t expect them to become best buds right away). Don’t give an exact location – but if you give me some info about what area you live in, I may be able to help find something more reasonable!  To answer your question though – I wouldn’t allow interaction but I would definitely keep them closer together rather than further if being apart is stressing the other bunny out.

[MiniLopMad]

Update:
After contacting lots of vets and doing some research I found a bunny smart vet closer to home. It will cost $250, but it will be done and he’s getting neutered mid January. Yay!

The young bunny (now 3-4 months old) has been confirmed as a male by a professional breeder.

The cages are not close, but only just so much that they can see eachother, but I’m concerned as Chilli has stopped eating (not fully, but less than before) and he’s not acting sick, he’s energetic and playful but he constantly watches the others cage. Strange question.. But his white fur is going yellow… Is that good bad or normal? The yellow does wash off with a wash (I gave him a small one last week)

A couple of weeks ago (the day after my last reply) I think… I had my usual bunny routine.. chilli gets 2 hours to run around, then BB (baby bunny), anyway, I left for just 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and I my younger brother (11 years old) screams through the door that the buns were together. I freaked out and ran into the room and saw chilli licking bb.. I separated them instantly. I examined both for any sign of injury and both were fine. Scariest moment ever! That was when chilli began to slow down his eating..

I have tried taking everyone’s advice and I’m trying my hardest and is what I’m doing so far fine?

Thanks so much to everyone, this has been by far the most useful advice I have had concerning the rabbits

[MiniLopMad]

I would move them closer together, but Chilli gets desperate and destructive..
A point that might help..

Chilli and my cat were really good friends and with supervised play times together, they would groom eachother, but it’s summer here and my cat is ragdoll and he prefers to lay on the cold tiles near my front door. Chilli was happier then, but sometimes he tried to breed with my cat I guess… And my cat would stress and run away.

Could the eating less do with the cat or bb?

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