Our new babies!

[Losgunna86]

They are 8 weeks old, Mom is a flemish giant and Dad is a New Zealand. They are brothers, and of course we went to pick out just one….but left with TWO. LOL

So far our daughter wants to name the gray one Marshmallow and our son wants to name the honey colored one Marlo. LOL

 

Any name ideas?

[LBJ10]

Adorable! You should probably be careful asking for name suggestions around here. We can get a little carried away. 😉

Personally, I always thought of Marlo as a girl name. It’s often used as a nickname for Marilyn or Margaret. But it could be used as a boy name.

Marshmallow is sweet and cute. 🙂

Hmm… if you want name suggestions, I will have to think a bit.

[Hazel]

Gaaahhhh, baby Flemmies!!! 😀 They’re so precious! More pictures please!

Back before I got Oscar I was going to get a blue Flemmie, his name would have been Floyd. Also on my future pets names list is Melvin for a light colored/grey bun, and Spencer (Spence). Ivy, if one of them turns out to be a girl. You never know 😉

LBJ: So true! 😆

[Losgunna86]

Unfortunately the names are more up to the kids than us. Otherwise I’d have a field day picking out matching names! LOL

 

I’m calling first thing Monday to get them into the vet to be sure of their sex haha and schedule their spay/neuter! They are soooo sweet. I had a Netherland dwarf as a kid, these guys are soooo much more laid back and chill. I’m in love!

We plan on having them free roam as much as we can, at least in the room their in. But given we only intended on ONE and made a giant pen, I’m a little nervous about them bonding. The pen we built is 4ftx6ft and we don’t have room in the house for another pen! LOL.

I’m super hopeful that since they’re littermates and we will be getting them spayed/neutered ASAP hopefully before hormones kick in…they’ll bond ok. Super nervous though!

[LBJ10]

Haha! Well, hopefully they will at least try to be creative with the names then. 😉

Let’s hope they are both boys. They can be neutered as soon as their testicles drop, which means they can be bonded sooner. Don’t be fooled by baby bunny bliss. Baby bunnies like everybody and will generally get along. All of that can rapidly go out the window once hormones start to kick in. If one of them turns out to be a girl, then they will need to be separated longer. You don’t want any surprise babies! Spaying generally isn’t done until around 6 months and boys, even when neutered, can have viable sperm for up to a month post-neuter. Just some things to keep in mind! They are absolutely adorable though.

[Hazel]

    I’m super hopeful that since they’re littermates and we will be getting them spayed/neutered ASAP hopefully before hormones kick in…

I know you’re eager to bond them, but I would caution you against getting them fixed too early. As LBJ said, most buns can be done around 6 months. Yours are giants though, which means they will develop slower than your average 3 pounder. They might not hit puberty until 9-12 months of age. Also, the hormones that come into play once they hit puberty are very important for their skeletal development. Aside from other things, those hormones cause the growth plates to start closing up. If you remove those hormones too early with neutering, the growth plates will not close when they’re supposed to, and their skeleton won’t develop the way it should (bones grow too long/become less sturdy, among other things). Because of their weight this is more likely to cause problems in giant breeds than average sized rabbits. The result can be things like stress fractures and early onset arthritis. Your vet might tell you that there won’t be a negative effect, but take that with a grain of salt, they would rather have your money now than months down the road, hoping you won’t change your mind in the meantime.

None of these things HAVE to happen, plenty of people will tell you their bun got neutered early and nothing bad happened. I’d encourage you to do research on the subject (particular about giant breeds) before committing to a specific timeframe for neutering.

[Bladesmith]

Ears are a little on the small side, you’re going to have problems if you plan to show them.  The buns are adorable though.

Kidding, of course.  I have no name suggestions, but they look like already much loved members of the family!

[DanaNM]

They are so cute! I can tell they are going to be BIG 😀

Someone at my rescue has 2 American continental’s named Thunderpaws and Storm Cloud, they are SO CUTE and HUGE. Like you have to rub your eyes when you look at them to make sure you’re seeing properly!

I vote Marshmallow if your daughter is sold on that one for the gray one, and Graham for the other one (like a graham cracker!)

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Losgunna86]

I can’t seem to figure out how to add more photos darn it! They are so sweet and cute I’m dying to show more pictures of them LOL

We got to meet the Mama bun and she is the flemish giant, she was a nice hearty size. Not super big, but in general bigger than most bunnies we’ve encountered haha. Sort of like the size of a large cat, if that makes sense.

They decided on the names Chocolate and Sprinkles. LOL could be worse I guess. Chocolate for the brown one and Sprinkles for the gray one. I personally wanted Bert and Ernie ala Sesame Street or Bonham and Bowie the musicians. But they’re sweet, so the food names work haha.

I’m calling 3 of the vets in our area that service rabbits first thing tomorrow (Monday.) I’m eager to see if they really are both boys. Do you guys think I should put a wall down the middle of the pen now? Or can we wait a bit longer for that? They turned 8 weeks on Friday I believe.

They are adjusting beautifully I think! Using their litter box most of the time, drinking plenty of water and eating their hay. We’ve given a few treats of sweet peppers, just because we couldn’t help ourselves LOL. And they seem to be very relaxed too, they like to sprawl out all cute so I’m hoping that means they’re happy here. The kids are never left alone with them, and know not to pick them up, so even when they’re in the pen with the buns the bunnies seem pretty relaxed. We are all just in love with them. I’m just so hopeful that the bunnies bonding will work out in our favor!

Is there anything we can do now to help facilitate a better relationship or bond in the future? I’ll keep trying to attach more pictures! I’ve got one with mom in the photo too.

Thanks so much for all the info guys!

[jerseygirl]

Oh how sweet! You kids look very pleased with the new family members. 🙂

Welcome, Chocolate & Sprinkles!

I can’t seem to figure out how to add more photos darn it!

 

It’s not you, it’s us! There is something wrong with the Add Media feature. It’s allowing members to post photos in 1st post of a thread they start but not allowing adding photos after. Or to other threads. : (

Do you guys think I should put a wall down the middle of the pen now? Or can we wait a bit longer for that? They turned 8 weeks on Friday I believe.

I’m voting for waiting a bit longer. It would help them be less stressed if they’re together now as they’ve just had a big change. The larger breeds mature a bit later also, so the bunny hormones are not an issue at this stage.

 

[Hazel]

Yesterday I wrote this big, way too long post about neutering, but it disappeared. 🙁  That’s what I get for not copying it for safety 😆

Anyway, the gist of it was: Giant breeds mature slower than regular sized buns. Yours might not hit puberty until they’re around 9 months old. Puberty hormones are what tells the growth plates to close, if they’re removed from the body as soon as they appear they won’t do their job and the skeleton won’t develop normally. The results can be things like fractures, abnormal joints, early onset arthritis etc. I know there’s tons of people that will say they got their bun fixed early and they’re fine. And that may be true, but most people have smaller sized rabbits and they aren’t as easily affected by this as giant sized ones, simply because of the weight difference. So chances for them to develop these issues are higher than for most.

So, if the buns behavior and your patience allows it, I would wait until they’re around a year old before neutering them. Technically you want to wait until they stop growing, as that means their skeletal development is complete, which could be around 12 months of age for your guys, but weighing them regularly will help you pin point the right time. If they were pure Flemmies it could take as long as 18 months.

Okay now I feel like I wrote more than in my first post 😆

Sorry for rambling on, I hope there will be more pictures soon! 🙂

[Hazel]

Love the names!

[jerseygirl]

@Hazel I just did a check and found your missing post. I have no clue why but it was picked up as spam . Why is this happening to you?!!  If anything like that happens again, feel free to message me or one of the other FL’s and we will endeavour to find missing replies! Saves you having to type it all out again.  I can restore your 1st reply about giant breeds if you want. Say the word.

ET: when you posted it, did it come up as a double post?

[Hazel]

I don’t know, I didn’t even mention “spam” this time! 😆

No don’t worry about the first one, I think I rambled on more than enough with this one. 😉

It showed up at first, but then I edited it once, I think that must have caused the problem. If I post without editing it works every time.

[jerseygirl]

Still, we dont want that happening every time someone edits a post (says me a notorious self-editor!).

That does help to know what might have happened though, thanks.

[Losgunna86]

Thank you all so so so much! You have no idea the amount of stress that you’ve lifted off my shoulders LOL

We are down to one income at the moment because of COVID so being able to wait a bit to get them spayed or neutered will really help out!

I’m going to schedule their first check up to make sure they’re both boys and get them looked over. Right now they’re best buddies, but I keep reading that baby buns are BFF with anyone and once those hormones kick in they’ll fight to the death! Yikes.

I feel so much better that we won’t have to worry about those crazy hormones so soon.

We are all so in love with these little guys already that I couldn’t possibly imagine walking in and seeing one injured or worse!

[Beau Bunny]

When I was a kid, we adopted a pair of unwanted and neglected outdoor buns from the neighbors who were brothers, and were never altered but had no issue living together. I also found 2 stray male buns as a kid and kept them in the same hutch, and they never fought at all. ( I was a kid and wouldn’t know the risks)

I’m not saying to NOT get them neutered by any means, I just think every rabbit and situation is different, and people who are passionate about rabbit care will always want to prepare you for the worst case scenario. I think as long as you keep an close eye, and have a back up plan you’ll be absolutely fine!

Also it’s pretty easy to sex rabbits if you are interested in satiating your curiosity now. There are tons of resources with photos online.

[Author]

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