Separating un-intentionally bonded rabbits

Question
I was rabbit-sitting my friends rabbit while she was on holiday (1 month). I kept her rabbit in my rabbits cage, they are both female and roughly 3months old. My friend is now back from her holiday and I am worried about separating the now bonded rabbits, neither of us can take both rabbits and as they are our young daughters neither want to give ours up.
Will our bunnies be fine when we separate them? How can we comfort then afterwards?

We know you should never separate bonded bunnies but unfortunately we have to.

Answer
Dear Courtney

There is no easy way to deal with this.  The two bunnies should not have been allowed to bond in the first place, and separating them now will be very hard on both of them.

What about keeping the two bunnies together, but allowing one or the other daughter to adopt a bonded pair from a local rabbit rescue?  If you are friends, then both girls can visit both bunnies.  

Alternatively, you could allow the girls "joint custody" of the bunnies, where the bunnies travel from home to home for a couple of weeks at a time.  Rabbits thrive in the company of their own kind, and I have known of rabbits to grieve to death when separated from a bonded partner.

OR, you could contact your local rabbit rescue group and arrange "blind dates" for both girl bunnies so that each can have a new companion and not be lonely if they truly must be separated.

Finally...be sure both are females.  It's pretty rare for two female rabbits to bond so easily, and I am afraid you might be in for a surprise in about a month after they were introduced.  Just in case, please see:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html

If they are both female, then it could be that they bonded so easily because they are young.  But I would not take it for granted.  And a female *can* get pregnant that young, in some cases.  I'd suggest you take both bunnies to a good rabbit vet for positive sexing, and discussion of spay/neuter:

http://www.rabbit.org/vets

Also see:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/spay.html

For all the best information on keeping your bunnies happy and healthy, please visit:

http://www.rabbit.org/

I hope this helps with some ideas.  

Dana