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a friend for my rabbit

22 10:13:06

Question
hi there lee,
i wanted to take my rabbit to a shelter tomorrow and find her a companion.
While im sure she does well with other rabbits, im concerned about how to
bond them at home as my bunny has run of the apartment. If she seems to
do well with a rabbit from the shelter, how do i ensure they do well at my
home? Should i restrict my bunnies time out of cage? Ideally i would like
them to share the same space if possible. She is spayed so no worries there.  
She is also pretty dominant.


Answer
Hi,

I'd limit your choices to boys.  Two females want the same thing - land.  A male just wants the girls.  With the right rabbits, male/female pairs tend to be the most stable of all the mixes.

He needs to be neutered.  Otherwise you're going to have fighting.  You may anyway.  He'll be too hormonal for your gal to handle otherwise.

Bonding needs to be done in a neutral space in your home.  Probably in your case the bathroom.  They need to get along okay in a spot in the house your gal doesn't 'own'.  Then short times together in her territory.  You will probably need to keep him in the area of the house she is in the least, and put up a gate (exercise pen) so that he can be out and exercise.  You may have to put up double-gates a few inches apart if they try to fight through a single gate.

Best thing to do with bonding is read up on it at the House Rabbit Society web site: www.rabbit.org.  Search on the term 'bonding' and it will bring up a number of good articles on the subject.

Just watch them very closely for fighting.  You will need to get in there and scoop one away from the other and be prepared to take a nip if necessary.  There is a difference between the stuff they do to determine dominance (light fur pulling, mounting, chasing) versus real fighting (growling and attacking at the face, neck or belly, ears), full blown charging at the other and biting, kicking with the hind feet.  The dominance stuff must happen because one needsto be in charge.  If both want to and neither back down, fighting can happen so you have to be on the lookout for it getting out of hand.

Lee

Lee