Re-homing my babies

Question
Dear Lee,

Very sadly I think I will have to re-home my beautiful year-old male house
rabbits. It appears I need to relocate back to the UK from my home in New
Zealand.

I'm guessing that taking the rabbits back with me on a 40hour journey with
various connecting flights and six months of quarantine is not viable -
though if you think it is, I would love to hear more.

I have found a potential new owner, she seems lovely - a real animal lover
and devoted to giving my bunnies heaps of love and a smooth transition
(keeping their lifestyle as similar as possible), but she is the owner of 16 rats!

Will rats and rabbits live well together? All the animals have their own
separate living arrangements and my rabbits will keep their cage and get
plenty of time out of it as well. Play time will now be shared between all the
animals.

Can you foresee any problems with this? I am just so pleased to have found a
loving home, I was worried a snake owner would answer my ad!

Many thanks for your help.

Sarah  

Answer
Hi Sarah,

sorry to hear about you having to give up your bunny boys because you're moving.  I am sure it is a very, very difficult decision for you.  I think it probably would be extremely hard on them to get through the flight alive, given it is a 40 hour journey.  It is hard on rabbits on much shorter flights even if they could stay with their owner.

You must be very relieved and grateful to find someone that will love and take care of your little guys.  As long as her rats and the rabbits are kept apart, things should be just fine.  They should not be allowed to interact, as any bite from a rat that breaks a rabbit's very thin skin will almost be certain to develop an abscess.  But they should be able to be in the same home together without problems.

It is too bad that the travel time and the quarantine length are so long.  I just don't think the rabbits would physically survive the trip being under stress for that long.  If a problem occurs during the trip you will have no chance of getting them better.  I think you've done the best you can.

I hope that when you get back to the UK you visit the local rabbit rescue groups and animal shelters and give a couple rabbits a nice forever home with you.

Write back anytime.  Lee