I feel like I've got to grips now with how to look after Harry Flopper, but I went to meet his (hopefully) future wife today and now I realise I don't know how to look after a pair of bunnies. I want to prepare for her arrival so I have a few questions.

This is Jessica Rabbit, she currently lives in a rescue. We will try and bond her with my Harry when he is neutered.

1. How do you handle two bunnies at feeding time? How can you make sure they are getting their fair share and one isn't eating *all* the veg or *all* the pellets? Jessica is more than double the weight of Harry, she will need a lot more food. I've heard females tend to be dominant so hopefully she won't let Harry steal her food, but maybe she will steal his or stop him eating?

2. Litter boxes - will they share, or do they like their own? Harry has 3 and he likes to eat, sleep and rest in all of them. They are a good size for him but too small for Jessica to be comfortable. Should I buy ones that are big enough for BOTH of them to lie down in comfortably? Will they snuggle in the litterbox? If I leave Harry's smaller ones, will Jessica try to use them (she might miss)?

3. Petting. Do you bunnies get jealous if you pet their husbun/wifeybun? Both bunnies are extremely laid back so I would be surprised if they did, but I'm interested in what other bonded bunnies are like.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, have I missed something that's important?

1. My bunnies are both the same weight and both need 3 cups of veggies a day. So I just feed them 6 cups all together and they both tend to eat an equal amount. how much of a weight difference is there? A 1-2lb difference isn't going to be much. At pellet time my dominate bunny would quickly eat half of his then run over and steal the other bunnies and then go back and finished his. So what I did was scatter all their pellets around the room so both bunnies would have to search for them and they couldn't steal them easily because they weren't all in a dish.

2. The rule of thumb is to have a litter box big enough to fit both bunnies in comfortably. Some bunnies are fine with 1 and some need more. My dominate bunny will jump in the litter box when ever my other bunny is in there and kick her out. So what I do is have two cat litter boxes side by side so if he kicks her out of one she can jump into the next one. Other wise she pees on the floor because she isn't allowed in. So two works great for me. Mine "can" fit both bunnies as I have seen them both in one but it is pretty squished. But since there is two it is fine.

3. Mocha (my male bunny) would always run over when ever I was petting my other bunny Lulu (girl) and mount/hump her until she left and then would look at me like "weren't you giving her treats?" and when I tried to pet him he would just hop away because he didn't like pets. Then a few minutes later he would come back and chase her away again. Now he is ok with being pet so I just pet them both at once.

Posted By mocha200 on 10/21/2012 12:56 PM
1. My bunnies are both the same weight and both need 3 cups of veggies a day. So I just feed them 6 cups all together and they both tend to eat an equal amount. how much of a weight difference is there? A 1-2lb difference isn't going to be much. At pellet time my dominate bunny would quickly eat half of his then run over and steal the other bunnies and then go back and finished his. So what I did was scatter all their pellets around the room so both bunnies would have to search for them and they couldn't steal them easily because they weren't all in a dish.

2. The rule of thumb is to have a litter box big enough to fit both bunnies in comfortably. Some bunnies are fine with 1 and some need more. My dominate bunny will jump in the litter box when ever my other bunny is in there and kick her out. So what I do is have two cat litter boxes side by side so if he kicks her out of one she can jump into the next one. Other wise she pees on the floor because she isn't allowed in. So two works great for me. Mine "can" fit both bunnies as I have seen them both in one but it is pretty squished. But since there is two it is fine.

3. Mocha (my male bunny) would always run over when ever I was petting my other bunny Lulu (girl) and mount/hump her until she left and then would look at me like "weren't you giving her treats?" and when I tried to pet him he would just hop away because he didn't like pets. Then a few minutes later he would come back and chase her away again. Now he is ok with being pet so I just pet them both at once.

There is a significant weight difference. Harry is just under 4lbs, I don't know Jessica's weight but she is a big girl - a New Zealand - and from holding her today I'm guessing about 10lbs!

That is interesting. Jessica is a very, very relaxed bunny and I can't see her being overly dominant with Harry. I will try it out with just big boxes and if she bullies Harry I will put his small ones back too.

Thank you for the advice

1) I give them both their food on a plate and they are good about both getting their share. My male is a little larger than my female, but my female tends to eat more pellets and the male prefers more hay.

2) For litter boxes, I have one LARGE one (as large as they sell in petsmart) and two medium ones. My buns don't like to be in the box together, at all. If Powder tries to get in the box with Stickers, she bolts and uses the floor (he tends to hump while in the box, she hates it). So one of the medium ones is up in the air on top of a purple storage container, that is her preferred box. She jumps more than he does, so he doesn't tend to bother her up there.

3) For pets, Stickers doesn't like being pet that often, so she usually leaves when I start petting Powder. But when she's in the mood she'll come over and they'll scrunch their little noses together and I pet one with one hand and the other with the other hand.

Mocha and Sticker gave you some great advice. I just want to add that she's beautiful!!! Did Harry meet her at the shelter?

I love the Large litter boxes! I would have two if I could but only 1 large litter box fits in my cage so I gave it to the cats and got two smaller ones. Just wanted to say that (random I know :p)

Thanks Sticker. Sounds like it will depend on their individual personalities, and I won't know how they will work together until I get Jessica here.

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 10/21/2012 02:28 PM
Mocha and Sticker gave you some great advice. I just want to add that she's beautiful!!! Did Harry meet her at the shelter?

Nope, I went up there to see if Jessica liked me and then when Harry is fixed they will have a bunny date and see if they might get on. I'm a little concerned because since I got home from meeting Jessica, Harry has been acting nervous or anxious around me. I washed my hands and changed my clothes but he can still smell her, he keeps sniffing my hands constantly and he winces when I try and stroke him

It's the first day since I got him that we haven't had cuddles, I'm starting to feel like we have unbonded!

Mine push and shove each other equally while eating so it looks like they are both getting plenty to eat. They both use the same litter box. I have had a few issues in the past where someone would get peed on because the other one had to go and they would not get out of the litter box. And yes, Leopold in particular will shove his head between my hand and Wooly's head if he sees me petting him.

Don't worry. I have had foster rabbits in the past and my bunnies would give me the "butt" for a day or so if I smelled like them but they eventually got over it. Bunnies are just moody but they get over it fast. Don't worry!

Bunnies have such great and varied personalities

I hope Harry gets over it soon, he still won't let me stroke him today. But he does still follow me from room to room so I guess he isn't THAT angry with me.

She's beautiful!

I've had pairs in the past and I just let them work out the eating - they will and neither will starve.

I agree with the bigger the better litter box - it will be harder to clean, but they need to share the same litter box.

As for petting - it really is going to depend on the dynamics of the rabbits - rabbit's really don't get jealous. I imagine Harry was sniffing you just because he was curious, not upset.

He has half-forgiven me. We had a short cuddle earlier when he was half asleep, now he's back to hopping away from me. I gave him his favourite parsley to butter him up a bit

Radhika -- Awww. I guarantee you haven't unbonded with him! I actually have a bonded trio so thought I'd pop in and see if there's anything I could help with.

I noticed you said the smell of her (possibly or other animals you could've been around at the shelter) seems to have made him nervous. Will the shelter work with you and possibly let you give them a towel to put in her cage with her for a day or two so you can bring it home and put it in with him.. it'll help him get all his anxiety out because he'll be taking it out on the towel (not her) which can help you later on in bonding when they meet.