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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BONDING Bonding without a blind date?

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    • Shannon
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      158 posts Send Private Message

        Hey everyone.  I have a bit of a dilemma.  We are looking to get our rabbit a mate.  The local shelter has a rabbit that I think is adorable.  I would really like to rescue him.  We also have  a male rabbit and both are fixed.  The shelter is quite large.  I contacted them and asked if it would be ok to bring in our current rabbit to meet the other to see if they were a good match.  I was told no because the shelter is stressful and they “don’t do that.”  They promised to have a rabbit savvy volunteer contact me but that was over two weeks ago and I still haven’t heard anything.  I am assuming its because any rabbit savvy volunteer knows that just bringing home another rabbit isn’t ideal .  Anyway I was wondering if anyone has had any success in just bringing home another rabbit?  I also contacted our local house rabbit society and they haven’t gotten back to me.  It ha been over a month. I’m super disappointed.


      • Gina.Jenny
        Participant
        2244 posts Send Private Message

          I ended up taking on two feral rescues my sons and I caught last summer. They look like they are probably sisters, but while one bonded instantly with my boy bun, Pippi, the other just tried to fight the other two through the bars for ages. Its over nine months since we caught her, and only now am I get anywhere with bonding the bunnies as a trio, and its a daily two steps forward, one step back, taking up many, many hours of my time.

          Gina is getting on better bonding with Pippi than with Jenny, so I would say a boy-girl bond is the most likely to work out with two buns who are expected to become friends without having any say themselves in who their ‘friend’ will be.


        • Boing
          Participant
          253 posts Send Private Message

            My local shelter doesn’t do bunny speed dating either, due to the risk of disease, so I did just take home another rabbit. They are both altered, but I also made sure to choose a female, because my first rabbit is male. That’s supposedly the easiest combo.

            They got used to communal play time, litter boxes, hay and water really quickly (in days). They still won’t share cookies or pellets. So they still live like friendly neighbors. I’m not doing any stress bonding though, just letting them get to know each other naturally, so that may be why things are prolonged.

            Good luck!


          • Mikey
            Participant
            3186 posts Send Private Message

              I personally wouldnt do that, but i know my three boys would be mad at me and the new bun if i did. I think it all depends on the bun(s) at home


            • Love4Bunny
              Participant
              878 posts Send Private Message

                Hi Shannon,

                Yes, I’ve had success with bonding a blind date. It wasn’t *ideal* but my prior experiences with bunny dating were VERY stressful, so I made an executive decision to choose a younger bunny with a different temperament, and it worked out. I think Thor might’ve preferred Crysta have a calmer disposition, but they stick together like glue, have the occasional power struggle, and enjoy each other’s company.


              • Azerane
                Moderator
                4688 posts Send Private Message

                  I think it can certainly be done. Bonding from a positive bunny date is never a sure thing anyway because as the person at the shelter mentioned, it is a very stressful environment. Putting your rabbit, in a new environment that smells of lots of different animals and then getting him to meet another rabbit, they’re not always going to react the same way that they will on home turf. In fact, a stressful shelter environment may actually trend towards more bonding dates appearing positive than actually are because rabbits tend to look to each other for comfort in stressful situations.

                  So while bunny dating can be successful and is usually recommended, providing you are dedicated to the cause and determined to put in a LOT of hours over a long period of time if you get a difficult match, I don’t see a reason not to go for it. Does the shelter have a trial period for pets going to new homes? Most here seem to have about a 2-4 week trial period and if things aren’t working out you can return them without any trouble. The only issue with that is when introducing rabbits, you need to go quite slow and unless they’re really inclined to bond, you might not see that much progress in such a short amount of time given it’s recommended you wait a week before starting any bonding at all.


                • tobyluv
                  Participant
                  3310 posts Send Private Message

                    All of my bunny bondings have been blind dates, and they all worked out very well.


                  • Gina.Jenny
                    Participant
                    2244 posts Send Private Message

                      Hi Shannon,

                      Since my last post, I switched from trying to bond my girls to getting a new boy for my solo girl. He came over for a blind date to see how it went, the first signs looked good, so he stayed and after four days of 24/7 bonding the two are now running around binkying together as i type

                      So yes, it can be done, and done fast, if you are able to give it the time, and the bunnies don’t hate each other on sight!

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                  Forum BONDING Bonding without a blind date?