Bonding old bun and shelter bun

[Laine]

Hey guys, new member here but I’ve been lurking for a while.

Here’s the situation.

I’ve had my rabbit Coconut for about a year. He’s a neutered male, about 5lb, kinda skittish and not super outwardly friendly. We don’t know his history, but our vet thinks he was likely attacked by a cat or other animal or maybe even a person because his nose is kinda weird. He doesn’t have a particular interest in people in general and tries to be friendly with my cat, but my cat gets spooked and runs away. He seems pretty happy, but I think he gets lonely, especially because I’m not home much during the day (6 person family, my sister, brother, and mom give him attention too). I’ve been looking at the rabbits up for adoption at my local shelter, and one of them, Borscht, has been there a while and seems pretty sweet and I’m probably going to be adoption her within the next two weeks or so.

So here are my questions. She’s a spayed female and more than twice as heavy, and he’s a neutered male. I’ve read that altered male/female pairs are often easier to bond, but I’ve gotten mixed signals on the size thing. Does size make a difference? Should I keep them in separate rooms? Coconut has a big cage in the living room and gets lots of out of cage time, but doesn’t go into my room, and we’re getting the new bun, Borscht, an x-pen, which I could keep in my room if necessary. I could also move Coconut to my room and put Borscht in there so there’s no immediate territorialness.

If we don’t/can’t bond them, they’ll probably be kept in separate room.

 So recap, does size matter? Should we keep them in the same room? If they don’t bond, can we keep them in the same room but still separated?

[Meghan4420]

I can’t really answer your other questions, but I do know that size does matter. Are definitely adopting this bunny? I say look at other ones around Coconuts size. Hope that helped a little.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Size does not matter. I’m currently trying to bond my under 5lbs senior with my 9-10 lb bun.

It’s recommended you keep your buns where they can see and smell each other so they can get used to each other. I’m currently housing my boys in the same room, side by side in condos where they can see, smell but not touch each other through the bars. We do daily bonding sessions in a neutral area.

[Laine]

I ended up going with another bun that’s a bit smaller than Coconut and, due to space availability, they’re housed in different rooms

[Author]

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