Zeke, Baylie, Buttercup, and George

[Gleemzoss]

Short version, I have ended up with four rabbits. One unspayed female (Buttercup), one unneutered male (Baylie), and one two month old (George) (you can guess where he came from) have just come to me from another home. They have lived in harmony(ish) thus far at the old home. Since they’ve been at my home I have the George and Baylie separated from Buttercup. (George is not nursing) Rabbit number four (technically number one) is my neutered male, Zeke. Adult rabbits will be fixed January 9th, and I understand that they must continue to be separated until hormones are all gone- roughly a month. 

Long version, it all started about a year ago. A coworker gave my mom Zeke, a BEW holland lop, because he was found outside about this time of the year. He was seen being put outside to fend for himself by previous owners; we have been assuming he was an Easter present someone got tired of taking care of. We are animal people, but didn’t have any rabbits and kind of had to learn pretty quickly how to take care of him. Although there were some rough patches, Zeke has been an absolute wonder of a rabbit. He was already litter boxed trained, he doesn’t chew a whole lot, and since he was fixed in March, has gotten along really well with the rest of our ‘pack’ (6 cats and 2 medium/large dogs). The only real complaint I have is that I have to buy somewhat expensive hay for him because of his refusal to eat timothy hay. Anyway, about a week ago we ended up with the other three when a friend had to move out of her apartment quickly because of a unsafe situation there. The rabbits have warmed up to our home pretty well so far, but they have been limited to their cages. Zeke’s pen has two parts, a 6′ x 4′ downstairs and a 4′ x 4′ upstairs that he doesn’t go to. I think he doesn’t feel secure with the ramp I made and have been planning to change it, but it worked out pretty well for me right now. I have the upstairs blocked off with the dad and the baby in that pen, and the mother in a large dog crate that has been wrapped in chicken wire so she can’t slip out of the bars/ get her head stuck in the bars. All of them are in the same room, but Zeke does not seem to care or notice. I should note that Zeke is completely deaf. 

I am still deciding what I want to do about bonding them, and am curious to see how post-hormones the previously paired rabbits interact with each other. I am hoping that reintroductions go well with them so they can live together before George (the baby) hits puberty, and the George can take one of their cages while he recovers from his own neuter. If not I guess I will be buying another dog crate. 

I plan to document the bonding process here, as well as ask questions as they come up, if that’s ok with everyone here.

The only question I have at the moment is if anyone has any recommendations for litter box training three rabbits at once? Zeke doesn’t even mark his territory with poop, its like 99.9% in the box for him and has been since I got him, so that process is something completely new to me. Also, I guess a second question, but the female is a lot worse about using the box than the male is, is this just typical of the fact that they are not fixed yet and will that get better once they have surgery? 

So sorry for the dumb questions, but I haven’t found a lot of information on bringing home multiple rabbits at the same time. It complicates things for me some. 

[Sirius&Luna]

Wow! Great job saving so many bunnies. It sounds like you’ve got your hands full.

So far, it sounds like you’re doing everything right. Are the two new boys (dad and son) separated from each other, as well as the mum? Sorry, it’s not clear from your post, but if they’re not separated, they could end up fighting as the baby matures.

It’s a great sign that Zeke isn’t fussed about sharing his room. Do they get time out of their cages? You need to ensure that they can’t interact through the bars when they have outside time as a. rabbits can mate through bars, and b. nasty nips can occur through bars (I learned that the hard way myself).

I wouldn’t put them back together with George after the adults are neutered, as by that point I imagine George will have hit puberty himself (anywhere from 8 weeks) and may become aggressive or very annoying to fixed bunnies.

Litterbox habits in unfixed buns are definitely worse – you can try to start litter training now but it will be easier once they’re fixed. The process is the same for multiple as one bunny though – just pick up stray poops and wipe up pee and put in the box. Its also easier to train them if they don’t have other bedding to start with.

I look forward to hearing about bonding them in the future!

[sarahthegemini]

I look forward to reading your bonding journey! I have a Buttercup too 

[Gleemzoss]

Posted By Sirius&Luna on 1/02/2018 5:42 AM

Wow! Great job saving so many bunnies. It sounds like you’ve got your hands full.

So far, it sounds like you’re doing everything right. Are the two new boys (dad and son) separated from each other, as well as the mum? Sorry, it’s not clear from your post, but if they’re not separated, they could end up fighting as the baby matures.

It’s a great sign that Zeke isn’t fussed about sharing his room. Do they get time out of their cages? You need to ensure that they can’t interact through the bars when they have outside time as a. rabbits can mate through bars, and b. nasty nips can occur through bars (I learned that the hard way myself).

I wouldn’t put them back together with George after the adults are neutered, as by that point I imagine George will have hit puberty himself (anywhere from 8 weeks) and may become aggressive or very annoying to fixed bunnies.

Litterbox habits in unfixed buns are definitely worse – you can try to start litter training now but it will be easier once they’re fixed. The process is the same for multiple as one bunny though – just pick up stray poops and wipe up pee and put in the box. Its also easier to train them if they don’t have other bedding to start with.

I look forward to hearing about bonding them in the future!

Currently George and Baylie are in one cage, I guess I’ll have to buy a dog crate for one of them and wrap it in chicken wire as I have done for Buttercup. I knew I was on borrowed time with keeping them together, but I only had so many places to put rabbits haha. Currently they are getting along great, but I would hate for anything to happen. 

Zeke gets time out of his cage when we’re home, but he doesn’t honestly have much interest in it. If I sit next to his pen he will come over and let me rub his head, and sometimes I carry him into my room and let him hang out on the bed with me while I read or watch TV or something and he enjoys that (he doesn’t fight me at all when I pick him up to go to my room, but fights like crazy when its time to go back to his pen.). I have tried giving him treats and coxing him out of the pen and he just won’t do it. The others haven’t had much time outside of their pens yet since they were still all calming down from the move. Their old home didn’t have cats/dogs and they were really nervous of all the new smells and creatures when I first brought them home. The past day or two they have really calmed down and seem to be a lot more interested in possibly exploring. 

As far as litter box training is going today when I cleaned the cages I didn’t have nearly as much urine on the blankets as normal. Every morning I’ve been cleaning the pens with vinegar water and sweeping all of the poops into their litter boxes and exchanging towels/blankets for fresh ones. When you say it’s easier to train them without any other bedding, should I not have any blankets with them either? The flooring in Baylie and George’s pen is that peel and stick tile stuff, and Buttercup has the plastic tray in the bottom of the dog crate.

Thank you both for the encouragement, I am looking forward to this journey as well ^.^

[Sirius&Luna]

Both of those floorings sound fine for bunny feet – bunnies love to pee on soft things, so I would remove the blankets until they’re reliably using the litter boxes, then you can try adding them back in. They’re less likely to pee on tiled/plastic floor as they’re clean animals and wouldn’t want to step in it.

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