Rabbit Owner Chat V.2

[Winstalgia]

thank you.

[Northern_Charm]

Wow this is a neat thread lol Hello! I have a young Lion head named Aurora Borealis. Rori for short. I’m thinking about getting her a companion but I’m worried about bonding. I bought her from the pet shop I work at and she was always picked on by the other buns so I’m worried it’s her being too submissive or maybe she’s really the bully?

[Blue_Aussie]

@Northern_Charm welcome to the thread! I love lion heads, I have two of my own! I love your bunny’s name. Bonding isn’t very difficult once you know what to do, and once your bunnies are bonded you know it was worth every second of bonding. my Netherlands dwarf, Echo, is aggressive towards all other males beside my first rabbit, Romeo, so I think it just depends on which rabbit it is. And I suggest getting her and her companion spayed/neutered so there aren’t any hormones making either of them aggressive c;


Speaking of neutering, right now Romeo and Echo are at the vet probably in surgery... they said they will call when they wake up to let me know how the procedure went. I just keep praying everything is going ok. I hope by getting them neutered they will stop spraying though

Also, has anyone read “Raising Happy Rabbits” by Brittany May and Penny Ausley? I just bought it and so far it’s the best rabbit book I’ve read c:


Edit: Romeo and Echo are home now, the vets got nervous because they weren’t eating after surgery and had to give them supplements. I insisted they’d be much more comfortable at home. about 10 minutes after they were back in there pen they started eating and drinking normally. Im so glad surgery went well, now I just have to deal with medication for the next week c:

[Winstalgia]

^ that's great it went well, happy to hear!! And welcome, @northerncharm ! I would offer advice but I've never bonded a pair so ;-;

I'm so disappointed. I checked out a pet store today and they had a female rabbit about 12 weeks old. She was super sweet and was super happy and looked healthy when I examined her. We had named her petra (from attack on titan aha) but TURNS OUT that she was actually a he so we had to return him an hour after we got him. I hope he goes to a good family. Definitely a sweet bun.

I cleaned out froppy's enclosure today and replaced the bedding, it's the equivalent of two horse stalls, so that took a while. Shes loving it tho! I might take her to the vet for a wellness exam, but she hates being held and shes super timid. I dont think she will ever like being held, shes just always been shy and jumpy.

I never realize how much I type aaa

[Blue_Aussie]

@Winstalgia I’m sure Froppy will get to a point that she doesn’t mind being held for short times, I’ve had Echo for over a year and he’s just now getting to the point where it isn’t too difficult to pick him up to put him in a carrier of something.


Romeo and Echo are both acting normal this morning, I had to give them their first dose of pain medication, it was a bit of a challenge and took two people but only took about 5 minutes to do them both. I think Gemini is happy they re home, even though she isn’t in the same pen. She got really excited when she saw them back in the room. c:

[Winstalgia]

frop.jpg (53.6 KiB) Viewed 61 times

I've been wanting to share a photo of Froppy since I joined but kept forgetting. Here she is! This was taken a few weeks ago.
^ that's nice they're acting normal. And ah okay, I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

I have never Frop to the vet and I think I'm going to sometime this year. My parents don't typically take our animals to the vet unless they know smth is wrong but now that I can drive and pay for it myself I may go for a wellness exam.

[Blue_Aussie]

So, today is the first day I let Romeo and Echo put together just to play for a few minutes (I’m keeping them separate while they heal) and Echo kept biting at Romeo!! I’ve heard that this isn’t that uncommon for bonded pairs after getting fixed but does anyone have experience with this?

I really hoped this wouldn’t happen because I wanted to bond Gem with them once thy were healed but now I’ll have to bond all three of them together... open to any info or experience anyone can share about this...

[Winstalgia]

speaking of bonding 3 rabbits, any advice? We planned on getting one rabbit when we go to the pet store tmrw, but my sister insists she buys one too. The enclosure is definitely big enough for 3, I'm just curious if bonding 3 is different from bonding 2. I assume the 2 we get from the shop will know each other and get along. Froppy is not territorial from what we have seen. Shes never gotten mad when we move her stuff, and the last rabbit we introduced to her she seemed completely fine w him inspecting her enclosure. (That was also a male, and we returned him)

[Blue_Aussie]

^ive bonded a few pairs before. Romeo, Echo and Gem will be my first trio however.
Either way, there are two ways to bond bunnies. 1 is to do ‘bunny dates’ which is where you put them in a small neutral area (somewhere neither rabbit had been in) such as a bathtub or small section of a bathroom and let them meet and interact while you supervise with gloves on to brake up any scuffles. You do this for about 10-15 minutes 1-2 times a day. You can also put them in a carrier and go for a ride with them. The rabbits will be a little stressed out and will seek each other for comfort. This method is called “stress bonding”. This is how I bonded Echo and Romeo. This method happen gradually throughout 1-3 ish weeks

The 2nd method is to use a smaller cage or an X-pen in a neutral area and you just put them all in together and brake up all scuffles and fights. You don’t do this in sessions, it is one quick bond. It can last up to a week so be prepared to spend the night on the floor next to the pen ready to break up the fights. However, this is a much faster way to bond them compared to bunny dating/stress bonding.

I’ve only tried stress bonding/bunny dating so far but while I’m re-bonding Echo and Romeo and bonding Gemini with them both, I will be using the 2nd method for he first time. So hopefully it will work out good!

Remember to thoroughly wash the pen that they will all be staying in before moving them in together so none of them smell their scent and get territorial over the pen. It’s also a good idea to house the rabbits in pens next to each other for a week or so before bonding. This will get them used to each other’s scent. You can also swap out toys and plushies so they can smell the other rabbit’s scent on them.

The MOST important part of bonding is spaying and neutering. It is possible to bond them if they aren’t fixed but it’s WAY easier if they are. If you aren’t going to get them fixed, be sure they are all the same gender to prevent litters c;

Sorry if that’s confusing! I hope that helped you, good luck bonding all your bunnies!

Edit: wow, I didn’t realize how much I had typed lol

[Winstalgia]

thanks!