Bonding big and little bunnies

[jennawing]

We have Maizee, a New Zealand girl, who isalmost one and 11lbs. Yesterday, we got a little lionhead girl calledJosephine that, as I understand, will likely be between 3-4lbs fullgrown. Of course, Josie is in quarentine now, and still very much ababy, so no hurry on the bonding, but just curious if anyone else canshare any experiences with bonding two rabbits that are so different insize. Especially interested in knowing what problems you haveencountered and how you overcame them, etc. Maizee is a very confidentrabbit- I would not call her laid-back, just more ineffected by things.We have 4 dogs andcats and they all respect her. Stilllearning about lionheads, but so far what I have observed is Josie isvery friendly and maybe a bit clingy. I know this will ultimatelyeffect the bonding, so someone who can share experience with rabbitswith similar personalities to mine also very much appreciated!

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

It's not a big problem to have a sizedifference, you just might have to watch more carefully for fightingbecause a big rabbit can easily bully a little rabbit. I did not havethat big of a size difference but when I bonded my pair my buck was 7.5lbs and my doe was 3.5 lbs. I had no issues at all probably because thelived side by side for 6 months beforeI bondedthem.The funny thing is that a lot of the time it is thelittle rabbit that bosses the big one around but that isn't always thecase.

The baby may be clingy now, but give it time and she may turncompletely around. It's really hard to judge if 2 rabbit will get alongwhen they are older because a baby rabbit may challenge for dominenceonce they grow up a little more and depending on whether they can sortout the pecking order will make the difference between a happy pair andone that is next to impossible to bond.

 

[jennawing]

THanks for that!

Is it recommended to bond them while one is still young? I know it iswith guinea pigs and rats. Is there any nurturing instinct that helpsout with rabbits? I had planned to put them in adjacent pens when Josiewas past quarentine and take my time on the bonding, but would there beany advantage to introducing them while Josie is still young and clingy?

 

[naturestee]

I'm just starting to bond a New Zealand with mytwo Dwarf Hotot girls, who are 2.5 and 3.5 lbs. I agree withMBB- it's okay as long as you're careful. I've seen peoplewho have Flemish with small breeds (and not just you, Tinysmom) andI've been told of others with large breed/small breed pairs byTreasured Friend who runs the rescue I'm fostering the NZ through.

It's not generally recommended to bond rabbits when they areyoung. Babies are often cuddly and friendly, but theirattitudes can change a lot when they hit puberty and gethormonal. It's not unusual for bonded babies to startfighting with each other, sometimes seriously, when they gethormonal. So it's usually best to wait till all buns havebeen spayed/neutered.

There's lots of info in the Bunny 101 bonding thread. Have you seen it yet?
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12072&forum_id=17

My favorite site on bonding:
http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm

 

[jennawing]

Thank you for the links.

 

[misskitty]

Today I have just tried putting in my neuteredfemale with my two bonded neutered males for the first time. The malesare both about 8 months old and the female is twice their size and ayear old. She is also their mum.
I did have her hutch in their complex for a few weeks so they could seeand smell each other through the bars hoping this way they would bemore accepting of each other.

She and one of the boys just sniffed each other and seem to be fine butmy other boy has been chasing her around and pulling fur from her bum.

What should I do? Should I separate her from them again or leave themtogether for a bit longer I'm worried that he will hurt her and herbeing much bigger than him, equally could hurt him if she kicks out.

 

[naturestee]

Did you just put her in the boys'territory? It's best to start out on neutral territory-somewhere that none of them have been before- so they don't feel likethey need to defend what they own. If the one boy is chasingher a lot and stressing her out, I'd separate them, let them calm down,then try them in neutral territory later.

 

[misskitty]

I put them in a new run together but he waschasing her in there so I seperated them and then took them up to mybedroom about half and hour later. They seemed better together upthere, though the boys are used to my room so were more interested inplaying with ecah other than paying any attention to her.

 

[bluebird]

My sister raises lionheads.the ideal weight is 3lbs but many many of the ones i have seen are much bigger 4 to 5 lbs.ithink the size is not a problem.Good Luck.bluebird

 

[misskitty]

i left them in the hutch together last night andchecked on them every half an hour or so before i went to bed and shewas sat on her own in the smaller compartment and the otehr 2 were sattogether in the larger compartment.

went out this morning when i first woke up and they were all snuggledup together so it looks good -marley was even grooming her so hopefullythey have accepted each other now and i won't go home to find Marleyhas been jumping on her again and scaring zephyr by doing so