Moving/Co Habitation Questions and Concerns

[haleyoftheink]

I'm hoping to make this thread fairly organized and simple throughout, but simplicity isn't my strong suit so bear with me if I start rambling or become redundant. Also excuse any punctuation/spelling/grammatical errors for Thumper is loose and randomly coming to me for attention.

To more or less summarize, my boyfriend and I are moving in with a good friend of ours in six-ish months. It'll be a two bedroom apartment and I'm extremely excited about this, however I'm also apprehensive, mostly on the account of Thumper. There are several concerns I have and I'll attempt to discuss one by one.

First off; how well do rabbits take moving? I think he'll be a much happier bun because right now he's permitted to only a small bedroom and livingroom and shares the space with my grandparents' two dogs and two cats (he get's along fine with them). After following the steps to keep him litter trained he'll have full run of a living room, dining room, hallway, and large bedroom (which will be thoroughly bunny proofed and tested beforehand), but I'm afraid to put unnecessary stress on him and am not sure on the best course of action. Moving him and his things altogether or moving him between places and gradually keeping him there for longer periods of time until fully accustomed?

Second off; The friend we're moving in with has two buns himself (a Netherland Dwarf and Holland Lop) and I'm terrified of what could happen upon Thumper meeting them. He's a Flemish Giant with a typical weight of 17 pounds, but still has some growing time so comparatively, he is absolutely enormous. He's not an aggressive rabbit as far as I can tell, although it's been more than a few months since I've had him around another bun. Does anyone have any success stories of, not necessarily bonding, but perhaps just housing a dwarf breed and giant breed together? I'd hate to have to separate them, but understand if it's necessary.

Third off; I don't know what I'm going to do about housing yet. Currently he has a large hutch that he spends the night and eats in. It's not ideal and I'd love to get him something with some more space, but am not sure on my options. We've decided his main 'home' will be in my room, but with a bigger space there will be more opportunity for him to get into trouble and I'm scared to leave him by himself like that while I'm at work. Theoretically if we can get him and the other two buns to socialize successfully the three of us could try to schedule our work shifts so that at least one of us is home to supervise for the majority of the day, but that'll be a lot of work with each of us working full time and not in super close proximity of the friend's apartment. Also, he's such a large bun most deterrents or holdings of any kind he's promptly escaped from (somehow he managed to jump over the back of a chair once). Does anyone have any housing examples I can see to get some ideas because I'm lost.

Fourth off; Previously I was working at a nearby PetSmart (wasn't in love with any of their bunny options), but to make room for the hours I'll be getting at my new job I had to put in my two weeks. I haven't done much research on where to get bunny food, toys, etc because I got an employee discount. What would you suggest? Note that I'm in the north east region of the U.S.

I think there was another thing I wanted to ask about, but can't remember. I'll appreciate any feedback you can give!

 

[Blue eyes]

1. Moving is stressful for a rabbit. The best way to do it is all at once. Dragging it out bit by bit only adds to the stress.

2. This will be your biggest obstacle. If there is already an existing bonded pair of rabbits, having a third rabbit come into the same home is, unfortunately, asking for trouble. Even if you were to confine your rabbit to one room, the presence of your rabbit could disrupt or even break the bond of the other pair. That's the first problem with this scenario.

The second problem with this scenario is that if you take turns with her pair or rabbits running loose and then yours running loose (at separate times), this will cause territorial issues and likely lead to lots of territory marking (poo and urine).

Third problem would be that rabbits don't casually play together. They are either bonded or they are not. Trios are difficult to bond, but not impossible. However, it would be unwise to attempt to bond these rabbits into a trio. Since the two rabbits belong to your friend and the third is yours, if you were able to successfully bond them, then they should never be separated. That means that they would need to then share the same cage and always be together. Not only that, but should the shared living situation change with you and your friend, then all 3 rabbits would have to go together with one person. Who would that person be and would the other be willing to give up their rabbit(s)?

The only option I see in this situation is for you to have separate areas for your rabbit that are different from the areas for the bonded pair. The rabbits should never meet.

3. For housing, well, this will be somewhat determined by how you decide to handle the above difficulties. You can find the cages threads we have here on RO. The new one "2016 Cages You've made" doesn't have much yet. But you can check the one for 2015 or 14. There are lots of photo ideas that should provide some inspiration for what may work in your situation.

4. binkybunny.com sells bunny supplies. You could try that. For hay, many of us buy it in bulk (bale or half-bale) from a feed store. It is way, way, way cheaper than any pet store (even with discount). I buy hay by the bale -- $16 roughly for a bale. I feed generous amounts twice daily and use it in the litter box too. It still lasts 2 rabbits about 8 months!

Hopefully you use a plain (no colorful bits) rabbit pellet like Oxbow. That can be purchased online in bulk as well.


The friend you plan to move in with may not be aware that the presence of your bunny could break the bond of her rabbits. You all will have to work that out and discuss before making any commitments.

 

[Aki]

I agree with what blue eyes said.
1) We can't tell how your rabbit will react to the move, it completely depends on your rabbit's character. I have two rabbits and I moved last year in a different city / from a flat in Paris to a house in a place that's almost the country so the change was big. One of my rabbit who is usually cautious and skittish took weeks to get out of her hiding places and months to go out of their new room. The second one who is a lot more outgoing and relaxed was out of the room and running around after a few days. But yes, do it all at once - rabbits don't like to be carried around and generally hate cars / trains / undergrounds or any kind of moving contraption, so once is enough.

2) The other rabbits issue is more complicated. The size of the rabbits isn't an issue, but introducing a new rabbit who won't even be staying permanently with a bonded pair is tricky. To be honest, if I was your friend I would flat out refuse to introduce my rabbits to yours because that will endanger their bond - just feeling a strange rabbit in the house is sometimes enough to get a bonded pair fighting (even if it's rare). And what if one of your friends' rabbits bond with yours and abandon their original mate? Besides, if one or both the rabbits bond with yours, it will be cruel to separate them the day one of you move out... So, that's a tricky situation. You have to discuss it with your friend.

3) Can't you just bunny-proof your room very well and leave your rabbit in it when you're not there? It's not that hard to do - now, I have a house and the rabbits got their own room (my friends are all caught between disgust and awe whenever they visit XD) but they stayed in my room for five years. At first, we did have some mishap but once you learn to think like a rabbit, you can avoid most problems. You just have to buy a lot of boxes (the hard plastic ones) and plastic sheath (the hard one! I tried some supple sheath at first and it was a disaster) for the electrical cords. Your room will be the neatest on earth because everything that stays on the floor gets eaten, but it will be easier than to organize shifts to watch the rabbit, I think...

4) Online is the way to go. I'm very surprised to see lots of American posters asking about places to buy hay / pellets. I don't know American online petstores but I'm sure you just have to google it. In France most people order pet supplies online - it works great, it's cheaper, you find more products and, of course, you don't have to go anywhere / carry anything which is a real must when, like me, you don't own a car.