Scared out of getting a 2nd rabbit

[katiecrna]

Long story short... I feel bad and guilty for having my rabbit be single. I've spent lots of money and time making toys for her and she just doesn't play. She flops every once in a while but doesn't binky anymore. She is free roam. I've tried everything to make this little girl happy and deep down inside I think she just needs a bunny friend.

I'm allergic to all rabbits except those with wool. Same with my brother who has terrible asthma. So I am limited on what type of rabbit I can have. I've been stalking my local shelters and a male French angora finally popped up. I went to visit him, and he is very shy and not comfortable with humans and came from a bad situation. The shelter lady had to question me and console me on owning a rabbit. And right away I knew that I knew more about rabbits than she does. She said only rabbits of the same litter bond and if I get this rabbit I have to have 2 of everything and it live separately from my rabbit. They don't welcome "returns", so if this rabbit didn't bond with mine I can't return him. So I chickened out and didn't get him.
I've never bonded rabbits before and although I read up on it I'm scared that I'm going to be stuck with 2 rabbits that hate each other, when the only reason I want a second rabbit is for my rabbits company. I don't know if I should take the plunge and get this rabbit and try to bond, or if I should continue to wait for a male wool rabbit to show up on a different shelter that allows rabbits to be returned if bonding failed.

 

[Blue eyes]

Have you specifically looked for "rabbit rescues"? They are quite different than your generic shelters. The shelters seldom do know much about rabbits.

I agree with you. I would never get a potential bondmate from some place that won't accept a return or exchange if the bond doesn't work.

If you are comfortable giving the general location where you live, someone here may know of a rabbit rescue nearby.

 

[Akzholedent]

I absolutely agree with Blue Eyes. Some rabbits can be very picky with who they bond with. Our Holland Lop, Pippi, absolutely hates Butterscotch and Ellie (our two rescued meat rabbits). Pippi gets super territorial if I even SMELL like Butterscotch and Ellie. So, we've had to build a separate enclosure far from Pippi, so she'd never smell them. She lives in the upper part of our house, while Butterscotch and Ellie live outside in their bunny condo during the day, and come into the basement at night.

Pippi honestly seems perfectly happy just being with me and my husband. We do make a lot of toys for her out of boxes (My personal favorite was two boxes connected with her tunnel, that led into a box filled with newspaper for her to dig in. We tosses treats into the box so she had to search for them.. she loves it!) Just spend as much time as you can with your rabbit. I'm not sure how long you've had her, but we've had Pippi for nearly three years now, and she just started being totally social. Rabbits take a lot of time to trust people, especially if they came from sketchy backgrounds (Pippi was an unsocialized bunny-mill/breeder rabbit that we rescued from the pet store.. they kept her in an aquarium... :-( ).

 

[katiecrna]

This place was a generic shelter but I do have local rabbit shelters I've been stalking but no wool rabbits yet.

 

[mark]

Thanks for posting this topic and thanks for the comments - I am curious about this topic, and will continue to watch the thread.

We have just our single bun at the moment, but we are open possibly to adopting one from a hopefully no kill bunny rescue that would allow exchanges if they do not bond or don't bond well enough (?).

 

[RoseCottageBuns]

Hello there... i waist the same situation as you, had a lonely male bun, he did not play and binkys were rare. I knew I had to get him a companion and was really, really nervous about bonding . I could not find any bun close by and eventually found a sweet little girl in a garden centre! The woman who sold her to me knew nothing about rabbits except if their noses were twitching then they were alive!
I bought her home and then had no idea what to do, and realised this was a learning process for all of us. So doing it in stages is good. Keep them in the same run but separated by a wire partition and with separate houses etc so that can get used to each other. I did this for about 2 weeks and they just had nose to nose contact through the wire. Then start swapping their hay and feeding bowls etc so they can smell each other...about 4 weeks this time. Then start swapping them into each other's run daily another 4 weeks. It takes time and patience, and then you can bond them.... Time and patience is the key. Do not rush to bond straight away, you must do it when you are feeling calm and in control. There are lots of good sites on the internet to give you advice, and I called a bunny rescue place at one point and they were really helpful. Above all do it in your time and when you feel ok. If you are stressed, the buns will pick up on it, and that wont help. But you can do it!! i thought I couldn't and it took ages, but my buns are now very happy together and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to see them cuddled up with each other. Make sure both are neutered and inoculated before you start. Best of luck.