BudgetBunny

Question:

Hey!

I have a few questions regarding bonding rabbits and I thought you would be the best person to ask!
1. Is it easier to bond a male and female rabbit or two males (fixed of course!)
2. What is the average time it takes for two rabbits to bond?
3. How do you make sure each rabbit gets its proper amount of pellets and veggies?

I hope you can help and thanks for your time!

M.

Answer:

Hi M.

1) In the rabbit community it seems unanimous that a neutered male and a spayed female are the easiest to bond. Same sex pairs can work but tend to be more difficult. A pair of females is considered to be the most difficult however all rabbits just like humans have their own unique personalities. This means you could have the most amazing male rabbit and the sweetest female and they still won’t get along! Frustrating I know!

If you are able to rescue, some rescues will provide a bunny dating service. This is where they will try your rabbit out with different bunnies they think are suitable and bond your bunny for you. That way you’re saving a bunny in need and know that they will get along.

I also find a baby bunny with a fixed older bunny works well as the age difference makes it easy for them to distinguish who is the dominant one. The problem with this is they will start fighting once the baby reaches around 4-6 mos. of age (when they become sexually mature) and will have to be separated until approx. 6-8 weeks after the baby has been fixed. In the meantime they could completely forget about one another and it may not be a successful reintroduction. This is just something to keep in mind.

2) Unfortunately I can’t really give you a timeline on how long it takes to bond bunnies. It can be instant or it could take weeks or it could take months. It really just depends on your bunnies. Honey and Rocky bonded instantly and were sharing floor time together within a week. She was temporarily separated from Rocky when she reached sexual maturity (which caused a few minor disagreements between them) but when we reintroduced them after about 8 weeks post spay they were immediately inseparable.

3) The easiest way to ensure both rabbits who live together are getting enough food is to have a large condo with multiple levels and separate bowls for each bunny to eat out of. This way you can feed them both on different levels, ensuring that they both eat their food/veg when you give it to them. Since I give my rabbits their pellets in limited amounts, they are very eager when dinner time comes around and immediately dive in to their bowls to eat. Stay for a few minutes to watch and observe that both bunnies are eating their food. You can also check in on them periodically throughout the day to make sure you see both of them munching on their hay as well. Another important health check are weekly weigh-ins. Weigh-ins are an excellent way to determine illness but will also ensure neither’s weight is going up or down too much.

I hope that helps!!!!

Question:

Hi Budget Bunny!!

I have 3 rabbits and 2 of them are show rabbits , I’m sort of confused about what I should feed them as some people tell me to NOT feed my mini lops veggies and hay and to only feed pellets! I don’t know what to do as they say veggies will hurt the rabbits fur for showing? Is that true?? I’m sort of confused on what should I feed my rabbits.

Another thing is that I have a lion head mix rabbit who’s a rescue . She’s a little chubby….well actually really overweight. Any ideas on how to make her a little bit less “fat”?

Thanks a lot,

K.

Answer:

Hi K,

I don’t know anything about showing rabbits but I do know that THE most important part of a rabbit’s diet is hay. Hay should easily make up 85% of your rabbits diet with another 10% coming from dark leafy green vegetables, 4% being pellets and 1% healthy treats.

Hay should be fed in unlimited amounts. Rabbits need to be eating constantly to ensure their digestive system is continuously working otherwise they can risk ailments such as sludge and stasis, which can be deadly to rabbits. Rabbits teeth also never stop growing and hay is the only thing that continuously wears down their back molars which prevents painful ailments like spurs or overgrowth. Your rabbit could literally starve to death from having overgrown teeth that prevent it from eating and chewing.

Pellets are the least important part of a rabbit’s diet. If you are feeding a diet full of pellets it can cause tummy upsets, obesity and again overgrown teeth as pellets do not help your bunnies wear down their back molars. Plus overall, they aren’t very healthy. A 1/4 cup of pellets daily is all a 6 lb bunny needs.

I’m imaging that you’re feeding your lion head mostly pellets which is most likely why she is overweight. Gradually reduce her intake to the recommended amount while giving her unlimited hay and healthy veggies. You should start to see a difference. Rabbits should also have a minimum of 3 hours of floor time to play daily which will help her burn off those extra pounds.

Here are two links to my videos on vegetables and hay that will hopefully help you out!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvTeMpuniXA

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLmaIRKw4TU