Advice please: baby bunny

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:06:24 GMT

Hmm not happy

Still introducing them in neutral ground for very short spurts of time and it didn't go very well today. Dexter (who's probably a girl!) is so hyper that he/she went up to Cooper dug her nose in... next thing I know Dex has a mouth full of Coop's fur

Coop is so placid and lovely - he just looked a bit scared and went and put his head on my boyfriends lap.

Not sure what to do now. I'm thinking that baby bunny is just a bit too young

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:05:12 GMT

Yaay, fingers crossed. We're now leaving the door open to where the baby is in his cage so that Cooper can go in. He acts like he's not bothered when we're in there but often when we sneak a peek and he's over by the bars and they're sniffing each other. Probably chatting away, Coop's giving him older brother advice perhaps?

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Vicky RVN — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:33:16 GMT

Aww cute sounds like it's going well

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:10:14 GMT

Ok, so they've said hello a couple of times through the bars and today I introduced them properly in a neutral room. Baby bunny was uber excited (as he is at all times anyway) and older bunny wasn't massively bothered. They sniffed each other and I think older bunny was more interested if there was any food in the room - baby bunny followed him everywhere. They were only together a few minutes as want to do it gradually but also baby started to dig his nose under the other ones stomach!!! Maybe he thought it was his mum....? Not sure. But anyway - it looked like it might of been annoying for the older one so took them apart. At least they didn't fight at first meeting - surely thats a good sign? Fingers crossed

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Vicky RVN — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:37:41 GMT

No probs - sorry if i rambled on a bit, looking back i prob did! Good luck with changing him over, i know bunnies can be quite fussy if they start to like a food and you try and change them!

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:09:54 GMT

[quote user="Vicky C"]

Buns and g.pigs should have very little pellet/mix food really. It's not what they'd find in the wild! It should be good quality hay all the way! Then you will prevent obesity and overgrown teeth. With my pigs i cover the bottom of the bowl with Excel pellets and they don't finish it by the end of the day, so don't get through very much. What they get through a lot of is Herbage made by Excel (it's timothy hay with marigolds and dandelions). I put a pile in each day and they delve right in! Then when they're full they go to sleep on it! Daisy is munching on it as i type! I also get them little bags of dried herbs made by Naturals, which they love. Then they get a supply of grass and veggies. I've not had any probs with their teeth yet and they're 4 years old

[/quote]

Cool - thanks. He's having plenty of hay and only a small amount of food. Will eventually change it to the supa rabbit stuff as its better. Thanks for your help x

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Vicky RVN — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:19:33 GMT

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:25:32 GMT

Oooh and how much should I feed him? I can't remember how much I fed Coop now and it says different things when I look it up.

He's on rubbish food at the moment (that he was having when I got him) but I am steadily going to change this over time to some better stuff. I'm assuming he shouldn't really have much as he's so tiny and only just started eating - plus he does have hay kicking about the place in his new pad.

Sorry I keep going on about him but it's hard. He's such a character.

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:58:35 GMT

Ok, so Cooper just sort of met Dexter through the bars which was cute. Very short time - Dexter was very excited and Cooper was very laid back. Both had a good sniff. Awwwww

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:44:38 GMT

Hi Maisy,

Thanks for replying. So do you think I should wait for Coop (older bunny) to have a sniff around until I've Dexters (baby) first vaccination done (myxo)? Coop is vaccinated but not sure If if would be silly to let him near a rabbit who hasn't had anything yet.

Also, do you mean that they should be in neutral territory when they see/smell each other for the first time or actually meet for the first time? Basically I have the baby in a big cage in a room, he's been in there since Friday. So could I let the older bunny in to that room to have a sniff around? I'm sure he knows he has a little brother anyway as he keeps going up to the door

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Maisy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:37:56 GMT

He's cute! Congratulations!

Definitely get the bunnies used to each others scent from now, at such a young age the baby won't be considered as much of a 'threat' so it's good to start basic intro's at a young age. If they can see/sniff each other through the cages this can be useful to assess how each will react to one another.

When starting the introductions neutral territory is absolutely the most important thing. Whenever I've paired bunnies (I used to foster lots of rabbits!), places like bathrooms worked well as its not really anywhere the rabbits would use! Keep them both in a little carrier initially and then open the doors for them to sniff each other. Hopefully by the time you do actual introductions both will already be 'aware' of the other through scent/sight so won't be so difficult for them.

There are some males that can be paired up quite happily together but some will tolerate being in the same run, just not necessarily the same living areas.

Good Luck!

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:29:36 GMT

I'm hoping that there are some rabbit savvy peeps on line to see my desperate plee for advice....

Oh, I so wish they could meet each other and hate that I have to wait until babys little 'nip and tuck'

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Vicky RVN — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:38:52 GMT

Yeah very true! I'm sure someone on here will be good with rabbit behaviour and can help.

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:17:46 GMT

Thanks Vicky. Yeah sounds like a plan. I'm just not sure if I have to wait to even start doing that until baby has been neutered. Don't want to give off any hostility scents if that makes sense or is at all possible!????

Wouldn't want them to then hate each other before they've even met/when they meet x

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Vicky RVN — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:20:15 GMT

Both your buns are very cute! Yeah i've always heard to introduce on neutral territory, like with any animal. I'm wondering if putting some bedding in from each others cage so they can smell each other would help? Only an idea, i'm sure someone on here would be able to say if it's a good or bad thing to do!

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:03:39 GMT

Cool thanks for the advice. I've read that when they meet it should be on neutral territory. Maybe I could do that when they meet properly as in out of the cage? I have a spare room that older bunny has only been in a couple of times so this should be fairly neutral for them both when the time comes.

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:40:04 GMT

Hi Button,

I think letting them see each other through the cages is fine, and will get them used to the smell of each other etc,I also think if you are going to put them together eventually the sooner they get used to each other the better.

Re: Advice please: baby bunny

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:33:16 GMT

Dexter!