Blog Entry 5- Match.com for Rabbits
Bonding can either be an easy experience or one of the hardest things for a person to try to accomplish, and it doesn’t always work. Rabbits mate for life and usually benefit from having a companion. I have bonded, or been involved in the process of, bonding many rabbits. This especially needs human intervention when adopters want two rabbits bonded, and so take them home and bond them. Though rabbits need companionship if they’re going to remain at the shelter for a long period of time before they are sent to a rescue or adopted, some bonds are utter failures. It’s akin to dating people: it doesn’t always work. One must have a combination of interests, likes, dislikes, and a chemistry that allows one to work together. For rabbits, the latter is probably most prevalent. What I look for in a pair I want to bond is not what they look like. Although many adopters foolishly adopt a rabbit to bond with their own rabbit regardless of factors or what we advise, many people come in wanting the same color or breed of rabbit to look like the rabbit they have at home or want the same gender of rabbit, but that doesn’t always work. Looking cute together and having the chemistry to be together can be a completely different ball game.
It’s very important for a rabbit with a dominant personality or a very outgoing personality to have a shy, submissive counterpart. That’s usually the ticket to success in a bonded pair. A few years ago, Daisy and I decided to bond two rabbits at the shelter named Opal and Tim. Tim was from the fifteen Californian group and Opal came in with a bunny named May, another female who was more feisty. We tried to bond them and at first found it difficult because they had very similar personalities: they were establishing who was dominant and who was submissive. Eventually and unusually, Opal (the female) was dominant over Tim (the male.) This is not how rabbit relations usually turn out. From bonding other pairs, my experience would indicate that it is usually the case that the male is the dominant one and the female is the submissive one.
Gender is incredibly important in bonding. It is possible to bond two rabbits of the same sex but I highly recommend not bonding two males unless they are related, though not father and son, but brothers can work. Two females are more likely to work out as a pair, but once again it depends on the chemistry and if the females are related they have a greater chance of being able to bond than pairs that aren’t related. The best pair I would recommend to anyone trying to bond their rabbit is a pair already bonded or rabbits of the opposite sex. Both rabbits have to be fixed, however, because the hormones of the rabbits will get in the way of the bonding process, otherwise. And, of course, a litter of bunnies is always guaranteed when you put two unfixed rabbits of the opposite gender in a pen together. However, having both rabbits fixed even if they are the same gender, would get those hormones out of the way and allow the rabbits to bond more easily. Having the rabbits interact before committing to adoption is also a good idea, allowing you to see if bonding is possible.
