A question about bonding.

Purely hypothetical.......

So you look at the local ish rescues, drop one of them a line and have a chat about hypothetical potential husbuns. As with many rescues they close for xmas so any hypothetical potential meetings would have to be in the new year which is fine. Only thing is, rescue have limited indoor space and don't have the space to offer bonding for indoor buns.

Now, said rescue have said they would offer full support and would take back hypothetical potential husbun should any argy bargies occur, and obviously would not allow bun to be taken from rescue if bunny date did not go well.

However, hypothetical potential adopter not only knows nothing about bonding, does not have room for 2 separate buns, but will also will be returning to work 2days after the rescue reopens after xmas break and will therefore not be in the house to keep an eye on newly introduced buns.

So, question is- is true bun love at first sight likely or possible? Hypothetical potential adopter is feeling a touch uncomfortable about leaving newlyweds alone unsupervised for a full working day.

Potential adopter would be happy for someone else to do the bonding if this is something that would be worth considering.

All thoughts/opinions/advice appreciated

Thanks!!
Gayle

well on some rare occasions it can be love at first sight BUTi would err on the side of caution and assume not,
the hypothetical potential humum/dad would need to monitor stringently and as they are back at work in two days i personally would hold off untill they can monitor better and make room for a seperate if needed.
but that is just my cautious nature.

It is a possibility. Patch and Daisy were love at first sight. They were licking each other when they first met and stretched out over each other in the carrier on the way back

However, Myrtle and Patch (which was slightly before Patch met Daisy) went badly. Although they were ok at the rescue centre, within 2 days of being home Patch was badly injured and had to be kept at the vet for 2 nights.

It will depend on the buns personalities and having neutral territory.
Even though we were in places in the house that Myrtle had never been to (bathroom, shed) she was incredible grumpy that she wasn't where she wanted to be and that didn't help. Also Patch's hormones hadn't quite settled so he was still spraying which also didn't help.

If it goes incredibly well at the first meeting then it might be ok but if there is any doubt in your mind then it might be better to wait till you can supervise more

As has been said, bonding can either be fraught or smooth.

Jack and Layla met in a pen at the rescue and seemed to get on ok. They were driven home in separate carriers just in case, but nose to nose, then put in a pen outside for a few hours. All the signs were positive so they were put into a pen at the opposite end of the living room from Jack's old quarters and had limited space for a couple of days. Then they were given the run of the living room. They're very closely bonded, loved-up buns and it was an easy bond.

I, on the other hand, am a complete madam Humum spent six months bonding and re-bonding me with Gizmo. One moment we could be completely lovely and snuggly and the next moment fur would be flying and in the end we were split up. Gizmo is bonded with Cindy now (another really easy bond) and they are also a loving couple.

Humum has noticed that with house-buns, being able to do the initial introduction outdoors in a smallish pen seems to make things go much more smoothly. Perhaps that is because buns consider the whole house theirs, even places they have not been before smell a bit like 'their house' so they do not consider them completely neutral. So it might be the case that Hypothetical Temperance and Hypothetical Mr Temperance, if they met on a date at a rescue, would be off to a good start.

The benefit of speed dating is that often you can quite quickly tell whether buns are going to take to each other or loathe each other on sight. You also have the benefit of seeing how Temperance reacts to other buns - I don't suppose she has even seen one for a very long time.

Would the Hypothetical Rescue perhaps know of anyone Hypothetically local to you who may be able to give a bit of support during bonding?

Thanks peeps.

Hypothetical adopter was planning on emailing hypothetical rescue with concerns on hypothetical situation but didn't want rescue to feel like their time was being wasted. Know of one person locally who has bonded for others, however unknown if person would have time/space, will enquire about bonders with hypothetical rescue

Im drifting off to sleep so its just going to be a short one. Marley and Dolly were love at first sight. I had a couple of introductions and bunged them together and they were fine

Ive been cautios with all bonds since then, but i think you can usually tell after a couple of days if things are going to work or not. If your not around to supervise, its just important you dont increase space too quickly and dont give them anything to really argue over, as well as providing boxes for them to get away from eachother.

I took a day off college to watch Davie and Skye as i chucked them together and decided not to seperate them once id started. Despite the odd kerfuffle, i was fairly sure there would be no aggression and left them to it for a few weeks before moving them outside. I think you just know if its going to work, and if its not right to leave them you will also know, go with your gut instinct. Its just a case of knowing the rabbits and understanding their behaviour i think. Ive bonded 2 pairs and a trio now, which isnt much experience, i think it comes down to doing your research and finding some confidence from somewhere.

Sorry, i dont know how helpful that is Maybe your bun could stay at the rescue for bonding? Or have i missed something and is this not a possibility?

I wouldn't worry about the rescue thinking their time was being wasted. Decent rescues don't mind putting the time and effort in to finding the right home for one of their buns and making sure there is the least likelihood of it needing to come back.

I agree - a decent rescue should be prepared to have you and little miss grumpy looking visit as many times as is necessary until she finds her perfect match.

Contacted hypothetical rescue about hypothetical situation and they have said that they might have space in the new year once all their boarders have gone home. I have said I will contact them again then and find out if they will be able to, otherwise I will try and find out if there is anyone local that would be able to bond them

I have no advice, but I love how many times the word "hypothetical" has been used in this thread

I hope it all goes to plan

Agree Thumper2001, it doesn't sound hypothetical at all!

All my bunny bonds up to now have been really easy. However, Sasha and Barley have been a nightmare. He is very nervous and tends to get very defensive and she is just a diva. I am hopeful that as they have been in the house together in side-by-side cages for months that we might be able to move to a bond in the Spring.

I was interested in what Sparky said about trying the bond outside so will do that and hope they are both so overawed at being outside they suspend hostilities and just huddle!

I called the hypothetical rescue today, unfortunately the bun we had spoken about previously hasn't been feeling too well since his op and she wouldn't be happy rehoming him until he's 100%, as he's 7 she is thinking she might end up keeping him herself.

Unfortunately also they don't have space to keep in buns for bonding for any length of time, as with most rescues they are completely full and with a waiting list. So, we have decided to arrange a day to go along for some 'speed dating' and see how it goes. Hopefully there will be some hypothetical bunlove at first sight

Hypothetically speaking I am quite excited for you.

I am hoping that there is a hypothetically suitable partner for Mrs grumpy face Temperance.

What Cheryl said ^

ME too!

Love it!

Oooh, I hope the hypothetical speed-dating goes well

Hypothetical speed dating - is that where you put a ? by the one you like instead of a tick?

I hope it all goes well!

Exciting stuff!

I hope it goes well and Temperance finds a wonderfully husbun. Hypothetically speaking, of course

cheryl'n'bruce'flo wrote:Hypothetically speaking I am quite excited for you.

I am hoping that there is a hypothetically suitable partner for Mrs grumpy face Temperance.

Ditto!

Tigger and Jeeves were love at first sight. Well, Jeeves loved her, Tigger was playing hard to get.
They were in a shed separated down the middle, as soon as Tigger was put in Jeeves was mesmerised, he couldn't keep his eyes off her and was continually sniffing her through the fence and following her around like he was lost. Tigger was pretending she hadn't noticed him of course. After a couple of days they were let in together and they just clicked! Apparently they were one of the easiest bonds Caroline had done.

I have another question, to get to the rescue its quite a drive. I think it'll be about an hour. Temperance gets stressed out on car journeys and takes quite a while to recover/chill out once home/at destination.

I am guessing this could be a problem as she might not react as she normally would when meeting other buns? :/

Even if it does appear to be bunlove at first sight I am thinking again that finding someone to bond would be the safest bet?
They have offered to lend us a temporary indoor cage if necessary but even if it was necessary to keep them separate at first I have no idea where we'd put it, T's pen takes up most of the kitchen so it wouldn't really fit in there so only option would be in a completely separate room. Also, as said before we have no idea what we are doing and are out most of the day weekdays leaving only weekends for full days for if they had to be supervised when together.

This hypothetical bunny dating is stressful

iiisecondcreep wrote:

This hypothetical bunny dating is stressful

you haven't tried real dating yet! I would take her. The stress may not harm her when it comes to bonding. Make sure she has some pro biotics a for a few days before. It really is best if she can size up all the boys at the centre and pick one for herself. Then you can hopefully put them in the same carrier and bring them home together and the stress will again help the bond. But this is well into the realms of hypotheticals.

I agree with Cheryl

We took Jack on about a 45 minute drive to the rescue where he met Layla, and I think he was so pleased to be out of the car that he bonded instantly with the first bunny he was offered

I think sometimes a longer journey, where a bun has a chance to settle in the car and get a bit more used to it, is not necessarily more stressful than a shorter one.

I know the enclosure of the existing bun has to be all cleaned out... but what about toys and things that can't be cleaned like tunnels, tents, chew matts etc?

As I had a 10% voucher for PaH I bought a hay tunnel while I was getting more hay and litter. Would it be ok to give it to Temperance now or.... wait for any hypothetical situations that might arise?