Introducing a 3rd rabbit...?

Question

I have a bonded pair of F rabbits. One is spayed and one is not. We bought the unspayed lionhead from a pet store (it was an impulse buy, she was the only one there and we'd never seen a lionhead before she is a big white fluff ball). We got the spayed dutch from a rescue (she came originally from a hoarder who had like 300 running free).

Anyways, I read some where that it is extremely hard on a bonded pair when one dies and one way to help is to go ahead and introduce a 3rd rabbit into the pair so I was considering adopting another one.

What gender should I get? I was thinking a neutered male would be the simplest but I am not sure.

I have an additional cage to keep them seperated at 1st but when it comes time to move him in with them the cage I have is plenty big enough for the 3 (it is homemade).

My girls have never shown any aggression signs. Even though my lionhead is unspayed and was living alone when we got her and then quite a while after we had her. She did great meeting her new pal. And the dutch is just a sweet rabbit-not mean at all.

The question again: What gender should I get?

Answer 1

I think it sounds really nice to want to protect your bunnies from the pain of losing their only companion in the future. Finding a third bun would be a good option for you, especially if you have the space and are willing to bond them.

First I'd recommend that you spay your other female. It's great that she is getting along with your other girl fine, but it'd be hard to tell how she would react to another rabbit. Unless you take out the hormones that cause the aggression you would be opening yourself up to a possible mess in regards to bonding. Spaying would also be a good idea because of the high risk of reproductive cancer in rabbits (about 85%), so in a way getting her spayed would be yet another thing you could do to keep the pair living together happily for longer. It is also possible that if you try and adopt another rabbit (which would be the best way to find a third companion) they wouldn't let you adopt unless you spay her anyway, but that depends on the rescue too.

You'll need to wait at least 2 weeks for her to heal after her spay before you can do any bonding. Once she is better I would try and set up some play dates at your local animal shelter/rescue. The idea is to bring in your two bunnies and let them pick out a friend. This way you're more likely to have a successful bonding experience and introduction because your rabbits will have already shown interest in another rabbit. Check out http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/intro... for more tips on introductions. The site focuses on introducing two bunnies, but you would just treat your girls as the one original rabbit and go from there.

I know bonding a male and female is supposed to be the easiest, then two males and lastly two females. You will probably want to ask the rescue you are adopting from their opinion and the luck they have had bonding rabbits in the past (I'm sure you will not be the first person to come in looking for a third bunny). I really think it will mostly depend on the personality of the 3 bunnies, not so much the genders.

Just watch out for the third bunny taking over one of the girl's place and making her an outcast. You should be able to tell right away if one girl likes a new bun and the other does not, so this should be relatively easy to avoid.

Good luck with finding a third bun, be sure to check out the adoption centers here if you need help finding a good one: http://www.rabbit.org/adoption/index.htm...

Answer 2

Personally, I think either gender would be ok, provided they are all spayed or neutered.  Even though you have 2 females now, it's a good idea to have the 2nd one spayed.  She will be much healthier and a much better friend to her room-mate(s).  

Whatever gender you decide, make sure it is altered before you introduce them.

When you do get the new one, keep him/her isolated for at least 2 weeks to prevent the possibility of introducing an unknown illness or parasite to your girls. After that, if you have a common play area outside of the cage where they can have supervised first encounters, that would be best.

I had 9 bunns in one 'cage' , but the cage was the size of an average house bedroom!  They were all rescues and all spayed/neutered.

Introduce them gradually in a neutral zone, watch how they interact and take it from there. Keep them in side-by-side cages for a little while. You'll be able to tell when they are willing to accept the newcomer into the fold.

Might I recommend, if you're wanting a new bunny for the family, to look into a rescue.  There are so many poor unloved bunnies just dying for someone to welcome them into a happy home.

Here are a couple of links that may help.

Good luck

http://www.rabbit.org/adoption/index.htm...

http://www.angelfire.com/fl/RabbitRescue...

Answer 3

A neutered male would be the easiest intro.  Do watch closely for signs that the girls are fighting over him, though, especially if one is not spayed.  Adding a third bunny can be tricky.  It would be good if you could get in contact with a rescue and get a neutered adult from them because many rescues offer 'matchmaking' services and you can bring your girls to meet their prospective new friends, and have knowledgeable people help with the beginning of the bonding process.  There are some good materials on rabbit introductions here: http://www.rabbit.org/behavior/index.htm... that you may want to check out.