Match making for rabbits or How to find a life partner for your bunny!
When Sophie was about 10, her older sister Eve was fully involved in Guinea pig breeding, it had started by accident, the vet wrongly sexed our first 2 guinea pigs and they bred and before we had time to separate them the female became pregnant again! Eve thought this was wonderful as it was a way for her to make money, she encouraged her friends to get their parents to buy the babies.
Anyway, Sophie felt left out and one day when we were visiting a local children' s farm she found the rabbits and became obsessed with wanting a rabbit. It was actually very embarrasssing because she started screaming and crying in the middle of the farm because I said "No", we were moving soon and i didn't want to have yet something else to worry about having to move. She carried on screaming and crying all day and all the way home. Oh how I hate it when children whine like that.
I'm not very good at saying "No" and sticking to it........so a few weeks later we are in the pet shop buying a rabbit... a very pretty female grey and white rabbit . Sophie called her Pepsi. She adored Pepsi and all was well. A few months later we have moved and were settling in to our new home. Sophie notices that Pepsi is pulling lots of her fur out and is getting rather irritable. Sophie says Pepsi needs company as she is lonely. We talked to the pet shop, they advised us that it would be hard to find a rabbit to share with her unless we had her spayed. 2 females would fight and obviously a male would mean disaster!
The other option was a castrated male,we made enquiries and found a rabbit rescue centre in East Sussex. They invited us to bring Pepsi along to meet and greet their rabbits and hopefully find a mate! So one spring Sunday afternoon we drove across to the Rabbit rescue centre . The woman in charge spent a bit of time with Pepsi and then put her in a pen and introduced one at a time a neutered male rabbit, we fell in love with a very handsome white lop but Pepsi was terrifed! They chased each other around and after a while seemed to like each other. So we did the necessary and brought this new white rabbit home , we named him Magic!
This was the beginning of a nightmare, because when we put the 2 rabbits in to Pepsi's cage, which is huge ( About 7 foot across)We had done all the correct things the woman had told us, cleaned the cage out totally , put Magic in first and so on. They just started to fight, there was fur flying everywhere. Sophie got very upset and so we separated them. We tried again the next day and the same thing happened, we tried them in the open grass run and they still fought. Magic went to one end and Pepsi to the other.
It was not a match made in heaven at all!
After a week of trying we were all for giving up and returning Magic to the centre. We rang her to ask for more advice . What she suggested surprised us all.......... She told us to put both rabbit in a confined space, travel box and go for a ride in the car and make it as bumpy and rough as possible!! Sounded very cruel........but in fact it worked............They went in the box as sworn enemies they came out as the best of friends!! The bumping around forges a relationship to build in adversity apparently! We put them back in the cage and they started to lick each other, cuddle up and now they have been inseparable for the last 6 years, well apart from when Pepsi made her bids for freedom but you've heard that story!
8 comments:
That is amazing. I used to run a rabbit rescue about ten years ago and never came across that one before. Fantastic - so glad it worked - I wonder why it worked!
What a great trick - I'll bear that in mind if we get rabbits!
I wonder if it works with children ?
We had the rabbit/guinea-pig combo but the guinea pig died and we were left with the rabbit, the lonely rabbit.
Thinking that rabbits and chickens need the same kind of conditions we put the rabbit hutch in the chicken run.
Immediately he decided that he was a cockerell and began to rape the chickens, biting their necks in his passion. He lived in the chicken house, ate chicken food and even dustbathed.
After a while we decided that the chickens weren't happy so we took him to the vet to be castrated. He still lives in the chicken run but he no longer thinks he is a rooster, he made a burrow under the hen house and eats grass. I suspect he is not as happy as in his carousing days and intermittently I feel guilty about it,
J
They are hopeless these vets at the sexing thing!!, When I was a vet nurse one of the new assistants set a cat up to be speyed he had already shaved the necessary area on the poor thing when I came back into the room, "that will take some explaining" I said
"Why" came the pomus Cambridge educated reply
"'cause its a tom and the bit you need is at the back under the tail"
He told the owner that he was worried the poor thing had a spot of ringworm, so he shaved the area just to check!!
shame on him, at least he hadn't made a start with the sharp blade!!
It does work with children, I find with my tetchy teens, if I become the enemy, they are suddenly big buddies ganging up on me - doesn't last though
You Know Muddie, I adore Rabbits, but know they breed like, well - Rabbits. Hate the popping of the guns in the fields here, but farmers have to do it, because of the crops. Glad all worked out alright with your two bunnies. My daughter has a cat called Pepsi, but I call her Flopsy Bunny, she is just one big ball of fluff!
I still have not had any luck with Taxidermi, sorry dear Muddie, but I am determined to find out.
Camilla.xx
What a fascinating story and a great trick to make the rabbits friendly. I guess we humans are pretty much the same!
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