Bunny Behaviour

I thought I would post an update on some of the rescue rabbits.

In a 10 x 7 foot enclosure, we have a little herd formed of 8 of the rescues. Well, two herds in fact.
An existing little white Lionhead buck and the giant, Ugly Betty, have paired up to form the dominant pair and boy does Betty rule with an iron fist! (not to mention the odd belly flop..) She resides over the rest as queen matriach and goes completely unchallenged. To me, this is the best kind of boss as it makes for a peaceful herd of rabbits who feel protected under Betty's leadership, so for that, I thank the big ol' bossy boots.

I introduced a second buck, being a quiet lion lop, together with a variety of does including a mini rex, havana, rather large netherland dwarf type, a harlequin and a second crossbred giant doe.

Interestingly, the lion lop buck has bagged himself a female. He and the havana doe have formed a sort of subherd and hang out in a particular corner. In this weather, the two bucks can live together peacefully and it is unlikely that any mating will occur because the males testes are well and truly absorbed up into their bodies until spring. The two barely interact with each other, they simply occupy different areas of the enclosure.

The netherland dwarf, mini rex and harlequin does are fairly independant and although consider themselves part of Ugly Betty's tribe, they will socialise with all and spend time by themselves, apart from the groups.
Betty's main concern is the other giant female as she must appear to be the biggest threat to Betty's throne. However, this female is very submissive indeed which means that she keeps her head down, and Betty is happy. All are growing closer each day and some strong bonds are being formed.

I should say that to ensure that the more subordinate members of the herd get plenty of water and feed, I do leave their supplies in two opposing corners which means that Betty cannot drive everybody off of two places at once. This is an important consideration in keeping a group of rabbits together as opposed to the usual pair - they take more monitoring and supervising. However, I firmly believe that these rabbits have a naturalistic social setup which is very enriching for them and fascinating to watch.
Furthermore, the extra bodyheat of a pile of 8 must be much more welcome in this weather than just two bunnies trying to cuddle together. As highly sociable creatures, it is lovely to watch this more naturally sized herd and I hope to get some interesting video footage to share :o)



*****Please Note: I really want to stress that it is not reccomended that you attempt to house two entire buck rabbits together, especially with females around, but what I have done here is from years of studying wild and captive rabbit behaviour and that is what has enabled me to introduce this combination together successfully. If you have limited experience with rabbit behaviour, please do stick to the usual combination of neuters or pair of females. It would be irresponsible of me to post about this herd without explaining that it is not necessarily a simple process. Thanks for reading :o)