NYC METRO RABBIT NEWS APRIL 2 014 Do Rabbits Really Lay Eggs? By Robert Kulka Illustration: Michelle Nunnelly It is about this time each year that we have March Madness, the return of Daylight Savings Time and auditions for the Cadbury Bunny commercial. These are the signs signaling the welcome arrival of spring and new beginnings. It got me to wondering how it all began. I mean, the rabbit and spring and Easter eggs and baskets of candy and all that. The Most Important Word in Bonding: So I decided to do some research into P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E! By Mary Cotter Ed. note: Mary Cotter serves as vice president Since that time, she has taught many of the international House Rabbit Society, volunteers and rabbit caretakers to and is the founder and president of Rabbit bond rabbits using methods that avoid Rescue & Rehab, the NYC licensed chapter the use of force and that minimize stress, of HRS. She has been bonding rabbits and she offers these tips to give rabbit since 1988, when, after living with a owners a better understanding of Commons, User: Zefram Attribution: Wikimedia single rabbit for six years, she rescued the process. and bonded her first pair. P ick partners carefully. PICK potential partner rabbits carefully. There is tremendous variability in how Dreihasenfenster (“Window of Three Hares”) in the A bandon all expectations. cloister’s inner courtyard of Paderborn Cathedral, rabbits get along with each other upon Germany. T ime sessions religiously. first meeting. A few seem to genuinely I nteraction does not equal proximity. like each other and seek out each other’s the origins of the traditions and beliefs associated with the rabbit. It goes way, E valuate interactions frequently. company; many seem to “squabble” and bicker until it becomes clear that the way back in time. In fact, some of it can N eutral territory matters! other rabbit is not a threat; and a few be traced to pre-Christian times in C aution rather than risk! seem to want to demolish each other. Germany as early as the 13th century. It E nd sessions promptly. Many people, out of ignorance, make seems that rabbits represented spring (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 4) REGISTER Don’t miss the first-ever national HRS Rabbit Conference in St Louis, Mo. NOW! See details at end of this issue! Congratulations to Marcie Frishberg, winner of the national “Hearts of Gold” contest sponsored by Boyds Bears to recognize outstanding volunteers. Rabbit Rescue & Rehab will be receiving $1,000 in Marcie’s honor; look for an article about her in our June issue! Photogenic Sandy and Sally, our masthead bunnies, were also featured on the December 2013 masthead (photographed from the rear). They are bonded now! Their humans, Mike and Vanessa, report that their rabbits couldn’t be more different, yet both are “naughty in the cutest ways. Sally has taken to running up to her humans, looking at us lovingly, and then nipping our toes before binkying away. Sandy is a master escape artist who will use Sally as his ladder.” Sandy and Sally were adopted from Long Island Rabbit Rescue. Photo by Mike Miranda. Photo illustration by Mary Ann Maier. (Continued from page 1) P A the mistake of acquiring baby T rabbits who get along just fine – at first, because they are juveniles, and Illustrations: Michelle Nunnelly I subsequently because male/female E pairs want to breed. Once the rabbits N reach sexual maturity and are spayed/ neutered, however, things may C change. The smoothest bondings E are typically those in which the rabbits have meaningful input in the process. The rabbit caretaker’s choice of a partner rabbit (based on size, breed, color, etc.) may differ dramatically from the rabbit’s own choice, and attempts to force a rabbit to accept another rabbit may end sadly. because those of us who foster often Was this “love at first sight”? Or was it have little choice), the initial arousal In the early nineties, when I joined the the long-term effect of living peacefully caused by being so close to an unfamiliar first rabbit Internet listservs, I was struck in the same room? Hard to tell, and we rabbit often gradually gives way to by how many humans seemed to be may never know. But it certainly was indifference toward, or even acceptance of, trying to “threaten” rabbits into a bond. I not anyone’s expectation! the presence of another rabbit. I shared remember one rescuer in particular who this information with our early volunteers, TIME all bonding sessions religiously. claimed to be able to bond any pair of and we began to use this setup as a first In their eagerness to get the job done, rabbits, regardless of whether they “liked” step toward producing a peaceful bond. many rabbit caretakers unknowingly slow each other. This was very impressive to Rabbits who are given the opportunity down the bonding process by pushing me, until I learned how many bondings to live peacefully near another rabbit, for too much, too soon. Resist the created this way subsequently fell apart. and who can see, hear and smell the temptation to extend bonding sessions Pick the rabbit who gets along best with other rabbit, are subsequently much “because the rabbits are doing so well!” your own rabbit; you will have a much easier to introduce outside their cages. easier time, and you will increase the The best bonding sessions are short, and chances for a solid, long-term bond. A note about “living peacefully”: pens or always end on a successful note. Set a cages should be placed side-by-side with ABANDON all expectations. Owner enough space between them (usually (Continued on page 3) expectations of how a bonding “should” around 3 inches) so that the rabbits proceed are almost always different cannot press their noses through the from how it actually does proceed, and spaces between the bars to touch (or attempting to force rabbits to live up to bite!) each other. If necessary, place an expectations almost always leads to object (such as a water bottle on its side) disappointment. between the pens, to prevent the rabbits Some years ago, an owner complained from pushing the pens closer. If one that her rabbits “just weren’t bonding,” rabbit is getting out-of-cage exercise time, although they had lived together it should be in an area well away from the peacefully for many months. She was other rabbit’s pen. These two considerations not aware that some bonds seem to be are key to keeping the peace. “love” bonds, with constant mutual Occasionally, rabbits will bond on their grooming, while others may seem more own without any special efforts on the “platonic.” Either type of bond is just part of their humans. In one instance, a fine; let the rabbits decide the degree of fosterer housed two unrelated female closeness that works for them, and rabbits in an extra bedroom for almost a accept their decision without pressuring year, and reported that she was getting them toward further “closeness.” the feeling that these rabbits “liked” each That said, when rabbits are housed in other, although they had never been side-by-side cages or puppy exercise pens introduced. She was right: we introduced (as they are in many rescue situations, those rabbits and they bonded immediately. THUMP APRIL 2014 2 (Continued from page 2) Nevertheless, when bonding rabbits in a your protected hands into any sudden P limited space, many rabbit caretakers fray or unexpected confrontation A timer for one minute at first, and worry that the rabbits are “not interacting” between the rabbits, in a manner that when they choose to stay distant from allows them to redirect their aggression T separate the rabbits after that time, no matter what they are doing. one another, and these caretakers onto your hands. If necessary, you can I Several very short, very peaceful repeatedly move the rabbits closer in a firmly and snugly “straddle” one rabbit’s E bonding sessions per day will go misguided effort to “get them to bond.” body with your protected hands, while a friend or assistant removes the other rabbit, N much farther in creating a solid EVALUATE interactions frequently bond than longer sessions where the during each session. Do not let the or blocks off his access to your rabbit. C rabbits become hostile toward one rabbits’ apparently compatible behavior If you are fairly new to rabbits, and are E another and need to be separated. at the outset lull you into complacency. not sure what a particular behavioral After several, peaceful, one-minute Things can change quickly, and a session display means, or if you even think one sessions, increase the time to 90 that started out peacefully can turn sour rabbit is becoming agitated or exhibiting seconds, and then two minutes. As you with one backwards hump or head-to- aggressive behavior toward the other, err continue with bonding sessions, you will tail chase! If you are not thoroughly on the side of caution and separate the develop a good sense of how long the familiar with normal rabbit behavior, rabbits. If you wonder if the bonding rabbits can be together successfully. As ask someone who is to help you evaluate session has gone on too long, err on the long as you do not exceed this time, you what you are observing. side of caution and terminate the session. will not lose ground. NEUTRAL territory matters! Introducing Exercising caution may mean the It is much easier to be patient if you rabbits in “neutral territory” can make a bonding process will take a bit longer, remind yourself that a single incident of big difference in their ability to get along.