One Bun or Two?

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heart&sparrow

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I'm considering starting a Rex rabbitry, but I've never owned a rabbit before (though I've had a variety of other pets), so I'm not sure what kind of time commitment I'd be signing up for. I'm a mom of four kids, so my life is very busy, I don't want to buy and breed multiple rabbits only to discover that I can't properly care for them all.

I'm toying with the idea of buying just one pedigreed Rex buck to start out, so I can see what caring for a single rabbit is like, and whether I might be able to do it on a larger scale. If it's manageable, I'll look into getting him a girlfriend or two. If not, then it's probably easier to sell one rabbit than three (or ten!).

The thing is, I've read that rabbits are very social animals and benefit from having at least one companion, so should I get a doe as well and keep her in another cage next to him? Would he (or I) be happier if he had another buck next door? Would he even care about having a neighbor, since they're in separate cages???

Maybe I'm overthinking all of this, but if I do get rabbits, I want to give them a good life. I don't want to make a bunch of rookie mistakes that could cause a lot of stress for me and the animals in my care.

Your advice would be very welcome.

Kimberly
 
The whole "rabbits can't live happily without a partner" comes from mostly pet rabbit people. In my experience, there's no need for them to have a friend or even a rabbit in a cage next to them. Putting a Doe near him might make him more or less likely to spray, not 100% sure which
 
What do you plan to breed for, meat, fur, pets?

When I started raising rabbits I did it old style, small hutches, single rabbits. I quickly realized that they are social animals, and have a lot more potential then most give them credit for or have any use for in the lifestock role.

Now I do not keep single rabbits if I can help it, but it's not as dire as some paint it. A lot of the domestication of rabbits dealt with getting them to deal with coping with small spaces and boredom.

Well, yes, a doe near a buck quite likely will make him spray, my buck is my free range house bunny and has a spayed doe as cuddlebun, well, there is some mopping up to do now and then. But I rather have it that way than keeping him alone, although it did work well in my house with the previous buck for two years, then I got the impression that he was lonely since he was away from the does and I'm alone and not home much, and don't interact with them that much anyway .
My rabbits are out of the hutches during the day, back when my bucks were in a hutch in the rabbitry the does often visited the (locked up) buck, that sure made his life more interesting back then, if I ever keep a buck single again I'm going to make sure that he at least shares a fence with the does.

A lot of my satisfaction from keeping rabbits stems from experiencing them interact, I see that they live good lifes together.
It does have pros and cons. First, keeping my breeding does in pairs reduced the workload since I only had to care for two hutches. Having my buck alone or with his cuddlebun didn't make much of a difference, same chores, just some more hay/forage to feed, some more litter going to the compost.
Now, after one of my former breeding does died at 11, I connected all hutches, 2 breeding does (4y/6months), and two retired does (5years/9years) live together, currently there are 3 more 6 m old and 3 9week old with them, but those will be gone before winter, sooner or later.

I'm aware that the way I do it is not very common, with rabbits being lifestock and pets, and I'm blessed with resources, I have enough hutch space, and can free range them during day time. Not many predators around too, shot one fox that got too interested and for some wiered reasons the martens don't create any problems at all for 8 years now.

Enough structured space imo is a key factor for smooth sailings, they need enough so they can get out of each others eyes if they feel like it, otherwise social tensions can lead to unnecessary stress. Somewhat more than 2 single cages.
There are some rabbits that are more happy alone, and not all rabbits will get along with each other - characters need to match. My way to get that right is to keep the doeling that gets along best with mom as the next breeding doe.

It took me years to figure out a way I'm happy with, I think starting small is a good idea, no need to hurry.
Getting just a buck could certainly put him, and all rabbithood with him, into the pet corner :D, when breeding for meat that could become an issue (not for me since I'm alone), and be prepared to have a pet for 10-14 years ;).
Bucks imho can be better pets than most does, they just are more carefree.

Getting a pregnant doe would be more about getting into breeding, maybe you can find a breeder who would take them off your hands if it turns out to not be your shtick.
 
I'm considering starting a Rex rabbitry, but I've never owned a rabbit before (though I've had a variety of other pets), so I'm not sure what kind of time commitment I'd be signing up for. I'm a mom of four kids, so my life is very busy, I don't want to buy and breed multiple rabbits only to discover that I can't properly care for them all.

I'm toying with the idea of buying just one pedigreed Rex buck to start out, so I can see what caring for a single rabbit is like, and whether I might be able to do it on a larger scale. If it's manageable, I'll look into getting him a girlfriend or two. If not, then it's probably easier to sell one rabbit than three (or ten!).

Do it! :) Kids and rabbit are a great combination! And rabbits are, imo, about the lowest maintenance animal you can have (well, maybe a goldfish, but they don't double as snuggly therapy animals!).

We homeschooled five kids, and the rabbits have been a fantastic part of our life (and for many of those years, we lived in the city on a lot of around 10,000 sq ft). Over the years, our kids learned SO MUCH from raising rabbits that it's hard to make a list, but it includes biology, anatomy, behavior, economics, genetics, observation skills, generosity, public speaking, physics, engineering and building (cages, fences and nest boxes), and where meat comes from, as well as really important things like compassion, cooperation, responsibility, and self-sacrifice. Like I mentioned, the rabbits also performed much therapy: when one of our more volatile children would be "having a day," I'd tell him or her to go pet the rabbits. He or she always came back calmed.

We did start out with a single mixed breed lop buck (named Gunner in hopes that my husband would stop trying to give that name to our next male child :ROFLMAO:). Although I've raised rabbits for much of my life, I wanted to be sure that rabbits would be a good fit for our family. I agree with @Preitler that bucks tend to be the best pets, at least in the larger breeds; of course there are individual differences, and I've found that in the dwarf breeds like Polish, Mini Rex and Holland Lop, both sexes make nice pets, but overall, as they mature, female rabbits can get a little uppity and territorial while bucks are generally curious and friendly. You can find females that not uppity and I'd encourage you make to that a priority; Rex in my experience are usually pretty sweet. When we started raising Satins as meat rabbits - after we'd had Gunner for a few years - for about three generations I had to cull rabbits that were not nice; now we rarely have one that is not. (When there was a rabbit in a new litter that was aggressive, the kids would tell me, "Mom, there is a pot bunny in this litter." :LOL:) But since I had kids that were so involved with the rabbits, and a passel of neighbor kids who loved visiting too, it was really important to have rabbits that did not attack someone opening their cage!

I did have some concerns about the kids not wanting to eat our rabbits, and I was prepared to harvest and can the meat when no one was looking and just call it "meat," but all my worries came to naught. We named the breeders only and they were the pets. We bred at least two does at a time so there were lots of bunnies at the same time, and if there were one or two that the kids especially liked, we'd find homes for them instead of butchering them. We explained to the kids what we were doing and why, and as I've learned, emotionally healthy kids are usually quite able to handle these things. (The only thing that came up was that my 5-year-old wanted to know that we weren't eating tiny babies!) We didn't necessarily let the littlest ones watch as the rabbits were dispatched, but once the rabbits were dead and butchering started, they all wanted to watch (there's some biology, anatomy and physics).

The thing is, I've read that rabbits are very social animals and benefit from having at least one companion, so should I get a doe as well and keep her in another cage next to him? Would he (or I) be happier if he had another buck next door? Would he even care about having a neighbor, since they're in separate cages???

Maybe I'm overthinking all of this, but if I do get rabbits, I want to give them a good life. I don't want to make a bunch of rookie mistakes that could cause a lot of stress for me and the animals in my care.
I agree with @RabbitsOfTheCreek that rabbits don't "need" another rabbit around. And yes, although I don't have too much of a problem with spraying bucks, some of my bucks will spray if there's a doe next to them, and some will also have spraying wars with an adjacent buck. So I actually have solid barriers between my bucks and other rabbits. That also prevents barbering (chewing on each other's fur) and fighting, as well as breeding through the wire, which an experienced rabbit breeder friend assured me can happen! On another note, I don't have much in the way of health problems in our rabbits, but the solid barriers also work to keep nasty things from spreading; for instance, a rabbit that comes home from the Fair with fur mites doesn't immediately spread it to the others!

It's true that rabbits do like companionship and several of my does are buds with the one next door, laying next to each other along the wire barrier. On the other hand, when they are raising a litter, some of my does will defend their kits by literally biting off body parts of the does or kits next to them, so they get solid barriers between them as well. But we make sure our rabbits get their companionship from us. In the winter that's more challenging (it's one of those opportunities for learning compassion, responsibility, and self-sacrifice!). But not only do the rabbits appreciate the attention, but interacting with them every day also builds those powers of observation, and allows you/the kids to begin to notice if something is going wrong before it gets really serious.

I agree with you about our obligation to give the animals in our care a good life. Happy animals are healthy animals, and compassionate people are healthy people! One of my daughters schooled an ignorant man once at a Farmer's Market. He asked her how we could possibly kill and eat our rabbits (who would do that to a 6-year-old?). She told him:
"Our rabbits have food, water, protection from predators and petting and love, and when it's time to butcher them, it's over like THAT." (She tried to snap her fingers but hadn't quite learned how yet). Then she said, "Do you know how rabbits in the wild die?!?!?"
Suffice it to say the man kind of slunk away and I stood there glowing with pride. :)
 
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dogs are social animals. they live in packs. Most people have one. also Parrots are social animals who live in flocks. Most pet birds are, in fact. Again, many people have just one.

It is perfectly fine to have one rabbit, but you would probably want to recognize that without a whole group of them, you are their social outlet. They will be happier if you give them some love and attention, some toys and treats. Just like a dog or a bird stuck in a small cage alone and untouched for weeks at a time would eventually become depressed or neurotic, so will a rabbit if you do not have much time for them. Some people get around that with toys and attention, some with colonies of rabbits, some just by consistently breeding and raising litters.
 
"dogs are social animals. they live in packs. Most people have one. also Parrots are social animals who live in flocks. Most pet birds are, in fact. Again, many people have just one."

Excellent points.

I'm getting the sense that it would be fine to start off with just one rabbit, but we'd need to give some thought to how/when/where we'd give him consistent attention and stimulation.
 
I believe AK satin gave great advice. We also homeschooled our 2 kids. And they wanted to restart our rabbitry as adults with kids. As does my beautiful wife. Animal husbandry is important. It teaches about life and requires responsibility to carry through. And have healthy happy rabbits. And have a quality food product hormone n steroid free. Along with kids getting outside. And getting involved with the work and satisfaction that comes with raising your own food. A lot of learning there.
Anyhows you asked 1 or 2. A buck by himself getting all the attention would be pretty happy. We raise Black New Zealand and Californian buck. Line breeding for a lilock blue color fur. Although we don't save the fur.
Rabbits are a low keep animal. And exceptionally clean. And produce a great manure for composting.
We have not had baby rabbits since building our new home, not enough time to commit. But we still kept our rabbits and even added a second buck. For our 4 does. In our first year we produced over 300 pounds of meat. Frozen n vacuum sealed and canned. And with the high cost of meat and the quality of the meat being expensive. And food security. We live in AK and can get cut off quick. With what is going on globally my family feels more secure knowing that we have a quality meat source in the back yard. And for me, getting oller n not harvesting a moose for the freezer every year. Kinda helps me feel better about having them around.
We homeschooled our kids. Now we homeschool 3 grandkids. The 16 year old has control of the rabbitry. And has his own pet bunny. Saved from the freezer. But he cares for it. Something that he couldn't learn in school. And to a certain degree, we don't live in a city so not much for kids. Our rabbits, chickens, goats, horses, birds, cats n dogs have all helped our kids grow and they would spend hours with them.
Whatever you do. Good luck and good on you for checking things out like raising small livestock for your children
 
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