Registered charity 1181188
Rabbit adoption
Thank you for showing an interest in adopting rabbits!
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You can view our available rabbits here, though we recommend checking with us that the rabbits you're interested in are still available before applying. Sometimes we keep a waiting list of potential homes so even if all of our bunnies are reserved it might be worth getting in touch anyway ready for new bunnies that arrive
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Before applying make sure you have read our care advice for rabbits. Most cages/hutches, food, treats & bedding sold by pet shops are not suitable for rabbits even though they are marketed as being.
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Make sure you can provide:
- an enclosure at least 3m x 2m x 1m, 16 gauge mesh (if outdoor)
- if indoor, there must be a 'bunny base' area that's completely dedicated to the rabbits of 3mx2m, even if they free range people areas too.
- a high quality, wide variety natural diet
- access to a rabbit-savvy vet
- multiple hiding opportunities (houses, tunnels etc)
- digging opportunities
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If you're wanting to adopt a rabbit (or multiple) to bond to a rabbit you already have, click here
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If you're wanting to adopt rabbits that aren't for bonding to any you already have, click here
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Adopters need to be able to travel to us (Breaston, Derbyshire)
The minimum adoption donation for a single rabbit is £100, pair of rabbits £150. The adoption donations help towards the costs of getting the rabbits ready for adoption. Neutering & vaccinating a male rabbit costs us £136, spaying & vaccinating a female rabbit costs us £160
The process for adopting a rabbit from us to bond to your own rabbit
We currently aren't able to offer a full bonding service, if you're wanting to adopt a rabbit from us to bond to your own rabbit you do need to bring your rabbit along with you on the adoption day. We will be able to put them in a neutral small playpen and watch their initial behaviour with you, the rabbits' behaviour will determine what the best bonding method will be as you take them home to carry on. We can also switch to a different rabbit if the initial behaviours aren't looking ideal enough for continuing depending on your level of experience etc
The majority of rabbits just display good, normal behaviours during this time such as humping, fur nipping, sometimes even some grooming of the other rabbit. The following video was taken during a meeting between one of our rabbits and an adopter's rabbit. It's somewhat rare for there to be grooming during this initial meeting but we've had it happen quite a few times.
If the meeting goes well with just acceptable behaviours then we recommend taking both rabbits home together in the same carrier (though we don't recommend taking rabbits on un-necessary car journeys, but since they need to travel home anyway it's worth having them travel together)
Once home we recommend keeping the rabbits together in a small neutral space (eg large dog crate, indoor rabbit cage, a few panels of a playpen roughly 4x2ft) and monitoring them, only start increasing the space once they've had at least a couple of days of being very settled together, and only expand the space slowly. Don't give them any dens within the bonding area until further along in the process as you don't want them claiming territory, keep it basic to start.
If the initial meeting shows behaviours that are a bit more of a cause for concern such as fast circling or lunging then instead of proceeding with the small space together method we'd recommend having them travel home in separate carriers and trying the side-by-side method where they live in pens next to each other and slowly get used to each other and doing things like smell-swapping. Generally we find this method less successful as they can get frustrated that they have a strange rabbit near them and they aren't able to sort out their hierarchy as there are bars between them, but for some rabbits it works. After doing this for a while then re-attempt the small neutral space method.
The majority of rabbits do fine with the small neutral space method and stay together for the duration, it's much rarer that we've had rabbits need to use a slower side-by-side method.
Regardless of which method is being used your adoption donation will be held as a deposit until after the rabbits have settled together and you're happy they're working out as a bonded pair, You just need to keep us updated during the bonding process and we can give you more detailed advice along the way depending on what specific behaviours are being shown. If the bond doesn't work out (which is usually rare) we can return the adoption donation when our rabbit comes back.
Our bonding agreement which will need signing on the day can be read here