Bonded but not fixed rabbits

[Merlinthegreat]

Hey guys I have three rabbits fawn, winter and Oliver. Fawn and winter are both females and Oliver is male. Oliver and fawn are from the same litter and winter is a different breed. All three are about to turn four months. Oliver and winter are bonded and always together but Oliver’s sack just dropped. They are not full but they are definitely there. He keeps humping winter but is obviously not getting anywhere. Is this a good time to separate them? Will I be able to bond them again? Fawn is caged alone because she becomes really stressed when she’s with the other bunnies and starts over producing cecals in stressful situations. Will we ever be able to bond all three of them? We have an appointment set up in two months to have all of them fixed. And we would like for all three of them to be caged together/ free range once they are fixed. Right now we let them out at different times for a few hours then put them back.

[MoveDiagonally]

They need to be separate immediately.

You are getting to the point where continued contact will result in a pregnancy. Not only is this not ideal as you could end up with a lot more rabbits to care for it can be dangerous for a young rabbit to get pregnant. They cannot have ANY contact, even through cages or supervised, until at least your male is neutered. Remember he can still impregnate a female rabbit for 30 days after the surgery.

Bonding is a possibility in the future but they will all need to be spayed and neutered + 1 month.

[MoveDiagonally]

I thought you had already separated your rabbits?
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/125983/Default.aspx

[hannaroo]

Please listen to advice given here. As you were told before they need to be separated and Move Diagonally is correct in saying that pregnancy a at this age are dangerous at this age and they can be rebonded a month after neutering and spaying.

Hormonal rabbits also fight so keeping them together will not only have a HUGE risk of unwanted pregnancy but if they do fight it will make it harder to bond them later on!

[Sarita]

I’m pretty certain that we have recommended on several occasions for you to separate your male and female due to the possibility of pregnancy. If you haven’t done it you need to – it’s the responsible thing to do.

[Beka27]

The honest truth is that we do not know if you will be able to bond them again. Rabbits do not always bond. You may end up with three separate rabbits for the next ten years. Their behavior is hormonal right now. They are not bonded, they are amorous rabbits. It doesn’t matter who is buddies with who, or who is siblings with who… a rabbit will breed with another rabbit because that is nature’s way.

What we do know is that you are acting irresponsibly by continuing to have mixed sexes together at this age. This is not meant to be an attack on you, consider it more of a wake-up call.

On July 7th, you started a thread seeking advice about their behavior. Collectively, we recommended that they be separated immediately. You replied in a way that made us believe you understood and agreed with this advice.

On July 17th, you started another thread seeking advice about their behavior. Again, we recommended across the board that they be separated. You agreed and replied that they would be separated that day.

At this point, if one or both females deliver a litter, it will be considered intentional breeding and discussion of the litter will not be permitted on BB.

We have tried our very best to help you, first with the Coccidia issue they were facing, then later with the behavioral questions… These are your rabbits however, and you need to make the best decisions for them and you.

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By Merlinthegreat on 08/01/2013 11:48 PM
Hey guys I have three rabbits fawn, winter and Oliver. Fawn and winter are both females and Oliver is male. Oliver and fawn are from the same litter and winter is a different breed. All three are about to turn four months. Oliver and winter are bonded and always together but Oliver’s sack just dropped. They are not full but they are definitely there. He keeps humping winter but is obviously not getting anywhere. Is this a good time to separate them? Will I be able to bond them again? Fawn is caged alone because she becomes really stressed when she’s with the other bunnies and starts over producing cecals in stressful situations. Will we ever be able to bond all three of them? We have an appointment set up in two months to have all of them fixed. And we would like for all three of them to be caged together/ free range once they are fixed. Right now we let them out at different times for a few hours then put them back.

 

You really can’t tell when a male rabbit is getting anywhere. It only takes about 2-3 seconds of humping and it doesn’t seem at all like they ”get anywhere” and they can still make the female pregnant. It isn’t like dogs or cats, where it’s quite obvious when they have successfully mated. It’s quick and doesn’t even seem like they could have, but they have. Powder got into Stickers habitat (boyfriend didn’t put the baby gate back properly when he left for work, I didn’t notice when I let Powder out to run until I heard it fall) before she was spayed and in the time it took me to run after him when I heard it break down, he had already run over to her and was on top of her. They were together for MAYBE 3 seconds, which in a dog I could have pulled him off and no harm done. In a rabbit, that was all it took. Luckily, she was already scheduled to be spayed (she was four months old, by the vets guess), so no oops litter to deal with… but the vet confirmed pregnancy was aborted when he spayed her.

Please, separate them. You do not want to have to deal with an oops litter! And your rabbits are old enough to get pregnant.

[Merlinthegreat]

Thanks we have separated all of them and all are due to be spayed and neutered in two to three months.

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