Female rabbits really should be spayed, regardless of whether they are a single rabbit or the other bunny is neutered. Female rabbits have an 85% risk of developing uterine cancer by the age of 4 if not altered.

Also, if she is not spayed they will begin to fight once she reaches sexual maturity and they won’t be able to be together at all. In general, female rabbits are actually MORE aggressive and territorial than males and they can be very mean when intact.

Why were you not going to spay her, just b/c he is neutered or is there another reason?

I must say that besides what Beka is saying there is also another point, which is just as important: your female will be sexually frustrated which is not nice for her. Rabbits are meant for reproducing 3-4 times during their season each year. It is the whole point of their existance and also why they are so prone to uterine cancer as house rabbits. House rabbits don’t follow the season the same way as wild rabbits do, which means a female bunny will have a hormonal urge to reproduce all the time and be sexually frustrated. That is no life for her. Neutering means giving the bunnies peace of mind and a less stressful life.

There is no way of knowing if they will fight. But it is definitely a good idea to read up on bonding before beginning. This is a very good link:
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/introductions.html

Female rabbits are typically *very* territorial, especially starting around 5 months. I don’t think there’s much of a chance that they’ll be able to get along once her hormones kick in and there’s a good chance that someone will get seriously hurt in a fight.

I have 2 buns that I am currently bonding, you don’t have to keep them in a tiny cage, bunnies need at least 4 hours of exercise time outside of a cage every day. Before bonding, mine had play time separate, now they are able to play together.

I would NOT put the new baby inside the big cage with Newton. Even in the little cage. Keep the little cage separate, as bunnies can and will fight through bars. Bonding can be a lengthy process, bunnies generally don’t insta-bond, although sometimes it does happen. You won’t want to bond her to him until she is spayed, around 6 months old. You’ll have to house her separate until a month after the spay.

You can absolutely bond two bunnies together, and bonding a male with a female is typically the easiest bond. So don’t worry too much! You just need to get your girl spayed, then wait for her hormones to die down (about 4 weeks) then work on bonding them following the typical steps. You won’t be able to just put them in the same space together – you’ll need to introduce them in neutral territory a lot of times and ensure that they have positive time together, then very gradually you will be able to leave them together longer and longer and eventually have them share the same cage.

Spaying is desexing, just like a neuter, but spaying is a more invasive procedure. They actually open the bunny up and take out her reproductive organs so she can no longer reproduce and won’t be producing the reproductive hormones (which make her very sexually frustrated). It’s hard, but just remember that it will most likely extend her life by 7-10 years and make her much much happier. And it will make it possible to bond her with your boy! It’s so worth it to get her spayed.

Where is the picture of your cage? I’m kind of confused about the set up and the litter box especially, so I’d love to check it out.

I can’t see the pics 🙁

Did you upload them and then click on “add picture to post” (on the green plus sign)?

The picture should show up in your post (in the editing screen) before you submit the post. So you’ll know if it worked.

When you upload, is it successful? It could be the wrong file format or it could be too large.

Assuming the upload is working and you see the file name show up, you just need to click the green plus sign to add to your post.

That’s a pretty cool cage! I do think that your new bunny needs to have her cage removed from his. Bunnies can and will fight through the bars. And once she’s out of his cage, she can have her own exercise time (maybe adding a pen to the front of her cage would give her more room too).

Or maybe you could close up one of the holes so that one bun got two sections of the cage and the other got one section. They’d both still need to come out for exercise, but it might be a good housing solution for you.

Those petstore cages are just too small for any bun, unfortunately 🙁 But it’s pretty easy to enlarge them by adding a pen made of NIC grids so the bunny can hop out and run around in the pen too.

But Newton’s cage is so huge, I don’t think it would be a problem to close off a section of it for the other bun. But of course, you don’t have to – you can keep her in her current cage just as easily.

I’m just curious, but why does Newton have to come out for his litter box? It seems like he has one inside – does he only use the litterbox outside of his cage?

Yep, most of the breeder buns do, if they don’t die from other stuff. Its why most of them are always so young.

For girls, you spay. Boys, its neuter

Usually, yes. My vet charges 200 for spay, 165 for neuter. its because the spay is invasive, while the neuter is mostly external.

Monkey was out of it for a couple days after her spay. But the pain meds help. With the aid of her banana flavored metacam, she was dancing for treats in no time

Many of us do have bonded bunnies, but we have either had them spay/neutered ourselves or adopted them already fixed. All bunnies should be altered when in pairs, regardless of what sex. Let us know if you have any more questions.

Your Newton is very cute, by the way!

Deannaline, you sound worried that you brought a girl home. Don’t! It’s a great idea and those two bunnies will most likely be very thankful for the company. You are on the right track. The point is just that both need to be fixed. That will make the bonding so much easier and as mentioned earlier give bunnies a better, healthier and longer life.

As for breeders, well, I don’t know how the health is of those bunnies. But if a breeder does let her female have litters a couple of times a year, the risk of cancer is most likely not very high. But most likely, they don’t live very long either as it does take its toll to have litters all the time and they rarely get out of their small cages, so they get no exercise or enjoy the company of other bunnies.

Good luck with it. And I must say: someone has been very busy building a bunny condo! Wow.

When I found out it was a good idea to bond Karl with another bunny, I started reading all the various bonding posts in here – and I was horrified. It seemed so impossible and so stressful, but thankfully someone in here reassured me. For some it is a stressful journey, but not for all. I have a bonded trio today, and I should never have worried. But do read up on bonding – and stock up on bananas, haha

I bonded Karl and Molly when Molly was not spayed…they loved each other at first sight. I did spay her 2 days after though. The point is that I think you can still do bonding sessions with them while waiting for her spay, although of course, you need to supervise it as she might be territorial at times.

And yes, it is expensive for the spay, and yes, you will be feeling so bad the day before the spay and the following days, while she is recovering. But she will be just fine, and you will have done the best thing for her.

Great pictures – I cannot wait to see pictures of Nala and Newton snuggling together again.

lol – no Karla isn’t “karla” hehe. That was the name she called her bunny before she found out it was a boy! She’s just kept Karla there as her screen name.

Deann, the condo looks great! I think if you do get Nalla, it would be ok for her and Newton to have supervised play time together. That would be good for Newton as it’ll give him some company in the meantime. If you have Nallas cage near his also so they can see each other. This should help get them used to one another before you try bond them in the future. I can’t say I’d be able to wait 5 month without having let them meet. Since he is neutered, there’s no risk of pregnancy. So some short times together while your there watching them would be alright in my opinion.

If you do look to get Nalla spayed, be sure to get an experienced rabbit vet. I’m sorry Newton had a hard time and can see why you have some fears. When the time comes, I’m sure members here can help you find a suitable vet and offer lots of support.

Haha, yeah, thanks JerseyGirl. I know it confuses so many people…maybe I should change the screen name, but then none of you will know who I am

haha. Most of us refer to each other by the screen names anyway, so as long as you know we mean you and not Karl – then it’s all good. I’m called Jersey alot even though that is actually my bunny. But it’s fine.

Bunnies are expensive. You don’t have her yet, so it’s not too late… maybe it’s just not the right time to bring another bunny into the house? I’m sure she’d find a great home with someone else and then maybe you could look into getting another bunny some other time, or better yet, adopt one that is already spayed from a rabbit rescue. Just a thought.

Yep, bunnies do add up. And girls always cost more to spay. I’ve definitely spent over a thousand on my 2, and I don’t care, they’re my babies

Lol, I call Jerseygirl Jersey

If you’re concerned about the cost, you could always hold off a bit and wait to get another bunny. Or like Beka suggested, look into adoption. I really think adoption is a good option – I adopted both of mine. You pay a nominal fee to the shelter or rescue to defray the costs that they’ve spent on the rabbit, and he/she comes home already checked by the vet and desexed! So you could start bonding right away! An added bonus, you can usually take your current bunny “dating” to let him meet a few candidates and see who he gets along with.

It sounds like you have your heart set on this little girl though. So best of luck with everything! Let us know what you decide to do.

Oh good! That’s great you received some money, it will definitely come in handy! Can I also suggest you begin to put a little bit away when you can for an emergency fund? You’ll sleep better at night knowing that if one of the buns became sick, you had some money to cover the expense.

Definitely put a med fund together. Things can sneak up on ya, like my Moosie’s stasis.

Actually neuter means the removal of sex organs. It applies to males or females. The sex specific terms are for males=castration and females=spay. The female will have her uterus and ovaries removed. The male will have his testes removed from the scrotal sac (but often the scrotal sac and testes are both removed). I’m not sure why but for some reason people use term spay correctly for females, but use the generic term neuter for males- probably by men who decided castration made them cringe when they heard it

You said Newton had a difficult recovery from his neuter. The bulk may have been swelling in the sacs that gradually disappeared.  It seems a bit long to have swelling for weeks. Perhaps he had a reaction to stitches?   If you’re in serious doubt about whether he was fully fixed, take him to a different vet just to check everything is as it should be.