Recently neutered male humping unspayed female

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This topic has 6sd replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 10 months ago by Beka27.

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- 04/22/2015 at 7:12 AM
  Lyra
  Participant
  2 posts
  Hey everyone,
  
  I’ve been reading here a lot for bunny tips and have finally made an account!
  
  I got my first male rabbit from a pet shop in February, he is a dwarf lop and he had loads of things wrong with him but he’s fixed up now. They told me he was about 4 months old when I got him. He was neutered right at the end of March. I then got an 8 week old female Lionhead from a breeder on 4th April. They’re both indoor rabbits but have been in different cages. They met through the bars when it was their turn out of the cage, but I had read to wait a while for the boys hormones to go away after his neutering before introducing.
  
  I put the boy in a pet carrier and the girl was hopping round the room. The boy was honking and scratching at the carrier to get out to her (honking is a sexual thing?) I tried this a few times but he still kept honking. Last week he stopped the honking so I thought his sexual urges were over, and put them both together in an empty bath. They ignored each other for 30 seconds and then the boy jumped on the girl and started humping her, I was spraying water at him but he didn’t get off. He got off eventually though and went to the other end of the bath, but then went and humped her again! After he got off I picked her up and put them both back in their cages. Through the humping the girl didn’t seem to care. She just sat there but he is a lot bigger than her too so maybe she was a bit squished and couldn’t run away.
  
  I haven’t tried introducing them since then. Do you think she could have gotten pregnant from those humps? He seemed to be humping her back rather than the proper area. How do I know if it’s sexual humping or dominance humping? I’ve read it’s normal for humping to happen when doing bonding introductions so don’t know if I should introduce them again or if it could end with her being pregnant? She is not spayed because she’s too young but as I said he was neutered on the end of March
  
  She won’t be able to be spayed for another 4 months and I really don’t want to wait that long before they can live together. How often after neutering will the male be infertile?
- 04/22/2015 at 8:20 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  You need to wait until the female is spayed before you allow them to interact.
  
  It is possible he is still hormonal too.
- 04/22/2015 at 11:13 AM
  Eepster
  Participant
  1236 posts
  Male rabbits can keep viable sperm alive inside them for up to a month after being neutered. Watch for signs of pregnancy.
- 04/22/2015 at 4:34 PM
  Lyra
  Participant
  2 posts
  I hope she isn’t pregnant! but it did look like he was humping her back and so nothing went “in”. It’ll have been a month since his neuter next week. Do you think it’ll be ok to introduce them then or I really have to wait until she is spayed?
  
  I got a double indoor cage-hutch thing for them which currently the male is in, with the girl in a large rat cage – they both have plenty of space but the rat cage is just over 5 feet tall, she is in the bottom level of it, so with that and the actual rabbit cage it is taking up a LOT of room. I can’t keep it like that for 4+ months until she can be spayed. She would be spayed eventually but what would be the problem with them meeting before her spay? (assuming it has been the full month and so the male is infertile) she is only 10 and a half weeks old
- 04/23/2015 at 6:47 PM
  Little Lion Head
  Participant
  1706 posts
  You won’t be able to properly bond the two before your girl is spayed. She is going to be going through her own hormonal and territorial issues until she gets fixed. You could do all this work and think they are getting along to just have to start the process over after she is spayed.
- 04/24/2015 at 6:18 PM
  MoxieMeadows
  Participant
  5375 posts
  I agree with the others on fixing her before bonding them. It will make everything a lot easier.
  
  Never underestimate a rabbit! I believe (heard somewhere) that they can breed through the bars of a cage…
  
  Let’s just hope that she’s not pregnant.
  
  Good luck!
- 04/25/2015 at 2:34 PM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  At her age, pregnancy is likely not a risk for another month or so. The bigger risk right now is injury if they start scuffling. Two rabbits in the middle of a fight can literally tear into each other, bite off ears, etc. This can result in infection from rabbit bites and in extreme cases, the need for surgery to repair the damage. In addition to this, bad experiences between the two of them can hinder bonding later on of one is overly fearful of the other. I know that it’s inconvenient to wait, but it is the best thing long term.
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