New to bunnies - rescue + new companion

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 10 months ago by DanaNM.

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- 01/23/2018 at 2:35 AM
  Claire
  Participant
  5 posts
  Hi all,sorry if this has been posted before,I read through some others but couldn’t find exactly the situatiom I am in.
  
  I rescued a female rabbit 2 months ago, health check at the vets put her at approx 3 years old,but he said it was hard to tell for certain – she is very placid and does a lot of sleeping. The vet didn’t think she was neutered as couldn’t see a scar,but he said he couldn’t be sure without doing a hormone test.
  
  Last week we got a baby boy bunny, as thought it would be good company for the rescue and because bunnies are social animals. We will be getting the boy neutered when he is ready -he has a check up at the vets next weekend. We keep them seperate at the moment with the girl having free roam of the living room and the boy having a cage during the day in the kitchen,and free roam in the kitchen when we are home from work.
  
  When he has free roam of the kitchen we put a very fine mesh guard across the door and both bunnies will sit next to each other while eating and sniff each other.
  
  Our plans were to crate bond both of them,so put them in individual cages next to each other and go for a slow bond method.
  
  My questions are;
  1) should I wait until the boy is neutered before attempting this?
  2) I read that baby bunnies can only make friends and not bond,at what age will he bond?
  3) will the girl bond if she hasnt been spayed?
  
  Any other advice greatly received – we are only trying to do this for a quality of life for them.
  
  Thanks
  Claire, Honey and Hartley
- 01/23/2018 at 5:21 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  Hi!
  
  To answer your questions in order:
  
  1. You should definitely wait until the boy is neutered before attempting to bond them. For a start, if you don’t know if the girl is spayed then you will likely end up with a pregnant bunny, which could be pretty dangerous at her age.
  
  2. We say baby bunnies can’t bond, because as soon as hormones are involved everything changes and they can be very volatile. One month after his neuter, his hormones should have left his body and he’ll be ready for bonding. Generally boys can be neutered from around 4 months, as long as their testicles have dropped.
  
  3. See above – hormonal rabbits are unpredictable, and you will have a much easier bond if both animals are spayed/neutered. Particularly since it’s your girls original home, they tend to be much more territorial than boys. It’s also important to spay female rabbits for health reasons, as there is a very high incidence of uterine cancer in unspayed females.
  
  So, it really is important that they are both neutered before any bonding begins Having them living side by side is a good method, and its important to swap them between cages too so they don’t see either space as THEIR territory.
  
  Feel free to ask any other questions you have about the bonding process
- 01/23/2018 at 3:26 PM
  DanaNM
  Moderator
  9054 posts
  S& L is on point!
  
  I’ll just add that I’ve heard males can spray sperm from quite a long distance! There are stories of pregnancies in females housed near males that never actually contacted each other. So if there is any doubt about whether your girl is spayed, don’t have them side by side just yet!
  
  . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
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