Bonding a young, spayed female and a baby

[Doula2007]

Currently we have a 9 month, spayed female Flem, and in a few weeks will be getting a baby Flem – though we aren’t sure if we’ll be getting a male or a female yet.  We won’t be spaying/neutering the new one for a couple months, because I know it’s safer to do it after they’ve grown a bit.  I know hormones can interfere with bonding – anyone have any experience in this?

[tobyluv]

I have always read that bonding should not be attempted unless both the rabbits are spayed and/or neutered, so it would be best not to attempt it until your new rabbit has had the surgery, and recuperated from it.

[LBJ10]

If they get along, they might be able to be together until the baby hits puberty. The stories I have heard though involved siblings who were brought home together. The siblings would get along until puberty, then they would need to be separated until they were spayed/neutered. Most of the time, people say it’s okay as long as there isn’t any fighting. If they have a bad fight though, you run the risk of not being able to rebond them later when everyone is hormone-free. That is why they recommend keeping everyone separate until after they are fixed. That and you don’t want an oops litter (although you wouldn’t have that problem since your girl is spayed).

I’m not sure how it would work if one bun was “considerably” old than the other one though. It’s probably best to keep them separate.

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

We had Boo since he was a baby – and bonded our boys when Boo was probably around 3 months old, 1 month before his hormones kicked in. And unlike others’ experience, there was no impact to the bond between our boys after Boo matured or was neutered. Please note – this is not the norm.

This being said – we feel we made a mistake bonding them so early – because Boo is not well adjusted and very nervous now. We waited till he was large enough to defend himself during bonding, because Baxter was very aggressive towards him – but Boo has no confidence today. Had we waited till he was also neutered and larger than Baxter – he would probably be better adjusted today.

So I would advise caution – not just for the reasons others have experienced with bonds breaking when hormones kick in, but for the confidence level of the baby bun. It will also depend on how territorial/aggressive your 9 month old will be towards the baby. We were very surprised how aggressive Baxter was toward the baby. We decided to go with a baby, because Baxter was so intimidated by another larger bun we introduced him to. It’s impossible to tell how they’ll react 🙁

[MoveDiagonally]

I would wait until the new bunny is old enough to be spayed/neutered and their hormones have dissipated. There’s too many things that can go wrong with bonding babies to adults and not very much benefit as they normally have to be separated at some point and re-bonded later.

[Beka27]

Not too much to add to what has been said, but I just want to say something about sex. You said you’re not sure if you’re going to get a male or female…

Females are generally thought of as the hardest to bond, even once they are spayed. Is it impossible? No, not at all. But if I were in your position with an established female in the house and bringing in a baby, I would definitely be looking for a male.

Males can also be neutered sooner, so you would have less “waiting time” before you can bond.

[tanlover14]

Like everyone else, I definitely agree with waiting until they are both altered to even attempt to bond.

However, I do (respectfully) disagree with Beka. (Sorry Beka!!). I am of the belief that sex does not matter when bonding, to me it’s all about personality and working with their personalities to help them establish a friendship together.

[Beka27]

And as I said, it isn’t impossible and can actually be a great bond, but since she’s getting a baby, personality is a big question mark at this point. If she was adopting an adult, altered rabbit, I would say go by personality, but she doesn’t have anything else to work with other than sex. I usually recommend what might be the easiest path, but if she falls in love with a little girl, then she’ll just have to make it work. This also depends a lot on her female that she has now… is she very territorial?

[tanlover14]

My only opposition is that males can sometimes be more territorial than females to though, which is why I think it is all about personalities and as Beka said, you won’t know anything until they are older so either way it’s a HUGE guessing game.

My girls were hard but I actually thought Simba and Sidney were the hardest out of my group which is why I say you absolutely never know and it all depends on personality. Sidney and Nora were that big of a problem. Tanger and Simba were pretty difficult also. So in my opinion, I’m really adamant that sex in no way matters. I also believe that even if her female doesn’t seem territorial now (to her) that can definitely change when it comes to another rabbit. Tanger is fine with humans being in his space but add another bunny and he goes berserk. I really think until you introduce you’re doing absolutely nothing but guessing.

If having them bonded is your main objective I would encourage taking your bun to the shelter and letting him choose a friend. If you can live with two single buns, then I would say just pick who you want to bring home and see how far you are willing to go with bonding. I’m a firm believer any rabbit can be bonded but it can be extremely stressful and time-consuming and sometimes it can take beyond major persistence to get them bonded.

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