Bonded Brother and sister pair separated prior to dexessing

[V]

About a month and a half ago my boyfriend and I went to look at a precious 8 week old Holland lop and naturally (who could not) fell in love.
So cute and soft! It was truly love at first site. The breeder was amazing too and everything felt right. So right that when we found out she had a sibling that was yet to be rehomed we couldn’t bare the thought of separating them. They were best friends!

After bringing them home we spent so much time bonding with the two of them, we all became one big happy family together. They would lay by the fire beside us while we watched our shows and they would groom and snuggle up to eachother!
at the time that we brought them home from the breeder we were told that they were both female, upon our first vet visit we learned we had a boy and a girl.
Excited with the news my boyfriend quickly began researching on mating, because we know that rabbits like to do what rabbits like to do… as much as we love the two of them, we weren’t ready to start a full bunny family.
The vet told us we would need to have them fixed as soon as the male was ready, but we were still looking at atleast another 4 weeks.
this was heart breaking news as now we knew our only option was to separate these 2 best friends.
My boyfriend built Lola her own pen (they are free roam house rabbits) that was identical to her brothers and the separation began.

they stay in the same room but far enough that they can’t mate through the cage, and we allow them out to hang with us in intervals one at a time.

im here now because I am noticing they have both lost trust in us, they don’t come up for pets and snuggles like they did before the separation and they just seem overall upset by the change.
they are both eating but it has only been 3 days. Whenever we let one out to come run around and excersize they always run right up to the other pen and just sit and look at their sibling looking sad and confused.
I guess my question is did we make the right choice to immediately separate them? Will the eventually trust us again and come spend all their time playing and being close to us? And once recovered from surgery and hormones level out will they bond easily again since they are in the same room and still have eachothers scent?

they both look so sad it’s really really heartbreaking to see and has been challenging because we live in an apartment so we can’t have them separated for excersize on different levels.
before when we were home we would let them run freely around the house (we had them homed for 3 weeks before the vet visit)

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
thank you

[DanaNM]

You did the right thing! Don’t worry!

Baby rabbits do not truly bond, so in addition to preventing pregnancy, it’s important to separate before hormones kick in and trigger fighting:

Going to link this post here which has a bit of info on this too: https://binkybunny.com/forums/topic/help-why-are-my-rabbits-fighting/

Unless you are able neuter right at 12 weeks (which usually isn’t possible in a home situation), it is necessary to separate. It’s far better to separate at this point while they still like each other, than wait till they start fighting, which can make it much harder to rebond. With any luck, yours will go right back together after castration without too many issues.

Part of the behavior change is maybe due to being a bit sad, but a big chunk of it could also be the bun growing up. They can still see each other, so they won’t forget each other. Baby bunnies don’t really have any adult instincts, so there can be some personality changes as they hit adolescence (just like humans, ha!). You will get their trust back and will form a solid relationship with them as things settle down. 🙂

. . . 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.  

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

We’re going through the same thing right now, and I can only say that you’re doing the right thing.

The only difference between our situations is that we knew that we had a brother and a sister from the start. We just didn’t expect that the humping would start so soon.

The first day in their hutch they were so cute together, and they loved to snuggle up. But on the second day we noticed that Owen kept trying to hump Molly multiple times in a row. At 9 weeks he probably isn’t even fertile yet, but we don’t want any fights between them either.

They take turns in playtime and running around in the living room. They touch noses through the bars, and we feel like the cruelest owners ever, but this is really in their best interest.

Bunnies don’t do well with changes, so they may need weeks to get acquainted with the new situation. It’s all part of living with bunnies, I’m afraid.

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