If two rabbits are siblings can they be separated

[Kara]

I just want to keep my rabbits happy and healthy but I don’t want to neuter or spay them even though the female has lived apart from the male since she wasn’t born until we are pretty sure a year(and 1 month?) ago we didn’t adopt the rabbits together but we decided today went we back to visit the 4h we would adopt the female but we don’t want them to breed and we don’t want to spay or neuter them. So is it possible to then just keep them separated so they won’t have a chance to breed or should we worry abt them getting depressed or aggressive? ( if they were separated I wouldn’t put them in the same cage and only one would be left out of the cage at a time but both bunnies would equally get the same love, care, and joy,

[Bam]

Rabbits can breed through cage bars, and it only takes a split second, so if you dont want the rabbits to breed, they must be securely separated at all times, with no exceptions. Rabbits are induced ovulators, which means they can get pregnant at any time -they dont have heat cycles like dogs.

Having two intact rabbits housed in the same home will not be very nice for anybody, I think. The rabbits will pick up the scent of each other and they will make sure the other rabbit knows they’re there, and they will do that by extensive pee-and poop marking.

It is strongly advised to neuter female rabbits for health reasons. Female rabbits are at high risk of uterine cancers around the age of 3-4 years. Is there any particular reason why you don’t want to neuter the rabbits?

It is strongly advised to spay female rabbits for health reasons.

[Kara]

No particular reason we just don’t want cause any health reasons to rabbit but I’ve asked my mom and she says she will think about it more so we can get the other girl

[Moonlightbunny66]

I agree with Bam in that you definitely need to separate any unneutered/unspayed rabbit (even if they are both the same sex they will fight). It will actually do more good than harm to spay and neuter. It decreases them being too territorial (wanting to fight more) and in females it will prevent uterine cancer. They can also be more aggressive when they are intact (more territorial behaviour). There is always a risk of pregnancy when intact rabbits are kept in the same place.

It is also likely that there will be issues with spraying urine and marking (pooping) so it’s harder to litter train an intact rabbit.

There is also the point that many people make that rabbits do better in pairs (only if they are spayed/neutered). They cannot be kept together if they are intact. Then prebonded and bonded 4-6 weeks after the procedure.

I believe rabbits are usually neutered at 6 months of age, your vet will give them a pre-anesthetic checkup (likely a bit of blood work which is good to make sure bunnies are healthy!) and they will also make sure they are ready to be spayed/neutered. You should have no worries with a rabbit-savvy vet! 🙂 I just had my most recent rabbit neutered and all went well. Just make sure you get pain medicine, my vet also gave a general antibiotic to prevent infection (not sure if all vets do that).

These are all great points to take up with your mom. 🙂

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