Is bonding an old, intact male possible?

[luckypenny]

Hi everyone, 

I’m considering bonding two rabbits, but for various reasons I’m a bit nervous. 

When I was a teenager I bought a young Lionhead male rabbit at a pet shop and have been lucky enough to have him for 8 years now. He was sold to me by himself as he was the last rabbit in the shop, and by the time I realised neutering was important for rabbits he was a bit too old for it. He’s always been very quiet, unterritorial (I don’t think he’s ever mounted anything in his entire life) and I’ve worried that he might be a bit lonely since he’s always been so withdrawn. 

Recently, I adopted a 3 year old, spayed Angora female. Prior to being abandoned, she was kept with lots of other rabbits and is surprisingly well socialised given the conditions she was kept in. She is the loveliest creature with the biggest personality, but it’s become quickly apparent that she has quite bad separation anxiety (very understandable given what happened to her). Every time I go to leave the room, she’ll stop what she is doing and follows me to the door while honking. When I come back from work, it takes her about an hour to stop running around with excitement, so I can’t imagine how bored she is during the day when I’m gone. After the mistakes I made by not getting my first rabbit a friend, I don’t want her to spend her life alone when she clearly wants company. 

The ideal situation would be to put 1 + 1 together and introduce the two rabbits, but obviously there are serious issues with introducing unneutered males and spayed females. So with this issue, I have some questions; 

• My male has never shown any typical male behaviours (potentially because he’s never seen a female in his life), would this change if he was introduced to a female or can rabbits reach an age where they’re a bit too old to be bothered mating? 
• Does size/personality impact bonding rabbits? My female is probably twice the size of my male and a lot more active, he’s much happier to sit in his cage and sleep 
• Is there any possibility of them being friends (even if it’s just being together for ten minutes every so often), or would I be better finding my female another rabbit to become buddies with?  

[Bunny House]

Hi!

I honestly would never bond an intact bun with a fixed bun. Even if they don’t show signs by themselves of being a true male/female, they will with another bun-no matter the sex or age of the bun. it would be best to get the girl a fixed partner and then you spend a lot of time with your male and the new pair will keep each other company.

Size doesn’t necessarily impact bonding, i have a new zealand and a dutch and they do fine. Personalities matter the most. You can’t bond incompatable personalities, it will just lead to fighting.

You don’t want to have a bunny “be friends” with another bunny, its either a bond or they stay separated because they can/will fight over their territory and its bad in general.

I hope this helps

[Azerane]

What’s your current setup for the two buns? Are they in separate rooms of the house? Does your male rabbit show interest or territorial behaviour if you come in to pet him smelling of the new rabbit?

While bonding intact rabbits isn’t recommended, there are times when it has worked. Since you already have both buns, I would personally have a go at attempting a bond between them, simply based on the calm personality of your male, or at least house them in the same room and have them share the same playpen or area for separate free roaming time (depending on how your setup is) and just see how your male reacts to the presence of the female. Bonding really is all about personality, and it’s possible that at a senior age your male might be ok with a spayed female (has she been spayed some time or just recently?). I’d take things slow and see how you go, when you do finally put them together in the same space for their first bonding session make sure it is in neutral territory, a place where neither bun has ever been.

If you can’t get them to bond, then certainly getting a friend for your female is a good option (though there’s no guarantee she’ll bond with that bun either), but there is a slim chance your current two will bond and that will prevent the need for a third bun. The main issue with intact males is that even with spayed females, sometimes they just want to constantly try to mount them. So just see how you go.

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