Second Bunny Housing Question…

[Rnabanks]

Hey guys,

I wasn’t too sure where I should’ve put this post so here I am!

A little bit about ourselves…I have a little fuzzy lop named Cashew. He recently got neutered and has bounced back quite quickly! Thank goodness Currently he is about 5 months right now living in a bunny condo we built him. It is 2 x 4 and has two levels, though he hasnt ever been on the second level so we currently use it to store some of his things. My partner and I love him to bits and are thinking about getting a second little furball…possibly a lionhead doe, 

My question is…do you think we should have a seperate cage for her that is beside his? We have limited space in our apartment I thought it might be a good idea just to completely seperate the two floors and have her on the top floor. Could this affect their bonding situation? Do I have to seperate their play times or have seperate play areas? From the reading I’ve been doing online everyone has said it is important to have her spayed before bonding. I do know however that there are some rare cases of bonding a neutered male and an unspayed female.

Thanks for any feedback…look forward to hearing what you might think!

[tobyluv]

It is generally easier to bond a male (neutered) with a female (spayed) rabbit. You definitely need to have the female spayed before you attempt bonding. Her hormones can bring aggression and territorial feelings which can lead to fighting. Rabbits can severely injure each other if they fight. You will also want to have her spayed to prevent uterine cancer. Unspayed rabbits have a very high chance of getting cancer. If you adopt from a rescue, the rabbit will almost already be spayed. That will save you money, worry about the surgery, and all the after care, plus you could start the bonding process sooner. You would need to let her settle into her new home for a week or two before you started bonding. A lot of shelters spay and neuter too, but some of them wait until the rabbit has been adopted, so you would have the recuperation wait in that case, plus the extra time for her  hormones to level off.

I’m not sure if your current rabbit would be upset at a new rabbit living right over him or not. If he considers that part of his territory, he might not care for it. If you did place a new rabbit there, you would have to make sure that they couldn’t physically reach each other or bite through the cage flooring.

[Author]

Messages