Two Females

[BunLife]

Hi everyone

So I have been getting mixed opinions about this specific topic. Spaying female rabbits. 

When I got my first bun It is the last of the litter so I could not get her a buddy. She is currently about 3 years old and mellow.

Later down the road got stable enough to provide for another bunny, but here is where I went wrong. I got another female! My thought process was something along the lines of “my older bun will take this 11 week old bun under her wing and love her”.

Much to my surprise the 11 week old bun was feistier than I realized and actually didn’t take to the older one. I thought it would be quite the opposite. Once I started the bonding process I realized the little bun was initiating the fights. So I decided to hold off, place there cages next to each other, and have them share the play space and switch their housing every other day. So they both got used to each others smell and environment.

The little bun continued to harass the mellow older bun by going up her cage and trying to nip at her through the cage wiring. A few more months went by and I have been pondering the idea of spaying them both to maybe have them calm down a tad and try bonding again.

Currently I have reanged my room to where they have a nice and large play area to run, their cages are still next to each other and I have been noticing that the angry little bunny has been going up to my older rabbits cage and just sniffing, no more cage nipping. She will even sprawl out and relax right near the door to my older rabbits cage. Could this be a sign of possible bonding?

[RabbitPam]

I urge you to get them both spayed. The younger one is more aggressive due to hormones, and the older one is at risk of getting cancer, so it will help them both.
It sounds like the bonding is working. You can expect a small setback right after spaying, so I would say do them both soon while they are still separated and get it over with. You may find the bonding goes well after they are healed.

[Beka27]

You are correct that spaying is the first step before you begin bonding again. Get that taken care of and allow them time to heal and the hormone levels to decrease. After 4-6 weeks, you can start bonding sessions from the beginning (neutral space, possibly stressing exercises prior if necessary, etc…)

[Author]

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