Two males – Frankie & Major

[Dreya T]

More or less everything I know about houserabbits I have learned from “Living with a Houserabbit,” by Linda Dykes and Helen Flack. I have never had a rabbit before and I am nervous about this whole thing, so I hope that a little paranoia is understandable. I have a few questions.

 

My husband and I have today become bunny parents to Major & Frankie. Both are male, Major is 8 weeks, Frankie is 11 weeks. We arranged with a breeder to have Major and his sister once they were old enough to leave mum, but his sister died last week so we asked to have another bunny and when we arrived to pick up Major today our breeder had found him a friend in Frankie, who is from a different litter. We brought them home in the same box, they are in the same cage, and all appears to be okay. I haven’t heard/read good things about trying to bond males, so I am concerned that this truce won’t last.

 

I built them a bed out of a box, which they disassembled within half an hour. Having left the bits in the cage, they started vehemently chasing each other underneath a bit of cardboard. I took the cardboard away and all has returned to normal. Is this fighting behaviour and should I be keeping an eye on it?

 

I am hopeful that as there is 3 weeks age difference between them, they won’t hit puberty at the same time. I am concerned they will start to fight at this time. What can I do to avoid this?

[Elrohwen]

I would separate them now – males can reach sexual maturity at 8 weeks of age if they’re a small breed, and can become very aggressive with each other. They will be much safer in separate cages for now. The chasing can easily lead to fighting and one fight can set back your chance of ever bonding them (not to mention result in high vet bills)

Bonding two males is actually not that bad, once they are neutered for at least 4 weeks. Two females is the hardest, and two males is probably about the same as a female and a male. I would just worry about separating them for now and getting them neutered, then focus on bonding.

[Dreya T]

There were a couple more small scraps and I nearly had a panic attack. Thanks to my paranoia and over-provision I have managed to set up another habitat next to the cage. Frankie is already notably more confident and keeps coming up to the bars to see me. The two can see each other and occasionally press their noses through the bars towards each other.

I understand that after they are neutered it will be another month or two before we can re-introduce them. Am I understanding correctly that having the two cages next to each other will help with the process later on?

[Sarita]

Having the cages next to each other won’t be a guarantee that it will be easier to bond them. But you do need to separate them, ensure they are sexed correctly and get them neutered.

[jerseygirl]

Welcome! If you’re interested, House Rabbit Handbook by Marinell Harriman comes highly recommended. Also the House Rabbit Society is an invaluable resource. http://www.rabbit.org

[Beka27]

I’m glad you’ve separated them! Male-male bonds are typically very successful, but you’ll just have to wait until the hormones are out of the picture. Being a little bit older, Frankie may already be on the verge of puberty; it can come on as early as 3 months in males.

[Dreya T]

Thanks for the advice. We still hope to bond them but the set up we’ve got could quite easily be permanent so waiting isn’t going to be a problem.

Any advice on how best to let them out? We can’t give them both run of the living room at the same time, should we take it in turns to let them out or try and find another space for one or the other?

[Dreya T]

We let Major out for the first time last night and he was fine, running all over the room and just sniffed at Frankie a bit.

This morning we let Frankie out and he just hung around Major’s cage and they tried to nip at each other through the bars. My husband had a hard time trying to distract Major while I got Frankie back in the cage.

We’ve put them in separate rooms now. Major is still in the living room but Frankie is in the spare room with us and the computers.

I’m about to cry. I thought I knew how this was going to work but whilst we got as much advice as possible, we were not prepared for having to split up our bunnies within 24 hours of having got them and our flat isn’t really well suited to having them in separate rooms. We’re wondering if it would be best for bunnies and us if we return one. Trouble is, I’m kind of attached to both already.

[Deleted User]

You can just house the two in adjacent cages, till their neuter, or rather one month after the neuter. They will be ready to be neutered soon (at about 4months). Give them turns for their exercise time to be let out. It is not a long time until you can start bonding them. You’ve done the best thing by separating them now and thus preventing any fights. No need to get stressed If space is an issue — can you stack their cages?

[Beka27]

This is not uncommon at all. Really, it’s recommended that rabbits (even siblings!) are separated until after they are neutered. It is a temporary thing.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, there. I have 3 bunnies that are all unbonded (1 female and 2 males). I’m the process of slowly bonding my two males. I know it can be a lot of work to have unbonded bunnies but if you love them you will find all the work worth it. My 3 are all in separate cages in our spare room and in the evening they come out for seperate run times. I hope you don’t end up giving your bunnies back, I’m sure you can figure something out.

[Dreya T]

Thanks so much for all your comments, you’ve gone a very long way to stop me from panicking!

I’m quite pleased to say that today has been much more successful. We’ve bunny-proofed the spare room and there’s a lot more space than we originally thought. My worry is that the spare room isn’t as big as the living room but because we don’t have to distract him from Major and there’s not nearly as much rented furniture for him to chew we can let Frankie out most of the time. (Litter-training is like a dream so far, and we have *so* much spare carpet for covering up dig spots. ^_^)

And like you say, it’s not permanent. My husband and I had a long talk about it and we’re determined to stick it out. A couple of months separation isn’t that big a deal when you consider they could be together for 10 years or more. It hasn’t started out quite how we would have liked but there are still lots of positives, and I can’t say that I love our new bunnies any less for being a bit more work than we’d originally anticipated.

[Beka27]

Also, even if you did give up one bunny now, I’m sure within a year or so, you’d want to find a mate for your bunny anyways. And you’d be going thru the same process.

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