Unspayed female, neutered male

[Allie]

Hey there!

I’m a small animal foster mom for a local rescue. Currently I’m the only one able to foster rabbits. I took Harper in on Sunday, and I just got an email from the rescue asking if I could help with two urgent bunny cases. They are two unbonded male rabbits. Both are neutered. I don’t have enough room to have three rabbits at the same time, but I’m wondering if trying to bond one of the males with Harper would be possible?

We are working on getting Harper spayed, but I don’t know when.

If it’s possible, bonding advice would be great!

Does size matter? Harper is a big girl – 10+lbs

[Monkeybun]

I would wait on bonding until she is spayed. Females can get rather aggressive with territory, its better to be safe than sorry!

[LoveChaCha]

I don’t believe size matters much. And I would wait until your female is spayed. It takes about a month after spaying for the hormones to go down.

[Beka27]

If you don’t have room to house 3 rabbits at once, you should decline from taking all 3 of them in. Even if you were to bond two, that can take several weeks (under perfect circumstances with all parties spay/neutered), during which time they would have to be housed separately anyways.

I would also caution against creating rabbit pairs when they will be going up for adoption. Not everyone wants a pair and they can be much, much harder to adopt out. Once fully bonded, they should not be separated as both can go into a serious depression upon losing their mate.

It’s very kind of you to work with a local rescue and help foster buns, BUT it’s incredibly important that you understand YOUR limitations as far as time, space, and money. You can help, but don’t take on more than you can reasonably handle. There will always be another rabbit that needs fostering, but you have to be firm on how many you can take and stick to that number.

[Allie]

Thanks for all the advice. I immediately declined taking in all three. I have room for two rabbits – and that’s my limit.

Harper has an appointment to get spayed next Tuesday.

I went ahead and set up a pen for Mr. Bunny separate from Harper. It’s 2ft x 6ft. I talked to the rescue and they suggest going ahead and trying to bond them and adopting them out together. She knows that if they do bond, they will not be separated. If they bond, that’s great. If not, that’s okay too. I have room for them together or separate.

I’m taking Harper to meet both boys this saturday. Whoever seems more compatable with her will come home with us that day.

[Author]

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