Was told bun was neutered but…

[poopiebear]

I got a bun (Coconut) about a month ago and was told he was about 4 months old and neutered. As soon as he met my other bun (Oreo), they got along famously with cuddles and licking. About 2 weeks later, Oreo became very aggressive and started to chase and mount Coconut. It came to a head when blood was drawn.

I thought it was because Coco was, in fact, not neutered and was emitting hormones that aggravated Oreo, so I booked an appointment to have him neutered. However, when I checked him, I don’t see any apparent testicles. What I think I felt was the scent glands, as they cause the feeling of a lump, but sit behind, not beside the penis. Oreo, who was neutered by the animal rescue, also has that big lump under his tail. I’ve cleaned their glands before, so am familiar with that part.

Should the testicles be easily noticeable in a 5 month old? If he is neutered, why the sudden change from love to hate from Oreo?

Thanks for any insight you may have.

[kurottabun]

To answer your question, normally testicles would be noticeable at 5 months old, but there are late bloomers too and sometimes male buns can “suck them up” and you won’t really be able to see them. I’d recommend bringing them to a rabbit savvy vet just to make sure though.

I doubt it’s because they aren’t neutered though. It’s more likely due to a lack of bonding. Even after two bunnies are fixed, there needs to be an “official” pre-bonding and bonding process (which can take from weeks to months). Without this bunnies can fight quite brutally, as you already know.

The first thing you need to do is separate them before one or both hold a grudge against the other due to more fighting, which would make bonding more difficult in the future. I recommend reading the BONDING section of this forum for more info and feel free to ask any questions there

[Sirius&Luna]

Often when you bring a new bunny home, they are submissive because it’s a new environment and they know they’re in the existing bun’s territory. But after a few weeks, they feel more comfortable and are ready to assert their own dominance – they’re no longer happy to submit to the original bunny just because they were there first. This is why it’s very important to let a new bunny settle in for a couple of weeks before you start prebonding and bonding, so that you see their true personality.

Bonding should be a slow process, where the bunnies build up trust over time. You have skipped lots of important steps, so it’s not surprising that there’s been a fight. You now need to keep them separate for at least a month while you ‘prebond’, where you swap them between cages so they get used to each other’s scents. Because blood has been drawn, one may well hold a grudge, in which case you might need to keep them totally separate for 3 months to forget each other, before starting the prebonding. After a month of prebonding, you can start very short bonding sessions in neutral territory.

[poopiebear]

Thanks for the replies! Good news. Coco saw the vet today and they confirmed he was already neutered!

@Sirius&Luna – I think you are very wise in your assessment. I was so happy they got along well immediately, I didn’t think something like this would happen. I did have them separated, but was concerned they wouldn’t bond again, as I’ve read stories where bonded bunnies just wouldn’t re-bond after one got fixed or were separated. I did work on them after this little separated and started pre-bonding with them. Now they seem to have made up, understand their roles better and are getting along quite well. I will continue to watch them and be patient while they resocialize.

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