Brothers no more?

I hope I am putting this in the right place.

I have two rabbits, litter mates who have both just hit the 4 month old mark. When we got them, we were told by the breeder (they are mixed, from a backyard breeder, we weren't looking for a breeder, just happened to come across them as we were looking), that they were both males. At the time they were only 8 weeks old, and she'd been breeding for 14yrs, so took her word for it. Although I've grown up with rabbits, I can never figure it out for myself. After waiting a few days for them to adjust to their new home, we took them to the vet, to become established and get a first check, just to make sure everything was on the up-and-up. Two vets and a vet tech later, we were all convinced they were certainly both girls. (There goes the boy names we picked out).

Flash forward to one week ago from today, and my buns are now circling each other. From what I'd researched online, could be a simple showing of 'I love you', but that it was mostly a male thing. So we flip them over and check their 'parts' to double check, and we're still convinced they're girls. The following day as they are hoping around the house during their free time, one began humping the other! I assumed it was nothing but them coming to maturity and trying to establish dominance with each other, since I know females can do that as well.

Flash forward to today, and as we are sitting down to eat dinner, there comes a flurry of ruckus from the cage. When we dashed over, both buns ran to separate corners. Turns out they had been in a fight, one bun got quite a nasty gash in her ear. As we cleaned the wound and rubbed a little Neosporin on it, I asked my hub to hold her flipped so I could check, once more, that they are both girls. Sure enough, there are the formings of two testicles. In a panic, we grabbed up the other one, and once again, two testicles. (Back to the original names, I guess)

We are happy they both seem to at least be the same sex, and they will be going back to the vet tomorrow, especially for that ear. But we're kind of at a loss as to what to expect for the two of them as far as staying together. Our vet will not neuter them until they are 6 months of age, so we have 2-3 months to go, depending on how the surgery goes with healing time. They are littermates, have never spent any time apart, their cage is big enough for them (although we will be upgrading to a bigger size anyway because....well, because they're the baby buns, they get spoiled! I'm sure y'all understand..=p), and they will be getting neutered.

I guess my question is, from all y'alls experience, what do you think the chances of them being kept together are? Should we keep them separated until the surgery? I'm terrified that will be far too long and they will grow apart and won't be able to bond again. I'm at a loss because our vet told us that they would be fine up until the neuter, even when I asked "but they will begin to get sexual charged before that, won't they be hormone raged bunbuns?", to which she assured me they should be fine. This is the first I've ever seen them fight. Just before bed last night they were laying ontop of each other, grooming each other. The bite my one bun sustained tonight is too severe for us to risk letting them back together. The only thing I can think is to keep them in separate cages, but backed up against each other so they can still nose, and let them have free time together, when we will be on the floor with them to immediately intervene should they get frisky.

Help? Thanks y'all

It's not uncommon for rabbits to go through multiple sex "changes" Bandit went through the same as your boys. Breeder assured me he was a boy, vet told me he was a girl, then I checked him for myself.

You've done the right thing by separating them. Even if keeping them caged separately makes them a little less familiar with each other, it's definitely safer for them, and they have a better chance of bonding. If you kept them together, they would likely only continue to fight and you would have injured bunnies that might never bond because they would be used to fighting each other. Baby bonds are not considered real bonds, even if they were both girls they could have ended up fighting in a similar way. Some people get lucky, but in most cases they can't be bonded until at least 1 month after spaying/neutering. Allowing at least a month afterwards gives them time to heal properly, and allows time for some of the hormones to fade away (though it can take up to 8 weeks)

Like azerane said, it's not uncommon for rabbits to be incorrectly sexed, due to the difficulty of determining it until they have matured.

Males can be neutered as soon as they have 'dropped'. So your buns can be done now. I would suggest looking for another rabbit savvy vet that will do it earlier, as a rabbit vet that doesn't know male buns will fight as soon as the hormones come in at 3-4 months and need to be separated before then, doesn't sound particularly rabbit savvy to me. Then how soon to rebond them will depend on how soon the hormones fade. You may be able to do it as soon as a couple of weeks post neuter, or you may need to wait a bit longer for the hormones to fade more.
http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=21

You are both so right. I've grown up with rabbits, but we never tried to keep any "together-together" like we have with these two.

Just an update, I was able to get in with a DIFFERENT vet yesterday, and they told me the exact same thing. That we should have separated them before this calamity, and that we should NOT wait for 6 months to have them neutered, and that they would do the surgery next week (and for half the price that other place wanted). I feel like a horrible owner, but I was just following what the vet told us. I should have known better tho, because that first vet couldn't answer my simple question of "Just to double check, are green beans ok for rabbits to eat?". The only response I got was "I don't know, check the house rabbit website, I've never given them to my rabbit". I feel a vet with proper training AND owning her own should've known that, but I suspect she may not really have a rabbit.

They are separated now, and seem to be much happier and calmer on their own. They can see each other, and every so often they seem to get into these intense stare downs with each other. They don't go nuts, or attack at the cage wire to get at each other or anything like that, they just sit still and lock eyes. I tend to over humanize animals, so I'm hoping this staring is just in my head and not a "I'm gunna get you" stink-eye look they are giving each other. When one gets let out for their free time, they will sniff the other's cage, and move along. I know it's probably too soon to tell how bonding will go, but could that be a good sign that they have a chance of bonding once they get neutered and healed? We don't want to force them on each other, but having buns who get along would be ideal.

Another question, could WE have caused this? Or made it worse, I should say. We don't really have 'favorites' per say, but one rabbit (Spotswood) is much closer to me than my husband, and the other (Schnurbert) tends to favor my husband if he has the choice. I'm a little worried we may have been 'playing favorites' and helped fuel their animosity for each other.

Glad you found a better vet that seems to know what they're doing. It's pretty hard finding a good rabbit vet. I didn't care for the first exotics vet I took a rabbit to, then found a great one not too far away. Unfortunately you almost have to know before hand what the vet should advise/prescribe to know if they are any good. I basically interviewed my new vet before deciding on her and booking an appointment.

The stare downs could just be them figuring out the new housing situation, though it's possible they could still be a bit annoyed with each other, but that isn't because of anything you did. It's all hormones and territorial behavior, which will change quite a bit after their neuters. There will still be some territorial behavior and humping after the hormones are settled, as it's an natural behavior for rabbits even without hormones, but it calms it all down and makes bonding more possible, especially with males. So bonding them is very possible, but you really won't know how it will go until you get them neutered and they've settled down. It is a good sign though, that they aren't trying to attack each other through the cage bars. Give them at least 4 weeks after the neuter for the hormones to fade enough before attempting bonding, though if they still seem too hormonal you may need to give it a couple more weeks.

This is a good link for pre and post neuter care for your buns.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html

I'm so glad you found a better vet with more experience and knowledge It can be so tricky to find one and it's especially difficult because you expect a vet to have the knowledge you're after, so you generally don't question it, even if it's bad knowledge.

It sounds like things are going pretty well anyway, at least they're not trying to attack each other through the bars. In the meantime, I'd read up on and watch a lot of bonding videos. There's a couple different techniques though I think the slow and steady approach might be better for your boys than the faster more intense bonding which might only lead to more fighting.