Adult rabbit questions

[Phonetic Diabetic]

I rescued a male, unaltered rabbit about a month ago, and he is doing very well. He is about 4-5 years old, and still tries to hump my leg or arm if I'm on the floor. I'd love to give him a companion. Questions:

- I'm sure neutering him will help the humping, but is he too old now?
- Is he too old to try to bond a female with him?
- Is it even thinkable to keep an unaltered male with an altered female?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Apebull]

- No I don't think he's too old to be neutered and yes it will help with the humping.
- He's not to old to be bonded with a female you can do that at any age.
- Not unless you want baby bunnies. I wouldn't even risk having them in separate cages next to each other. Where there's a will there's a way. And if he's humping your leg and arms then there is definitely a will lol.

 

[pani]

I guess it might be possible to keep an unaltered male with an altered female, but only if his hormonal behaviour was quite low. If he's actively humping your leg/arm, just think what he'd do to an altered female who has zero interest in it?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

He is not too old to be neutered. It should still help with the humping, but might not totally get rid of it. Even neutered rabbits will hump, but it is more about dominance that mating.

Nope, not too old to try bonding. Since he has been living on his own for a while, he might not want to bond, so just keep that in mind. Each rabbit is different, so bonding can really depend on the individual rabbit anyway.

I would not do an intact male and neutered female. Since humping is an issue, it will be an issue with the bonding. Constant humping can be annoying for the other rabbit and could lead to fights. Intact rabbits are generally not looking for a friend the way neutered ones are.

 

[Imbrium]

It's *occasionally* possible to do one unaltered/one altered rabbit, but there are inherent risks and the unaltered rabbit would need to display little or no hormonal behavior, which isn't the case here.

As for his age, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get bloodwork done before the neuter, just to make sure there are no underlying problems that could make anesthesia dangerous for him (always recommended with bunns well into adulthood). It's perfectly safe to neuter a 4-5 year old healthy bunny, though (the bloodwork just ensures he really is healthy and there's not a hidden problem).

It takes as much as 6-8 weeks after a neuter for a male's hormones to be totally gone, so don't expect to see an immediate decrease in humping and other hormonal behavior. Once the hormones are totally gone, you may still see humping when introducing/bonding rabbits - as Korr_and_Sophie said, it can also be a dominance display.

 

[Phonetic Diabetic]

Well I found a place not too far away that does low-cost neutering, so I will be doing that soon and building a larger cage. Then I will attempt getting a female and bonding the 2 after a month or so. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Good for you and your bunny too. Some of our rescues were around 8 when they got neutered--made them all better companions.

 

[Phonetic Diabetic]

Another question now.... when looking for a companion for him, should I look for a female that is same size or bigger? Will there be less chance of him picking on her and better chance accepting her if she is close to his size or bigger? Maybe rule out dwarf breeds, or does it matter in the slightest?

 

[Imbrium]

It all comes down to personality - I've got two dwarves (albeit one who lacks the dwarf gene and is a pound larger than the other) who are bonded, but then there's people who have a dwarf bunny bonded to a giant breed. The big/small couples are particularly adorable and hilarious! I've never heard of an attempted pairing that didn't work out because of a size difference.

Bunnies don't look at size or breed or anything like that; they only care about who's going to be good company .

 

[Phonetic Diabetic]

I will be getting the female from a rescue, so I guess I should just take Charlie with me and let him pick his new friend. Before I go about getting him neutered, is there a way to know if he has already been? I got him from a girl on Craigslist who said she got him as a rescue. Most rescues spay/ neuter, right? Obviously, I don't want to assume he is though.

 

[Imbrium]

Checking for testicles is a possible way to know - if you find them, he definitely isn't neutered. If you don't, though, that doesn't guarantee that he is as they can suck them up into their body. I've never had an unneutered male and have only had a neutered one for a few weeks, so I really don't know a sure-fire way to determine if he's fixed.

He *may* not be, if that's how she phrased it - some people consider the animal "a rescue" if they get the rabbit from any sort of unsavory situation and the way they say it, it might sound like they got it from an actual rescue organization. I'd guess that he probably is, but I can't be certain.

Letting him pick is definitely the way to go - best of luck finding him a friend! I posted in another thread from someone who's about to go bunny-dating to find their bunn a companion, too, with a list of some common reactions bunnies have to each other and what those mean - you may find it helpful:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f14/mixing-buns-78794/#post1020278

 

[Phonetic Diabetic]

He *may* not be, if that's how she phrased it - some people consider the animal "a rescue" if they get the rabbit from any sort of unsavory situation and the way they say it, it might sound like they got it from an actual rescue organization. I'd guess that he probably is, but I can't be certain.

I assume it was more like a rescue organization because she said he had to have surgery to "fix an ingrown tooth that got infected and grew through his chin", and that it was done prior to her owning him. I figured if they care enough to have the surgery done for that, then they might have cared enough to do the neuter as well.

 

[zombiesue]

Have them check him for a chip. If he's chipped then it's like 10000% more likely that he did come from an organization.

 

[Imbrium]

I assume it was more like a rescue organization because she said he had to have surgery to "fix an ingrown tooth that got infected and grew through his chin", and that it was done prior to her owning him. I figured if they care enough to have the surgery done for that, then they might have cared enough to do the neuter as well.

That does make it sound very likely that he's neutered. I second the microchip thing (most vets and shelters can easily check for one and I doubt they'd charge you anything). I don't see someone getting a pet rabbit microchipped if they don't even get them neutered and shelters these days generally microchip every animal they adopt out - Normie got one at the HSPCA.