I have always thought two unfixed female bunnies could not live together. But I have an unfixed mother and daughter who have been living together quite happily for over a year. The mother continues to groom her daughter regularly and they love to sleep cuddled together and enjoy being in their play area together. Is this unusual or can this happen depending on the bunnies?
Bunnies living together.
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I keep all my does at least in pairs, usually I had 2 pairs of intact does, now it's a quartet, and my buck and his spayed cuddlebun Dotty are my free range house bunnys.
It's all about individual characters, if those aren't a complete mismatch does can live together happily. I had one dominant doe, Fury, that didn't get along with other dominant does, that's why I had 2 pairs of does, after she died this spring, aged 11, her daughter Red (10), now lives with Chantal (5), Ruth(Chantals daughter, 4) and yet unnamed daughter of Ruth (8months).
If one position gets vacant, I keep a daughter of the youngest doe that get's along with the others well.
Does are very social animals, they have a hierachy and sometimes that get's sorted out, but they have several steps of escalation to do this - evil eye, shooung away, humping, short bursts of chase, fur plucking - I never had an all out fight inside a group. Often they don't care much about if another doe needs to scratch that itch. That is very different to males that can after months of nothing obvious go from zero to berserk massaker in a second.
It can happen that characters don't match, had to give away a very sweet and docile doe that lived with Fury and Red, but she always got the short straw and became what I would call depressed.
IMHO, one important aspect is how their housing is set up, mine is very structured - 3 hutches connected with tunnels and more than 1 level, no real dead ends, and they are outside during daytime - I think it is important that they can get away from each other when they feel like it.
Outside the does team up, also if the buck is with them he is included in the group. They rest and graze together, all keeping watch.
For me most of they joy of having rabbits comes from experiencing them interact, rabbits are social animals after all. It took me years to learn the full extent of that.
It's all about individual characters, if those aren't a complete mismatch does can live together happily. I had one dominant doe, Fury, that didn't get along with other dominant does, that's why I had 2 pairs of does, after she died this spring, aged 11, her daughter Red (10), now lives with Chantal (5), Ruth(Chantals daughter, 4) and yet unnamed daughter of Ruth (8months).
If one position gets vacant, I keep a daughter of the youngest doe that get's along with the others well.
Does are very social animals, they have a hierachy and sometimes that get's sorted out, but they have several steps of escalation to do this - evil eye, shooung away, humping, short bursts of chase, fur plucking - I never had an all out fight inside a group. Often they don't care much about if another doe needs to scratch that itch. That is very different to males that can after months of nothing obvious go from zero to berserk massaker in a second.
It can happen that characters don't match, had to give away a very sweet and docile doe that lived with Fury and Red, but she always got the short straw and became what I would call depressed.
IMHO, one important aspect is how their housing is set up, mine is very structured - 3 hutches connected with tunnels and more than 1 level, no real dead ends, and they are outside during daytime - I think it is important that they can get away from each other when they feel like it.
Outside the does team up, also if the buck is with them he is included in the group. They rest and graze together, all keeping watch.
For me most of they joy of having rabbits comes from experiencing them interact, rabbits are social animals after all. It took me years to learn the full extent of that.
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I have a pair who've always gotten along great. When one dies, I plan to get another & rebond -- and I don't have any preference for sex.
My rabbits have a lot of space and hiding areas, so hopefully that makes a difference. My buck spends all day underneath my bed and is pretty non-social, but spends all night cuddled up with the doe & grooming. If one gets sick of the other, they can just find another room or floor to go to. I imagine there would be more disagreements/fighting if they were confined to a small space.
My rabbits have a lot of space and hiding areas, so hopefully that makes a difference. My buck spends all day underneath my bed and is pretty non-social, but spends all night cuddled up with the doe & grooming. If one gets sick of the other, they can just find another room or floor to go to. I imagine there would be more disagreements/fighting if they were confined to a small space.
Is your buck neutered? I am sure that my buck would be out for sex with the does who have not been spayed if I put them in the playroom together..
To not sugarcoat it: No way you're not going to end up knee deep in baby bunnys in no time when you put a buck with intact does. This is not play, they are dead serious about it - and legendary quick (I can tell, my late bucks record was less than 30 seconds from both accidentially getting into the garden at the same time
). That's what they evolved for, excel at. Interfering and meddling would most likely be a stressful and puzzling affair. As induced ovulatores it's a shot, a hit, unlike with some other mammals (like humans).My free range house bunnys are a spayed doe and an intact buck, and even there him being horny is sometimes an annoyancy to her, but Dotty is just such a patient girl and keeps hopping away - gets quite some exercise that way. Not all does are that resiliant.
Yes, they're both fixed. They were rescues & were fixed before I brought them home.
I don't have experience with intact rabbits, but I would think fighting could be minimized with more space for each to run away.
My fixed rabbits have never fought, but if things got heated & one wanted to run away, it could do so to another room or floor. I've noticed they each have their own "space:" they don't chase the other out, but it's pretty clear who claimed ownership of which rooms/floors, and the other knows when its "visiting" the other's space.
