Which sex rabbit to get?

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Felix’s Mom

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2020
Messages
9
Reaction score
12
Location
Woodhaven, Mi
Hello,
I’m new here. And I have a Mini Rex named Felix. Last week we had Felix’s brother with us also Rocky(my son’s bun). But due to a unsuccessful neuter he didn’t make it though the night. Felix is sad along with my son. Felix’s surgery was canceled because we were scared to lose him too. We are looking to rescue a bun who needs a new home and that is already spayed/neutered. My question is this…since Felix is not desexed which would be a better new friend? Female or Male? Worried if we adopt a female he will hump her. Worried if we get a boy will they fight? Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
I thought that male and female bonded more easily, but I'm not a bonding expert and @Mariam+Theo could probably tell you. That being said, male and male can work. I doubt he would hump her, but maybe? Also, so sorry for your loss, my boy hasn't been neutered yet but will be soon and I'm scared the same thing could happen to him. Rocky sounded so sweet, love the name. Hang in there, you'll get through this.

Take care and best wishes ~
Remy The Rabbit <3
 
I thought that male and female bonded more easily, but I'm not a bonding expert and @Mariam+Theo could probably tell you. That being said, male and male can work. I doubt he would hump her, but maybe? Also, so sorry for your loss, my boy hasn't been neutered yet but will be soon and I'm scared the same thing could happen to him. Rocky sounded so sweet, love the name. Hang in there, you'll get through this.

Take care and best wishes ~
Remy The Rabbit <3
This is our sweet Rocky we miss him tremendously. I wish it didn’t result in him crossing the rainbow bridge.
4783ADCD-F545-4654-885D-65B28F971F74.jpeg
 
Oh my god he's so adorable! Looks almost blue, what an angel. I hope you are doing better and he shouldn't have had to go, beautiful rabbit.
 
Hello,
I’m new here. And I have a Mini Rex named Felix. Last week we had Felix’s brother with us also Rocky(my son’s bun). But due to a unsuccessful neuter he didn’t make it though the night. Felix is sad along with my son. Felix’s surgery was canceled because we were scared to lose him too. We are looking to rescue a bun who needs a new home and that is already spayed/neutered. My question is this…since Felix is not desexed which would be a better new friend? Female or Male? Worried if we adopt a female he will hump her. Worried if we get a boy will they fight? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Hi, I am so sorry to hear about your Rocky, unfortunately it happens sometimes during neutering, in most cases I've heard of the dose of anestetics was too great for rabbits since vets had little experience with rabbits, so always check if your vet had previous experience with rabbits and won't overdose.

I totally understand your fears now but I would still suggest to look for an experienced vet and get Felix neutered, the surgery on males itself isn't that difficult and anestetics is the worst part of it to be honest. If you get a vet who is familiar with neutering rabbits there's a very little risk.

For an unneutered rabbit, most rescues will ask you if your rabbit is neutered and some of them will not rehome their rabbits to be a partner with an unneutered rabbit. If you can still find a rescue where they will, here's your options.

I have to say first that it depends on your Felix's personality, I will give you a few cases from my own experience.

I had a young male rabbit he was 7 months then and was extremely sweet and friendly, he was a son of my own rabbits and he was separated from his brothers at 3,5 months because they kept humping him, he is submissive and didn't fight back but it was unfair and I've just separated him, since he was super mellow and needed my attention so badly I thought I will get him a neutered female and it will solve the problem and he will not feel alone anymore.

So I adopted a spayed lady and they liked each other immediately, just after a few hours in a neutral playpen I was confident I can house them together. He did a little humping but she tolerated it and even took it as a complement. After a couple days together he was humping more and more and he started spraying her, walls and everything around to mark it with his urine, it was horrible. He'd never do it before and I didn't think he'd start doing it but honestly it was worst experience in my life.
I've added a little shelf so she could hide from his humping and it worked, but he just kept spraying non stop and everything around was so sticky and stinky! She was spayed more than 6 months ago btw but her presence still triggered his instincts.

I thought maybe he will stop it after some time but then understood I was wrong and so I've got him neutered in May. Because they were very attached to each other I've decided not to separate them and he kept humping and spraying for another 7 weeks after his surgery, but after week 4 it was just occasionally and by the end of week 7 it just stopped. Success! But lots of cleaning and it was really gross. You practically can't let them out because he'd spray on everything around, your walls, your TV and on you, they can spray like 2 mtr around and as high as your eyes.

At least I learned something.

If you want to keep unneutered male, just keep him as a single and don't show him another rabbit. If another rabbit is a female he will try to impress her with spraying and humping and if she is fine with that they might bond but you'll have lots of cleaning, and if she gets annoyed of it she can start going after him wanting to castrate him with her own teeth and claws, and it is not uncommon that males get injured seriously while humping on a female's head.

If you get another male (neutered 8+ weeks ago), if he is super submissive, they won't fight but your unneutered male will still feel need in marking territory with urine so don't get surprised if he stops using his toilet and pee everywhere around. He will be still hormonal and will hump the other male if he will tolerate it, otherwise they will fight. Again, depending on your rabbit's and anther rabbit's personalities.

I have successfully bonded neutered males, but after 2-3 months after they were neutered.

In your case I would try finding a rabbit-savvy vet and would neuter Felix, then would wait 2-3 months and would try to find him a friend from a rescue but based on his and that other rabbits personalities and maybe they will allow you to bring Felix in to see if they are compatible. Just ask if they do bunny dates, have a few rabbits in mind from their photos and try do pre-bonding sessions with them.

Best combination they say is neutered male and neutered female, as I said two neutered males can bond with excellent results as well. It all depends on personalities.

We have a list of rabbit-savvy vets here maybe try contacting a few of them in your area

>>Vet List | House Rabbit Society

Of course it's your rabbit and you decide just wanted to share my own experience.
Anyway, I wish you best of luck and please keep us updated :)
 
Last edited:
@zuppa thank so much for all the information. I’ll have to have a discussion with my son about this tomorrow. We took Rocky to an exotic and small Animal Practice who has a lot of experience with buns. As friend of mine uses them all the time. I just want to to the right thing.
thank you again
 
I'm sorry for your loss! Rocky was such a cute bunny!
I completely agree with Zuppa. I don't think you should get Felix a friend unless you get him neutered. If you got him a spayed female, he will hump her, but if you get him a neutered male there will most likely be fighting. Maybe try finding another vet if you do decide to get him neutered? Good luck!
 
I have an intact buck and a neutered girl as house bunnys. I took him in when he was 2, when he was younger he did spray too much. One year later I got Dotty spayed as his cuddlebun since he looked lonely.

Well, sometimes there is some spraying to mop up, about twice a week when hormones rage, I can live with that. He could be a PITA to Dotty, following and trying to hump her, but she's such a patient girl and just keeps hopping away. Spayed or not, it's all the same to a buck. He was a perfect free range house rabbit as long as he was single.
I considered having him neutered, but since he got athrosis I'm happy about every motivation that keeps him moving, and he very rarely sprays her now, and can't follow her on the window sills.

Bonding two neutered bucks can sometimes work out, but it's the more difficult combination. It's not about how much effort you put into it, how much you read and watch videos - the personalties need to be compatible. I wouldn't recommend any bonding with another buck when one is intact. A girl is your best bet, I would say.

Some rabbits tolerate anesthetics better, but some are quite sensitve to it. Of what I've read, risk is about 1-2% to lose a bunny even with an experienced vet. But imo, for a pet rabbit the positive aspects of neutering/spaying outweight the negative. Definitly when they are not single.
 
I'm sorry for your loss! Rocky was such a cute bunny!
I completely agree with Zuppa. I don't think you should get Felix a friend unless you get him neutered. If you got him a spayed female, he will hump her, but if you get him a neutered male there will most likely be fighting. Maybe try finding another vet if you do decide to get him neutered? Good luck!
Thank you. We are looking at all options.
 
@zuppa We took Rocky to an exotic and small Animal Practice who has a lot of experience with buns. As friend of mine uses them all the time. I just want to to the right thing.
thank you again
I would suggest contacting a local rabbit rescue (not generic shelter) and ask what vet(s) they recommend. They usually have a standard go-to vet that does tons of neuters and spays.
 
I would suggest contacting a local rabbit rescue (not generic shelter) and ask what vet(s) they recommend. They usually have a standard go-to vet that does tons of neuters and spays.
We used a lady who has used this clinic for years with others rabbits along with her own. Rocky was the first bunny her rescue ever lost.
 
We used a lady who has used this clinic for years with others rabbits along with her own. Rocky was the first bunny her rescue ever lost.
That's really sad, what exactly happened to him, he died during the surgery or a few days after because of complications? Two of my rabbits were too curious and as a result were bleeding a few days after neutering, was not funny at all but thankfully first (Peter was neutered 21st July) now completely recovered and the other one neutered on 18th August is much better now I was very scared with him.
 
That's really sad, what exactly happened to him, he died during the surgery or a few days after because of complications? Two of my rabbits were too curious and as a result were bleeding a few days after neutering, was not funny at all but thankfully first (Peter was neutered 21st July) now completely recovered and the other one neutered on 18th August is much better now I was very scared with him.
Well we took him in and we received a call saying that they were only able to remove one testicle because he Coded. They did CPR and brought him back. They told us his HR was good but his breathing was off. They kept him until they closed 10pm bc they were hoping for him to wake up more. They decided to bring him home in hopes he would be better home. He did perk up when he heard my
Sons voice. The Vet was happy to see that. We got him home gave him some critical care and baby gas drops. He took it well but didn’t make it through the night 💔😢
 

Latest posts

Back
Top