Help needed please! So after a pre assessment vet check last week for my bunnies spaying and neutering- I checked them in this morning for the vet to ring me 20 minutes later to say the girl is actually a boy! Easily mistaken apparently as the testicles were inverted. Now I’m worried about them bonding after. They are from the same litter and have always been together up until Monday when they started fighting, and so I separated them.
In my research before I got them,everything I read said a male and female works better for bonding.
I have one large hutch that they share and a 12ft run which attaches and they share. Do you think I am going to need double everything? Has anyone else had successful brothers bonding after neutering. I’m grateful for any advice please with bonding two boys. Thankyou
Hi, what age are they? I guess about 4 months now.
I've very successfully bonded neutered brothers absolutely no problems, I've heard as well that boy and girl are better for bonding, but I would say it's more about personalities and if you are taking time not trying to bond immediately after neuter.
As above said, you will have to wait after neutering 6-8 weeks, it depends on your buns really, I had boys who needed more time, one needed 3 months. After his extra time he was perfectly bondable.
It would help us to understand your setup better if you could post some pics of it. If your hutch is really large you could possibly just divide it in the middle and same with the run. For me, I am not playing with pre-bonding anymore, I know you want them to see each other but I find that they calm down much much faster when completely separated and can't see or smell each other. I spray my hands and clothes with 5% vinegar between holding them because I don't want to stress them. Because hormonal male rabbit when he smells another male rabbit on my hands and clothes he would pee on me or will bite me, because I smell like his competitor.
In your case, if you separate them completely now and for 8 weeks after neutering, after that you will create new foreign for both territory, and do bonding sessions, starting from a short one and you will see if they still remember each other and their fights. Maybe they will need more time separately.
They will have over 2 months without each other and most likely will completely forget each other, that is great, they will start as with completely new partner.
I know most people don't want to separate siblings because they were so lovely 'bonded' when they were babies, but the truth is, they were not bonded, babies just get along but when become hormonal they will fight. So I am against keeping them close to each other for these 2 and a bit months because your goal is to bond them for life and have easy bonding, but when they are close and communicate through the bars, they may build kind of relationship which won't be helpful when bonding, because now and 2 months after neutering they will still be hormonal and will see each other as a competitor. They will poo and pee along their divider to protect their territory, they will spray urine on their competitor and on all around, on you to mark their territory and mark as their property, they will try getting each other through the bars etc. Maybe there can be exceptions if your rabbits are super laid back, but most male rabbits in their teens would do that, it is just natural for them to try establish their dominance at any cost.
Of course as I said it depends on personalities, maybe in some cases staying close would work, but I prefer waiting 2 months and giving them clean start as neutered and calm partners.
There's lots of videos on bonding, but i think you should just separate them now and stay focused on post neuter care for a few next weeks, then you come back and ask here we will link you to bonding. just no rush let them calm down and you will have better results with bonding. No rush, 2 months is not a big deal really.