Thinking about adding another bunny to our family

[jap08m]

My fiance and I are thinking about bringing another bunny into our household. We're sure we want to do it, but we're not sure on how exactly we should do it, or how long to wait. This isn't exactly a housing question but I figured everyone on this site probably knows what I'm going through. So here it goes.
Reddit is a 3 month old female of unknown breed. She is not spayed. We actually just figured out she was a female just recently as we're pretty sure she has teets. She doesn't seem territorial to us, but she is shy sometimes (something we're working on everyday). I would like her to have a "friend" of her own and not just the giants that take care of her. I would like a male rabbit of around the same age if I could find one. My biggest concern is that while I would like her to have companionship I don't want to be irresponsible and have her get pregnant. We're not equipped to take care of tiny baby rabbits right now and I feel it would be neglectful if we were to let that happen. Also I've read alot about how spayed rabbits will tend to live longer and have less of a chance of cervical cancer(?) Is this correct? Would it be better to get her spayed or the male neutered or both? I know males tend to "spray" sometimes or when they reach maturity. Like I said earlier she is only 3 months old. How old does she have to be to be spayed, as I would like to do this irregardless of whether we get another rabbit. My next question would be how to introduce them. I have no idea where to start there. Does it need to be a gradual thing? I do have 2 cats and a dog in the household (all of which do not interact with Reddit as the cats have all their claws and I really don't trust them not to kill her). I wouldn't be able to keep them in separate rooms here at the house while they got used to each other.
Any advice on spaying and how to have them meet would be great as I'm not on sure footing here and would like to be prepared when we decide we're going to do this. Thank you for any help

 

[ZRabbits]

Hi, I think to have a successful bonding, I'd wait until she was spayed. Definitely better for females to be spayed if not breeding. Once she's been through the spay and has healed completely, giving a couple more months to allow hormones to completely fade, then take her on a bunny date to a rescue and let her pick her companion.

Wishing you all the luck.

K

 

[LakeCondo]

She may or may not even be a she. Mammals have nipples, whether male or female.

Also, some vets will spay at 3 months, but other vets want to wait until 6 months. If it were a lone male & didn't act very hormonal at puberty you could decide not to neuter him as the reproductive cancer risk for males is much lower than for females. A male with company of either gender probably should be neutered for dominance reasons.

When & if you get another rabbit, letting your current one pick out the companion is a good idea. Even littermates don't always rebond after neutering, so assuming 2 sweet-tempered rabbits will bond often results in 2 solo rabbits.

 

[Nelsons_Mom]

I would absolutely wait until she is spayed for both temperamental and health benefits. Since you don't know her history (like a pedigree) then you shouldn't breed her.

Also, I would find a solution for your housing first (as I remember your cage is more of a sky-scraper than a ranch). The minimum I would keep a small bonded pair in is one of those 4ftX4ft (fairly inexpensive at roughly $150) puppy pens with 3-4hrs of out time a day.

Once those things are addressed, I would take Reddit to a shelter and have her go on some "dates." It's best to let the rabbits pick each other. Once getting home with the neutered male she gets on the most with, you can do a more indepth boding at home with them eventually moving in together.

 

[LakeCondo]

Exactly. Once you get the one she chooses, you should keep them in adjacent cages for awhile when unsupervised, just to be safe.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Mammals have nipples--the rabbit has a couple of exceptions. The male rabbit is the only mammal with no nipples and the only mammal that has testes in front of the penis. Read it in several books and our vet also confirmed it. Supposedly, the rabbit is related to Camels, Alpacas, and Llamas--split , prehensile front lip being the common factor.

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

Nancy McClelland wrote:

Mammals have nipples--the rabbit has a couple of exceptions. The male rabbit is the only mammal with no nipples and the only mammal that has testes in front of the penis. Read it in several books and our vet also confirmed it. Supposedly, the rabbit is related to Camels, Alpacas, and Llamas--split , prehensile front lip being the common factor.

Really? Good information to know, thanks for sharing!

 

[agnesthelion]

I agree to get her spayed. I was on the fence with Agnes too and my research and the advice I got on here has been overwhelmingly convincing that it is the right thing to do. And then especially if you want to bond her.

Good luck! Let us know what you end up doing!

 

[Nelsons_Mom]

Nancy McClelland wrote:

Mammals have nipples--the rabbit has a couple of exceptions. The male rabbit is the only mammal with no nipples and the only mammal that has testes in front of the penis. Read it in several books and our vet also confirmed it. Supposedly, the rabbit is related to Camels, Alpacas, and Llamas--split , prehensile front lip being the common factor.

Male rats also do not have nipples. I didn't believe it when o first heard it and spent about five minutes digging threw my guys fur to confirm.

I wonder if it has to do with both species being so exemplary at breeding? They are unrelated otherwise.

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

I'm going to check Bugsy today just to see.. its pretty fascinating!

 

[MyJuneAngel]

Interesting about male rabbits! I wish I had known that sooner! We had what we was told was a male until she delivered 10 stillborn kits. After that we were constantly on our toes to keep her and the male away from one another and we still ended up with two litters of kits thanks to my children thinking they needed a 'play date'.

Did I see elsewhere that Reddit has a new friend now?

We have two females (sisters from the same litter) who are housed together. They are unaltered but I am looking in to having them spayed. Our vet does not spay but will neuter. We also have a male (their brother from the next litter) who isn't old enough to have neutered yet. I absolutely must get him neutered before he begins to spray though. His father sprayed and it is just awful.

 

[jap08m]

MyJuneAngel wrote:

Interesting about male rabbits! I wish I had known that sooner! We had what we was told was a male until she delivered 10 stillborn kits. After that we were constantly on our toes to keep her and the male away from one another and we still ended up with two litters of kits thanks to my children thinking they needed a 'play date'.

Did I see elsewhere that Reddit has a new friend now?

We have two females (sisters from the same litter) who are housed together. They are unaltered but I am looking in to having them spayed. Our vet does not spay but will neuter. We also have a male (their brother from the next litter) who isn't old enough to have neutered yet. I absolutely must get him neutered before he begins to spray though. His father sprayed and it is just awful.

Reddit does have a new friend, though I'm keeping them apart for right now. His name is Demitri and apparently he is part dutch. I don't know how "friend"ish they are being right now. She's trying to mount him, he's trying to mount her and he's pulling tuffs of her hair out in his attempts to do so. He's got an appointment to go get fixed on the 18th. He has been spraying something awful. I hope that gets fixed. I would really like them to start bonding but they can't spend longer then 30 seconds without it getting physical. Hopefully that will slow after hes been fixed for a bit.