Unspayed female housede above a bonded spayed/neutered pair?

[rmv1983]

My brother has a female bun who is about 8 years old. While he feeds her and changes her, he does not really like her or take care of her emotional needs. I have been on him to spay her but he refuses, and currently i cannot afford to do this. I hope to save the money in the next few months, but I am not sure this will happen. I know the advantages to spaying, and would if I could afford it, but I cannot at this point in time. My vet charges $250 to spay a rabbit, plus the vet fisit. I was wondering if it would be okay to house her on top of my spayed/neutered bonded pair. Once my brother put her outside to play together with my bonded pair started fighting for about a week, but they worked out.

My buns have a two level CC cage that I was hoping to convert into two cages. My buns only sit on the top level, even though the bottom is more roomy and two grids high, the top is only one. The cage is 4 grids long and 2 grids wide. I am going put them back on the bottom and close off the top either way, but I was hoping to convert it (by adding another row of grids for height) into a cage for my brother's bun. Right now she is caged in a regular pet store cage, which is way to small. Her cage is probably only eighteen inches wide by three feet long, if even that.

Would it be okay to house her above a bonded pair, if they could still smell her? Will this cause them to fight, or should they be okay with a floor between them? I want to do what is best for this bun, I feel bad for her. My brother never wanted her, and so really does not do much beyond the basic care for this girl. She is a lop eared girl, who is probably about 7+ pounds.

 

[Flashy]

I think it depends on your bonded pair to be honest. You could probably find a way to do it but you might have to go through a period of referred agreesion (as in one of your bonded pair being aggressive to the other member of the bonded pair), or dominance issues, or other behavioural problems.

Something like vanilla on the noses of the bonded pair can work. Someone also said recently that Olbas Oil OUTSIDE the cage (as in, so the bun can't get to it) can help prevent issues with a bonded pair. With time though they should get used to her, it's just finding the right way to help them.

 

[Sabine]

I don't know if i got this right but i understood that the three are ok to play in a neutral area (outside) I couldn't really see a problem with the unspayed doe housed above the other two.
I find with my combination od spayed/neutered and unspayed buns it's mainly two of my spayed girls that are the trouble makers. My two unspayed ones are only half as viscious. As Flashy said, it largely depends on the bun how they take to another rabbit.

 

[rmv1983]

I'm sorry if I confused you. My brother had them outside together, and when my pair came in they were fighting. Nothing violent, but the male became nippy.

We went ahead and built her a cage on top of the other one, she now has a cage that is two grids wide and four long, and two tall. She is hiding in a corner right now, the cage is easily four times as big as her old cage. I don't think she knows what to do with so much room!

I hope one day to get her spayed, and perhaps get her an older friend (or attempt to bond her to my duo), but for right now she will remain a solo rabbit.