bonding two adult females?

I have a female spayed rabbit and want to get her a friend. I have been looking for a neutered male as all the info I can find suggests this is the best combination, however my friend has a Netherland dwarf which she took on after her neighbours kids got bored of it. Its a female and has not been spayed. She is trying to persuade me to take her bunny (although it is very well looked after, she is trying to find it company too). If I got her spayed is is likely she would get on with my rabbit?

Thanks for any help.

If both are spayed, & their hormones settle (6-8 weeks ish), & the bonding is done on neutral territory & slowly seen as how it's their first attempt to live with another bun - it may well work. There might be a personality clash, but you won't know till you try

Yep they will bond sometimes just as easy as buck-doe bonds,just keep to the rules of bonding ie neutral so on so on.

I managed to bond my two boys (by accident) it usually depends on personalities and that they arent both wanting to be the dominant rabbit!! Good Luck!! There are lots of people on here who are really good at bonding so any help needed they have all the information!!

I've been wondering about this myself. I've taken two does in and I'm waiting to get them spayed. They live in separate hutches but can see each other, and take it in turns to have time out of their hutch. One of them is very feisty, and the other one very gentle and laid back, so I am hoping they will be able to bond eventually.

willow was the best bun to get along with bif..we didnt even try bertie with her...hes a pushover!
lots of things happened and bif became a monster..like she did when we had bertie! willow took it thru her cage n run for almost a year then when bonding she stood it for a week then went for bif..that lasted a few days..they were a bonded foursome by crimbo and unbonded by new years!

willows huge even by frenchie standards..bifs a lionhead lop cross(no mane) or so the rescue said....berties small for a frenchoe and bandtis a lionhead....guess who wilow was scared of and never bit back...bandit!!
cos she kept harrassing bif hru the cage bars recently he now attacks willows nose at every opportunity.even when she accidnetally got into his exercise area..she ran away from him!
bifs a pitbull in disguise..but if youd seen her snuggled up with willow with bertie on the other side..it was as tho she died and gone to heaven:lol:
bandit and wilow beame evry close as long as bif was ok with it...
bifs a bossy madam..even the cats repsect her greatly!! wilows become bossy and selfish and jealous..and horny even tho spayed when she was 6months old!!
personality is all you have to worry about. bertie and bandit 2 bucks were inseperable but bertie stil had to let him know whos boss every evening..bit him n bif and him n willow do that!
does are alittle harder as they are so territorial but if they havent got a man to fight over you should be ok..just ater spaying itll take months ofr hormones to settle..i left willow till 3 months after spaying to start bonding and then on and off till dec.

just be more toelrant and patient but then again some diff sex bondings are just as hard!

To be honest, I bought my bunny from a lady who raises netherland dwarfs for shows (she gives away the ones that do not fit the criteria) and has taken care of these rabbits for over 30 yrs, and when I bought my bunny Twitch, I wanted to get 2 so they could keep each other company. The woman totally advised me against this. From her experience, Netherland Dwarfs are lovely (and I agree) but very territorial. I know that it is more common for the males to not get on, but to be honest, as long as you spend some time with your bunny everyday and that she has a couple of toys to play with, she shouldn;t need a companion.
If you really want to get another bunny anyway, perhaps you could try keeping your friend's rabbit for a few days just to make sure ot goes well. I wouldn;t leave them together if you're not around, in case they start fighting....
good luck!

I completely disagree with the Netherland dwarf comment, they are sometimes naughty but mine lives with a male mini lop and is the most affectionate of the two... Also he has sniffed noses with his future friends (making a foursome) and that has so far gone well!! So I don't really think Nethies are much different then the rest tbh!!

christelle said:

To be honest, I bought my bunny from a lady who raises netherland dwarfs for shows (she gives away the ones that do not fit the criteria) and has taken care of these rabbits for over 30 yrs, and when I bought my bunny Twitch, I wanted to get 2 so they could keep each other company. The woman totally advised me against this. From her experience, Netherland Dwarfs are lovely (and I agree) but very territorial. I know that it is more common for the males to not get on, but to be honest, as long as you spend some time with your bunny everyday and that she has a couple of toys to play with, she shouldn;t need a companion.
If you really want to get another bunny anyway, perhaps you could try keeping your friend's rabbit for a few days just to make sure ot goes well. I wouldn;t leave them together if you're not around, in case they start fighting....
good luck!

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If she was a breeder, it's highly unlikely her buns were spayed. Spaying reduces hormonal & often territorial behaviour I have a bonded mixed group of 9 buns - only 2 are related, all neutered/spayed.

A agree wholeheartedly with the last 2 posts; unspayed females are very territorial and the breeders experience was most probably usually with unspayed does.

Yes you're right the breeder did not spay the females, nor did she neuter the bucks. I have decided not to neuter my rabbit either.

Sorry i do also totally agree with the fact that Netherland dwarfs are no different than other rabbits. I have read lots of stories about nasty bites made by these rabbits, but mine is the most affectionate bunny I have ever seen, extremely docile and obeys us all the time. He has never bitten anyone (and he did get opportunities when he would get annoyed!) but he has never done so!
It's just the breeder I spoke to said that these rabbits didn;t need any bunny company, that they lived happily on their own as long as they get lots of attention from the owner...

I think any rabbit can live happily if they are getting lots of human interaction, but there is nothing like having someone there with you 24-7.

In our group of 5 it is the females that caused the problems it depends on the personalities of the individual buns and how dominant they each want to be.

Lots of great advice, thanks everyone. I'm doing a lot of research before getting my next bunny so I hope Alice appreciates it! It's great to have a forum like this to ask for expert help when you need it.

I'm new and, to be honest, I didn't read through everyone's responses (though I'm sure they're excellent). But I wanted to pipe in as I had two females that were not yet spayed and were completely bonded.

My two american chinchilla girls were as bonded as bonded can be. I say "were" because one of my girls, Lennox, died this past weekend. I'm heartbroken, but that's not the point of this post. They were best partners - in everything. They came to me from the breeder already bonded, but from what I understand, they bonded immediately to one another despite being from different litters.

Anything is possible where rabbits are concerned. I've totally had to learn that lesson . But, no matter what, I hope everything works out for you and for your bun.

There are others on here that have un-neutered and bonded females but the reality of it is that neutered rabbits are easier to bond, especially when starting from a situation like Alice's mum is coming from.

Weve had very mixed results with this. Weve had a couple of love at first sights, but weve also had a couple of severe fights Sometimes theres a personality clash or one or both are too territorial (even when spayed) but as others have said it may work too and you never know!

christelle said:

Yes you're right the breeder did not spay the females, nor did she neuter the bucks. I have decided not to neuter my rabbit either.

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That's a shame - when a doe is 3 years old, there's an 80% chance she will develop uterine cancer unless she has been spayed. Add to that the concerned hormonal issues - territorial behaviour, phantom pregnancies, loneliness As far as a boy bun is concerned - there's the same hormone issues, the spraying, the feeling "affectionate" all the time, & also the increased cancer risk

Tbh i think if we hadnt have neutered our newest arrival Earl hed have had a heart attack or something by now. CONSTANT spraying, humping-mounting anything at all, desperately circling all the time...poor fella was so tortured with it In the wild obviously buns got to mate...A LOT

But this is a diff topic i guess

Angie65 said:

That's a shame - when a doe is 3 years old, there's an 80% chance she will develop uterine cancer unless she has been spayed. Add to that the concerned hormonal issues - territorial behaviour, phantom pregnancies, loneliness As far as a boy bun is concerned - there's the same hormone issues, the spraying, the feeling "affectionate" all the time, & also the increased cancer risk

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yes sadly this can happen tho i do understand why people do not want to put thier rabbit under the risk of anestetic. iv had several rabbits over the years my first id never heard of neutering a bunny and she was a loverly girl a big english bun my second was territorial sometimes and mischivious and we heard about neutering we got her done and she was fine for abouta month had finall y recovered and had her fur grow back then died of unknown cause. then i had a pair of buns and decided the stress of neutering on a rabbit was not worth it, sadly choc got uterine cancer and died it was heart breaking so we got her sister chelsea done. i now think it is worth the stress and i do recommend it.it is so preventable (cancer in females)