Unexpected pair

Hi,

I have jsut got a pair of what I thought was female rabbits, but it seems that one of them is a male.

They are about 10 weeks old and I am looking for some advice as to what I need to do ?

I think that the obvious answer would be to get the male neutered to calm his behavior.

When should I get him neutered ?

Do I need to have them in separate hutchs now ?

Should I get the female spayed ?

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers,

Steve

Separate them now.
You must get them neutered if you want them to stay together, or they will breed...like rabbits.
The male can get neutered as soon as his testicles drops, which could happen any time now. But even after he's neutered he could still impregnate the female for about 6 weeks afterwards.

I would like to keep them together - basically they have been together for a while now ( I think that the male was wrongly sexed by the breeder and put him in with the girls so at the pet shop they were in the same group ).

He is starting to show some signs of adolesence which is why we started to suspect that she was a he.

The problem I have is that i only have one hutch, fortuneately it has two levels so I can split them easily ( remove the ramp and close the trap door. Would I be okay providing a temporary bedding area by cutting a door way in a cardboard pet carrier and placing it on the bottom level of the hutch ?

Going to have them vacinated for Myxi this weekend so I will schedule the op for him. If he is a he !

I know a lot of rescues would keep baby buns together until the boy's bit's drop (approx 12 weeks+), but neutering HAS to be done then. Of course, you need to be absolutey 100% sure of buns exact ages. Otherwise I would separate now, get him neutered 12-16 weeks & rebond on neutral territory. She can be spayed 5-6 months

sabrads said:

Hi,

I have jsut got a pair of what I thought was female rabbits, but it seems that one of them is a male.

They are about 10 weeks old and I am looking for some advice as to what I need to do ?

I think that the obvious answer would be to get the male neutered to calm his behavior.

When should I get him neutered ?

Do I need to have them in separate hutchs now ?

Should I get the female spayed ?

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers,

Steve

Click to expand...

can I ask why you think you have a male? If one of them has testicles then it's time to take him to the vet to be neutered. If it just because one is humping the other then you could still have two females as females will hump another rabbit to show it's dominance.
Either way you should take them to the vet to be sexed

Estelle said:

can I ask why you think you have a male? If one of them has testicles then it's time to take him to the vet to be neutered. If it just because one is humping the other then you could still have two females as females will hump another rabbit to show it's dominance.
Either way you should take them to the vet to be sexed

Click to expand...

Hi,

I have been looking through the forum and now I have read a few of the postings I am not so sure about whether I have been provided with two females or a female and a male. I have them booked in on Sat for their myxi vaccine so I will get the vet to sex them then.

We got two rabbits (Hermione and Sheridan) about two weeks ago, unfortuneately Sheridan died two days later, I think this was one that was either supplied too young, was the poor runt of the litter or maybe over bred and not really viable.

So we got a replacement from the same store. We checked when we purchased the initial pair that they were the same sex with the store and we were assured that they were. When we went back we got a bunny from the same group in the store so they had been in each others company for a few weeks.

We reintroduced Speckles to Hermione and they got on okay - no fighting, nuzzling up to each other, a little mutual grooming. However on the second day we noticed that Hermoine was humping Speckles. Since that day we have kept an eye on them and they seem to be getting on well - no fights or arguements. I had initially put that first humping down to Hermione exerting her dominance.

We let them out into the garden last night and once again in about an hour Hermione had tried to hump Speckles twice, Speckles just lays there and doesnt fight back. I wasnt there but my fiancee was and she and her dad checked the bunny and thought that it was a male ( but looking at the thread on sexing bunnies I am not sure that I could tell it they were in front of me with the photos )

I hadnt realised till I started looking into it today that females will hump as part of the dominace thing so I will take them to the vet on Sat and see what they say.

Thanks for all the advice, it is really appreicated,

Steve

I was going to sort of say that too. If you can see testicals he can be neutered now. Humping may only be a sign of domience. A vet can check the sex it you cannot see them.

You should neuter both rabbits even if they are both female as it will reduce the probability of fighting, reduce the risk of uterine cancer in females and generally make their life better by stopping phantom pregnencies and make your better by making them less terratorial. Many experienced vets will neuter boys and girls from 4 months (or sooner if the testicals have dropped). Some vets will neuter a girl as long as she has reached one kg.

Thanks for the advice, it is all appreciated - I will hopefully know on Sat whether Hermione is Hermione or He-mione !

Vet Resuts

Went to the vet on Sat and we have conclusive sexing - Hermione is He-mione.....or rather now been called Dobby !

I felt really mean separating them today - I have a large garden they can play in - so I have one in the garden and one in a run to get some exercise, switched them over to be fair.

They are now in separate areas of the hutch and I have booked in Dobby for his op at the beginning of july.