New Companion Not Neutered - Playtime Advice

Happy Easter to everyone!

Adopted a gorgeous male mini lop today for my female lop.

I have made a c&c cage which is next to the female (Chica) cage in their room.

Hes 2 years old but not neutered although Chica has been fixed. What do I do about letting them out to run about? Chica usually comes up to our bedroom at night bit feel bad keeping the new rabbit locked away as they arent bonded.

Thanks in advance

Romy said:

Happy Easter to everyone!

Adopted a gorgeous male mini lop today for my female lop.

I have made a c&c cage which is next to the female (Chica) cage in their room.

Hes 2 years old but not neutered although Chica has been fixed. What do I do about letting them out to run about? Chica usually comes up to our bedroom at night bit feel bad keeping the new rabbit locked away as they arent bonded.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

Hello!
I recently adopted a female lionhead for my male bunny to have some company, but neither of them are fixed, so they can't live together for obvious reasons
However, I did let them have a 'monitored playtime' so they could get used to eachother- but when jack tried to do "anything (..)" I simply moved him away!
You could probably do the same thing as me, but not as strict as at least you know no more extra bunnies will be running around, as your girly is fixed! :lol:
The worst that could happen is that your girl gets annoyed with him, as she just won't be interested!
Good luck
x

It would be risky to allow them any time together and could ruin bonding later on. Being hormonal, he will act very differently to when he is neutered, so any bonding done now is essentially a waste of time and will have to be redone anyway. It is also likely to result in aggressive or dominant behaviour, which could set them back when you do eventually bond. Even supervised, it is risky and not worth it for the sake of a few weeks.

For now, it would be best to give them play-time separately and wait till at least 6 weeks after he is neutered. You may have to wait longer if his hormones take a while to die down.

<3jackyboy<3 said:

Hello!
I recently adopted a female lionhead for my male bunny to have some company, but neither of them are fixed, so they can't live together for obvious reasons
However, I did let them have a 'monitored playtime' so they could get used to eachother- but when jack tried to do "anything (..)" I simply moved him away!
You could probably do the same thing as me, but not as strict as at least you know no more extra bunnies will be running around, as your girly is fixed! :lol:
The worst that could happen is that your girl gets annoyed with him, as she just won't be interested!
Good luck
x

Click to expand...

The amount of times I have heard this and it has ended badly.... It is irresponsible to let them together at all whilst both are not neutered. Bear in mind that rabbits are fertile 100% of the time as they are induced ovulators. It takes just seconds. Could you really keep all baby rabbits and pay for any health problems that may arise from breeding without knowing their genetic background? With parents of a lionhead and one that is clearly mixed breed with lop in him, you particularly likely to get babies that have dental problems in later life, amongst other things.

With them both being unneutered now, you'll have to go back to square one in bonding once they are neutered anyway, as hormones will dictate their behaviours at the moment, so there is no benefit to introducing them before neutering.

I wasn't planning on letting them play together as I let the female out and he was thumping when he seen her as if he was frustrated. Waiting till hes neutered and leave it a few weeks then start bond.

What I should have asked is it ok to let them play in the same area separately? Not sure if this is ok. Thanks

Romy said:

I wasn't planning on letting them play together as I let the female out and he was thumping when he seen her as if he was frustrated. Waiting till hes neutered and leave it a few weeks then start bond.

What I should have asked is it ok to let them play in the same area separately? Not sure if this is ok. Thanks

Click to expand...

It may be okay, it may not. It depends on the rabbits. You may find that it stresses them out or he may be chilled about it, it depends on his personality and how hormonal he is. She may also not like it and may feel the need to remark her territory.

Just a heads-up, you may also find that each feels the need to mark the territory by pooing and weeing on it, and in his case spraying. They may be fine, but I'd have some paper towells ready just in case! :lol:

nessar said:

It may be okay, it may not. It depends on the rabbits. You may find that it stresses them out or he may be chilled about it, it depends on his personality and how hormonal he is. She may also not like it and may feel the need to remark her territory.

Just a heads-up, you may also find that each feels the need to mark the territory by pooing and weeing on it, and in his case spraying. They may be fine, but I'd have some paper towells ready just in case! :lol:

Click to expand...

Thanks Ive took the male downstairs and letting chica run about her room. Hes 2 years old & not fully toilet trained so the towel in his cage stinks of pee.