• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

What gender rabbits?

I'm getting two mini lops soon. I already have four girl guinea pigs. I don't know what genders to get but which gender will get on with the Guinea pigs best if they ever go in the run together or when taking photos (I'm a photographer)?
 
Welcome to the forum :D

Guinea pigs and rabbits should never be allowed to interact I'm afraid, no gender will get on any more than the other. Rabbits naturally carry bacteria which when in direct contact with guinea pigs can be passed on which will make for very poorly guinea pigs. Rabbits hind legs are also very strong, one wrong hop can severely injure a guinea pig. They also dont communicate in any of the same ways, which can lead to aggression as they may be unsure of one another.

As for genders, rabbits require spaying and neutering for health and behavioural reasons so the best pairing I one of each, a spayed female and neutered male. However they will need to be separated young to prevent pregnancy and the male can be neutered once his testicles fully descend and the female spayed around 6 months of age and both will need time to recover so keeping them separate may be a bit awkward. Two females are more likely to get on and can be spayed together I'd say, although both genders will fight aggressively once they reach sexual maturity.
 
I was basically going to say the same as Liz re keeping GP and Rabbits together. You really do need to give them separate runs, or separate times out in the run.
 
If you go to rescue you can get them pre-neutered, otherwise you might want to look at offsetting when you get them so you can get the male neutered first then get him a companion. Otherwise you'll need to separate housing until they are old enough to neuter. Two males/females have a higher risk of fighting.
 
Adopting from a rescue will also work out a lot cheaper, an adoption fee will get you a pair of bunnies already spayed/neutered, vaccinated so you won't have to do this until they're due and save you a lot of stress during recovery and then bonding again :) I don't think mini lops will be hard to find in rescue either, if you are set on that breed.
 
I echo what everyone else has said, lots of mini lops in rescues as other breeds, you never know you may fall in love with something else or stick with lops
 
Back
Top