Bonding a Neutered Boy With a Non Neutered Female? Is it Possible?

Hi all

Just wondering if you could offer a bit of advice on bonding. My boy Ronan (4) lost his partner Bambi around 2 months ago, he dealt with her death pretty well, turning from a rabbit that was just not bothered by us to nudging our feet or hopping on the sofa to demand head rubs. He was constantly groomed by Bambi and was the dominant bunny despite being a big softy with no signs of aggression, minimal humping just the occasional honk or grunt.

It's pretty clear that though he is fine with human interaction he really does need a friend. I recently got him a friend (18 months) Saffy, she's not been neutered but very chilled out, docile, in fact she has a very similar personality to Ronan it's uncanny. I have put her in a large cage next to his dog pen and they have been showing interest in each other. Ronan seems a little obsessed with her to be honest.

I have been reading up on whether it is possible to bond a neutered boy with a female that hasn't been spayed and there was a mix of opinions, some says it works, some says it doesn't. We tried this evening to introduce them in a neutral space, approx 1m x 1m. Saffy sprayed straight away to mark her territory and they seemed to ignore each other for a bit and eat their food that I left in the space. However, there was a lot of chasing, at one point Ronan had his teeth stuck into Saffy (she is fine) so we had to separate them. We took Ronan back into his own cage, but I could see that he was physically excited down below... followed by a bunny flop. Saffy was a little stressed too but within 10-15mins she flopped and we managed to return her into her cage without any fuss a little while later. We think Saffy by spraying has just got our Ronan a bit over-excited. We even witnessed a binky from him earlier today after he sniffed her cage.

What I'm asking is do you think I should carry on trying to bond Ronan with Saffy whilst Saffy is clearly hormonal (she has had two litters in the past but is not pregnant). Looking back now, it seems that Ronan has been on edge and excited the whole time Saffy has been with us (just over 48 hours), was the introduction too soon? I think I will plan to get her spayed next week but how long should I wait to re-introduce them to each other. I've moved Saffys cage further away from Ronans as my partner thinks it's unfair to have a hormonal female so close to him, about half a meter away, are we being over pre cautious?

There's so much advice about bonding over the internet, but so many differing ways to do it - some advice from some experienced bonders would be really helpful.

Personally, I'd wait around 6 weeks before doing bonding post neuter.
I'd also have them in a space of around 25 sqft but that's the space I prefer to use when doing first bonding as I can add in forage easily and actually sit in with them to prevent fighting.

Always try to end bonding on a positive note so they don't relate each other to a negative experience.

It's all about finding what works for you, and what your stress levels can cope with.

Lots of other people will give their opinions, personally pick and choose what suits you but I do strongly advise against stress bonding unless being used as a last resort.

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Hi there. As your new bunny has had 2 litters she will no doubt be expecting to have more babies, as this is how they think! So it will really be best for her to be neutered which will help tp make her less hormonal. In this case I think it would be best to get the spay over with and let her calm down for a few weeks before introducing her to your male rabbit. When you do introduce them it must be in an area where the femsle hasn't been before as they get very protective over their territory and would very likely attack the boy.

Once you put them together it is best not to keep separating them so choose a good day when you can be there to supervise, start early and go from there. I like to bond in a biggish area but we all do it differently. I always feel that in a big area the female can run away from the boy, who will most likely chase her for a couple of days. Once she feels more confident of him the chasing will subside and they will start to bond. Scattering food is the best idea as they won't eat from the same bowl straightaway as the male won't allow her to! This is a way of making sure they know who's boss.

I would keep them fairly separate until you are ready to bond them. :thumb:

Thank you for the advice, I have booked Saffy in for a spay. They've been separated for now as she has been spraying her cage, and Ronan has been a lot more calmer and less excitable since we've moved her. Once her hormones have died down and she stops spraying I'll move her cage near my boys again and I guess I'll just see where I get on from there. Hoping for an easy bond, but it's just so unpredictable. They're both wonderful pets individually, fingers crossed they'll want to be friends.

Hope the spay goes well. Please keep in touch and don't be afraid of asking any questions you might have.

Thanks for the responses, a little update for you all. Saffy has now been spayed, its been 9 days and I've now moved her indoor cage next to Ronans (with a gap). The spraying seems to have stopped and I think she has been sucessfully litter trained whilst I kept her in the kitchen. I'm hoping to bond her with Ronan at the end of the month.

I've just moved her in the past hour next to Ronan and she has been back to chinning her cage, thankfully no spraying and no marking. She's flopped three times in the space of thirty minutes. Are these good signs that they may get along in a few weeks time, or am I looking into this too much? Does she just find a lot of pleasure in chinning her own territory? Last time I let her free range in the living room (pre-neuter) she sprayed the carpet after sniffing Ronans scent and when I returned her back to her cage she dead bunny flopped :roll:

Pleased to hear that Saffy has recovered well from her spay. It is too soon at the moment to see much difference in behaviour, spraying is usually the first signs that being spayed is having a calming effect. You just can't go off how she is behaving to guess how she will react when she is put with your male rabbit. When you do introduce them it must be as far away as possible from the area she is used to. Hopefully they will get along fine. They all tend to chin "things" even their humans! :thumb:

Personally, I have had no issues with bonding entire females with neutered males.
It wasn't that long ago that spaying a female was considered too risky and it just didn't happen, however spaying is best for health issues and if going ahead with a spay, it's probably easier to bond once done, again I have had no problem re-introducing bonded pairs after a spay op.
As far as bonding goes, you can do a fast bond or a slow bond, I have always chosen to slow bond due to time, in that I can't spend 48- 72 hours supervising a bond, it works for me, it all depends on the rabbits and yourself.