Bonding small family to a quiet, castrated male?

[kellypurr]

Hello,

Not my pet rabbits, trying to do the right thing for my work rabbits! I am experienced in the care and feeding of rabbits but haven't done much bonding.

We had an accidental litter (mum escaped so assuming wild rabbit sire) this year and have ended up with 2 lovely babies and they are about 10 weeks 1 male 1 female. I have separated the male and taken him home (no other rabbits at home) to get him castrated. First of all could I then bond him back to his mum and sister?

Then I have a recently widowed very sweet and gentle, castrated male rabbit, about the same size as mum, could I then bond the family of 3 with him? My thoughts being with the castrated baby boy being young the adult male would be more accepting of him? With both males being castrated.

I am also happy to re-home him with his sister (re-bonding pending) to sensible people if my initial plan wouldn't work.

I am caught between a lot of office politics and don't want to upset anyone but will happily upset everyone to make sure I do the right thing by the rabbits!

Thanks in advance, Kelly

 

[tonibun]

You should be able to bond the boy back with Mum and Sister but they will also need to be spayed to achieve a happy group. It won't be as easy to bond them with the other boy though and I personally wouldn't try it. I hope it works out for you.

 

[Omi]

Yes, it should be possible to bond the male back with his mother and sister, but in my view you would need to treat it as a fresh bonding, so neutral space etc and monitor them very carefully.

It's possible that you would be able to then bond the other male into this trio, but that might be more difficult. The brother and sister, if half-wild, might be more skittish than normal. Also groups of rabbits are sometimes more difficult to bond than a pair. However, if all rabbits are neutered then you could give it a try.

Good luck

 

[kellypurr]

Thank you both!