Rabbit behaviour and future pairing

[Camila]

Hello all, glad to have come across this valuable resource.

I have 2 bunnies, with a 3rd due to join me in a month.

At the moment I have 2 does, a French Lop and a mini lop. My French lop is around 5 months now and growly well, she and my mini lop I have started to notice some behaviours. There has been lay together, grooming and my mini lop doe has started humping my French lop doe like a buck would making thrusting motion, is this still normal for a doe to do?.

Is it possible the doe could be a buck? Even checking looks like a doe, the French lop is definitely 100% doe.

Due to the size of her and as the does get older I don't want them to fight fight so the new bunny who is coming is a mini lop buck to slowly pair with my doe. This would mean my French lop moves out, she is very affectionate always coming to me, and wanting to be pet. Do I need to get her a long term buddy too, can all 3 eventually live together? Due to fact my French lop is going to be growing bigger and bigger is there a danger of her being around the mini lops of injury?

I keep guinea pigs but the animals are kept separately,, if she free roams I wonder if she could jump into their cage, but can add a lid to c and c if needed. the want is for my French lop to be completely free roam since she has picked up good litter / toileting habits. mind, she is less active than my mini lop who is running around everywhere full of life quite a bit. she will always have her are and bed to sleep I do kind of hope she will want to lie with me for cuddles!

 

[Omi]

Hi and welcome to the forum :wave: Are you living in the UK?

I think the first thing I would confirm is whether both your Does are accurately sexed. If you are living in the UK they should have their vaccinations from your vet and he/she could properly sex them. You have not said whether they are yet neutered? A change in behaviours could be due to hormonal changes as they mature.

A pairing between two neutered Does is possible, but not as likely to succeed as a male/female and even male/male.

So, I think I would take the bunnies to the vets, get them sexed, discuss vaccinations if inthe UK and not done previously and discuss neutering. Then at least you will be certain what you have before considering the introduction of a third bunny.

 

[Orenoko]

It could be due to hormones kicking in. If they're not neutered I would arrange for that to be done in the next few weeks as they could start to fight, and it will also jeopardise any chance of a third bun successfully bonding. They will also need time for their hormones to die down before introducing a third rabbit.

If the new buck is not neutered already I would get that done before even attempting the bond. There are people on here who have successfully bonded trios, but from what I've read it can be notoriously difficult so you need to be prepared for what will happen if it doesn't work i.e. do you have space for three buns to live separately and whether it would be fair on them. Personally I would leave it as it is, get my current rabbits neutered and properly bonded before the bond breaks down.

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[tonibun]

If you want happy Rabbits then the best advice I can give is each girl has her own male friend, all have to be neutered first, and bear in mind females become very territorial. French Lops can be rather lazy I believe and it sounds like your Mini Lop either wants to be the dominant one, or she is a he, in which case your French Lop will become pregnant, so I would certainly get them checked out.