Neutering pair of littermates

Wer're getting two bunnies in August who are brothers from the same litter. They'll be 8 weeks old, and I want them to live together. Of course they'll be neutered as soon as they're old enough.

But I'm struggling to find information on how this works with their bonding. I've read a lot about bonding male-female pairs, and older male-male pairs, but what happens with already-bonded baby bucks as they reach maturity?

Is it likely that they'll need to be split up before the neuter and rebonded afterwards? Obviously it would be best if they could be together all the time, but is this realistic?

Hi :wave:

I had two boys litter mates and they were never separated and never fought

They were both neutered together at about 14-16 weeks just as the humping started they went they the op no problems and stayed together

As soon as they started to hump each other I did wonder about separating but if they have things to keep themselves entertained and space to escape if one is more "loving" than the other then keeping them together is fine :thumb:

My boys were never apart even from tiny babies these two out of 7 were inseparable

Silverleaf said:

Wer're getting two bunnies in August who are brothers from the same litter. They'll be 8 weeks old, and I want them to live together. Of course they'll be neutered as soon as they're old enough.

But I'm struggling to find information on how this works with their bonding. I've read a lot about bonding male-female pairs, and older male-male pairs, but what happens with already-bonded baby bucks as they reach maturity?

Is it likely that they'll need to be split up before the neuter and rebonded afterwards? Obviously it would be best if they could be together all the time, but is this realistic?

Click to expand...

You'll get differing opinions and experiences on here ... If they were my buns I would attempt *not* to separate at all, despite the occasional spat. Re-bonding can be quite stressful for you and the buns, and doesn't always work.

Thank you both! Yes I agree it would be much better and less stressful for everyone if my boys didn't have to be separated, so fingers crossed they'll continue to get on well. I'll only split them up if they need it.

I met them on Saturday at three weeks old and they are very calm and friendly (and so are mum and dad), grooming each other and snuggling together, but of course it's impossible to know exactly what effect hormones will have on their behaviour.

Oh! Sarah1991 had this with Milo and Finn
If you would like to read the tales of their adventures try these threads:
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?423475-What-to-do-with-regards-to-neutereing
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?424315-7-days-until-neuter!
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?424717-Milo-and-Finn-go-for-their-neuter-(UPDATE-NO-NEUTER-TODAY)
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?425807-Milo-is-trying-to-hump-Finn!-UPDATE-OPTED-NOT-TO-HAVE-ABDOMINAL-SURGERY
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?425642-When-will-Milo-and-Finn-Drop-(UPDATE-PHOTOS)
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?428272-Attempted-Re-Bond!-(Do-I-let-them-hump)
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?428876-OK-where-do-I-go-from-here


But I think the concern is always are they absolutely, definitely both boys, as it's hard to tell when they're babies and they're sexually mature very young and mating your sister isn't great 'cos genetics so definitely get them sexed by a vet very soon after getting them - they'll need vaccinating anyway, and it's always good to get them health checked.

Then it very much will depend on the bunnies and whether they stay friends or whether hormones get in the way.

And also the whole thing of when their balls drop. We took DP in about 3 times before they'd castrate him as one side had dropped but the other hadn't.


You're very sensibly avoiding spaying a baby girl bunny as that is truly heartbreaking and took Waffles ages to trust me again. Next time I'm getting ready neutered and bonded ones.



Ummm, also, I've seen pictures on twitter, but supercute baby bunny pics are always very popular here...

Thanks dumblepaws, some great advice there, really helpful.

Have you been twitterstalking me? :lol:

I'm not sure if I can upload pictures here. Do they have to be hosted somewhere else?

Have private messaged you my twitter identity.....

Pictures do have to be hosted elsewhere e.g. twitter but then you can either put the url inside square bracket URL square bracket then the URL then square bracket some kind of slash square bracket
or click on the tree icon then paste the url and press enter

Right, I'll upload pics somewhere so I can show them here.

Here are my boys at 3 weeks - lilac otter and cinnamon. Adorable, right? I'm still trying to find the perfect names for them. I'm 90% settled on Meeple for the cinnamon (the name of a type of wooden gaming piece in the geeky board games that I love) but the lilac's name is still very much up in the air at this point.

In the hutch I observed them grooming each other, and their mum and sister. Mum is what breeders call a "big ugly doe", which means she's absolutely gorgeous but not in a show rabbit kind of way. All the rabbits are extremely friendly and were soliciting nose rubs from perfect strangers.

Silverleaf said:

Here are my boys at 3 weeks - lilac otter and cinnamon. Adorable, right? I'm still trying to find the perfect names for them. I'm 90% settled on Meeple for the cinnamon (the name of a type of wooden gaming piece in the geeky board games that I love) but the lilac's name is still very much up in the air at this point.

In the hutch I observed them grooming each other, and their mum and sister. Mum is what breeders call a "big ugly doe", which means she's absolutely gorgeous but not in a show rabbit kind of way. All the rabbits are extremely friendly and were soliciting nose rubs from perfect strangers.

Click to expand...

How adorable!
It is lovely that you can visit them before they are old enough to leave their mom.
They look like they could be Netherland dwarf rabbits.
I had dwarf brothers and I still have one of them. His brother passed away last June at age 13.4 and I still have Amigo even though he is almost 14.5 years old. They really helped encourage each other when one or the other had a medical problem.
Good luck and keep me updated on your name selection.

Well I know I'm biased, but they are absolutely gorgeous and of course I've fallen totally in love with them. The breeder definitely encouraged us the visit them and have a look around their rabbitry, and made it clear to me at the end of the visit that he was assessing us just as much as I was assessing them! He says he won't let anyone take a rabbit unless they show they know what they're doing and he gets a good "feeling" from them - we passed the test. He says we can visit as often as we like, and that some people visit every week until the babies are ready to go home with them. I don't know if we'll get to do that because we're really busy for the next few weeks, but everything will be quiet again by the time the boys move in.

The breeder's also asked for photos of their cage when it's finished, and follow-up pictures of the bunnies in their new home, and I'm intending on updating him regularly about how they're doing.

Yes, they are pure-bred Netherland Dwarfs. I've had Nethies before and I think they are fantastic rabbits, with great personalities. I'm sorry you lost your boy last year, but wow, that's an impressive age for him and his brother. We lost our 8-year-old Neo recently and it was really sad because I loved him very much. But I couldn't imagine living without a rabbit, so here we are!

Most of my rabbits over the years were Nethies. I have also had a dutch and I currently have my second lionhead and my second mini rex along with Amigo.
I am so glad your breeder is being so selective of the people adopting his litters.

I'm very glad too, to be honest! I'd like to think that if if he'd been the type just in it for a fast buck (if you'll excuse the pun!) I would have walked away rather than support that kind of place, but honestly I'm not sure I'd have been strong enough to resist the urge to "rescue" the boys rather than let them go to a bad home.

32 days to go. It feels like forever!

Okay, the lilac otter is now tentatively named Nemesis (for geeky board game reasons also). And I'm waiting impatiently for time to pass until they are old enough...

Gorgeous bunnies

It is worth trying to get them neutered ASAP, as soon as their bits drop, and keeping them together if there is no hormonal behaviour showing.

However, it's a risk to keep them together after they start showing hormonal behaviour, even if they aren't fighting.

Are you prepared for if they can't stay together or don't rebond permanently and have to be separate for life? (which is a very real potential outcome).

Haha I just saw this! Dumblepaws you have given me some lovely memories there haha!

I did have this issue with my two, in the end they had to be separated because Milo was literally torturing Finn. Humping him and chasing him constantly, they were always next to one another so their bond didn't break. They were easily reintroduced after neutering x

Yes, we'll work something out if they decide they hate each other after neutering. But I'm going to hope for the best!

It's always good to hope, for sure, but it's also always worth having a plan, just in case it's needed.

I ended up with six nethie boy litter mates, and wanted them in pairs. I ended up with one pair (well, a trio, with their sister), two unbondable singles, and two others that bonded with unrelated females. All very hit and miss, and with the feisty, energetic, independent nethie nature, it adds a further element of unpredictability.

Fingers crossed it all goes to plan though