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Do I need to separate my buns?

Newbunnies

Young Bun
Hi everyone,
I have a male/female pair who have lived together since 8 weeks old quite happily. The breeder started the bonding so when they came to me they were already happily bonded.
The male is neutered, the female can't be until early January as my rabbit savvy vet likes to leave females until 6 months to spay.

All was fine until yesterday when I noticed fur inside their shed. I also saw that in their hutch (inside the shed) there was a hole with some fur in :shock: (But as he's neutered she's not pregnant so it must be a false pregnancy.)

I then also noticed she was chasing him round and mounting him, from both behind and in front. I know this is normal behaviour to establish dominance but she was coming away with a mouth full of his fur. He became quite submissive, even out in the grass run, just sitting in the corner and looking sorry for himself, big clumps of his fur on the ground nearby. If she went near him he'd run. Before this they would always sit happily with him grooming her etc, would sleep together. Now she will only sit on top of the hutch, while he sleeps inside.

I have temporarily separated them this afternoon. She is in the run/covered aviary part with a hutch inside, he's locked in the shed. Is this the right thing to do, or should I put them back together? They can see each other through the wire, but not much else. If I should keep them separated should this just be till she gets over this false pregnancy (if it is, she hasn't been near the "nest" since that I can see.)

I don't really have enough space to keep them separate till January- my run and inside shed together meet the RWAF requirements, split in two they don't.

Is this normal, what should I do? Thanks for all your help.

(Nothing else had changed, by the way, all was exactly the same as before)
 
How long ago was he neutered?

Are you sure the other one is a girl? If it's possible I would go and check now but be very gentle as "she" may be pregnant.

How old are they?
 
How are you certain she is not pregnant? Males can remain fertile for some weeks post neuter so if they were kept together since purchased she may very well be pregnant.

I would seperate yes, one because it sounds like her hormones are causing her to fight with the male and this could cause injuries etc, but also because if she is pregnant he could impregnate her immediately after birth and then you are looking at 2 sets of kits instead of one.....

Good luck!
 
I kept them apart three weeks after the neuter- he was neutered around six weeks ago. At that time they lived in a way that they could see each other but definitely not touch. Was that not enough? That was the advice of my vet.... Gah, I'm really praying that she's not pregnant...I thought I'd done everything possible to stop that.

(Actually my vet said two weeks, but I was worried so waited longer!)
 
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She is definitely a girl, I can feel quite pronounced nipples and there are definitely no testes when I checked just now. Two different vets also checked her for me in the last few weeks, so I feel reasonably comfortable she's a girl. She has also started making a weird buzzing noise, like a mosquito the last week when she runs around. I assumed that was hormones.

They are 5 months old.
 
They can remain fertile up to four weeks after neutering according to the RWAF leaflet so she could be pregnant.
 
Seriously? My (supposedly rabbit savvy) vet told me it was fine from two weeks. Arrgghh. Well, I'm obviously going to have to keep them separate for now and then if it turns out she's not pregnant gently reintroduce them- that means I need to wait 2.5 weeks to make sure there's no pregnancy, by which point I suppose I may as well wait until after the op. Oh dear. That means they are both going to be in quite a small area over the next couple of months.

Is there any way that you can tell definitively they are pregnant...? I'm assuming they don't ultrasound rabbits or offer urine tests! If she is pregnant do I need to bring her indoors? That could be tricky as we live in a rented house, although if it's necessary I'll obviously do it. I did notice her spray urine today too when in the run....
 
She sounds extremely hormonal. A Vet may possibly be able to feel any babies if she is pregnant and no she doesn't need to go indoors if she is. If she isn't and she still pesters the boy you will have to decide whether it's in their best interests to be separated or not. I think rabbits get swollen nipples even when they are having a false pregnancy. All very worrying. Let us know what you decide to do.
 
Thank you all so much for your advice. I'm going to take them both to the vets tomorrow just to check them over. Him to make sure there's no reason why he suddenly seems quiet and scared of her, her to see if the vet can help establish if she's pregnant. I can then talk through what to do with the vet too. I'll keep you updated! Please keep everything crossed that there are no babies and that she's just hormonal!
 
Ah ok so if he was neutered 6 weeks ago he shouldn't be fertile stil now so that's a relief. I must admit the buzzing and spraying sounds very male behaviour!!

Best of luck with the vet trip, I'm sure the reduced space won't be too much of an issue, as it's only temporary :)
 
So, update from the vet. Male rabbit looks absolutely fine, no health issues at all.... vet is fairly convinced the female isn't pregnant (my usual vet wasn't there so I saw a different one, but she seemed good) No guarantees, but she seemed to think it quite unlikely especially because of the fact that they were separated for three weeks after the neuter.
She thinks the female is just hormonal due to her age and that we should bring her in for neutering the second she's old enough (which I will). To test, we put them on the floor in the vets room and they started circling and mounting so the vet saw what I meant.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I brought them home, put them in a neutral space (my garage!) on the vets advice and watched. There was about five minutes of circling, mounting, chasing etc a bit of fur pulling with some buzzing and some kind of high pitched grunting. They separated for a bit then went back for another round and spent 20 minutes gradually warming up to each other. Then they settled down, the male seemed to submit and started grooming her. After that they flopped down together and lay next to each other, grooming and keeping each other warm, so they seem to be ok... not sure whether that's permanent or not, but at the moment they seem loved up again.

So, do you think I should put them back in together overnight, or given there is still a (according to the vet, very small) risk of pregnancy still, keep them separated? Are they likely to fight again once back in their own shed? My instinct is that they'll be fine, but I don't want to end up with injured buns obviously. With the cold nights I'd obviously prefer they were together if possible, but I want to do the right thing.

Sorry for all the questions and thank you for your help!
 
I would go with your gut feeling as it's hard to know exactly what the right way is in such a case. Can you not find a good Vet happy to spay her now?
 
I wouldn't separate tbh but I would keep them on the neutral ground for a few days just to reestablish the Bond.
 
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