Bonding my Bunny Family

I've not posted for a while but I now need help regarding the bonding of my furry family. As some of you may know we ended up with an accidental litter 10 weeks ago. Our visit to the vet last week revealed the presence of 2 females and 1 male. Mother is doing great and gained her weight back and the babies were all given a full bill of health and perfectness!!
The vet advised that we get them separated due to the young male and not wanting any further litters. A friend has rehomed a female and she's settled in fantastically! Dad is neutered and mum is to be spayed in 2 weeks. Now my problem is that there is some mounting going on between the young male and female and although it's probably more to do with dominance I can't run the risk of any more kits. Our double hutch is separated off and mum and the 2 young are upstairs with mum and dad is down stair on his own. Should I bond dad and son to prevent any accidental litters as he cannot be neutered for another 6 weeks and the same goes for the young female. Please advise as we go on holiday next week and again at the end of the month and I need to get housing sorted along with mum being spayed between all this. My mother in law is looking after them while we are away so I need to get the most of this done before all this takes place. Help!

Louise H said:

I've not posted for a while but I now need help regarding the bonding of my furry family. As some of you may know we ended up with an accidental litter 10 weeks ago. Our visit to the vet last week revealed the presence of 2 females and 1 male. Mother is doing great and gained her weight back and the babies were all given a full bill of health and perfectness!!
The vet advised that we get them separated due to the young male and not wanting any further litters. A friend has rehomed a female and she's settled in fantastically! Dad is neutered and mum is to be spayed in 2 weeks. Now my problem is that there is some mounting going on between the young male and female and although it's probably more to do with dominance I can't run the risk of any more kits. Our double hutch is separated off and mum and the 2 young are upstairs with mum and dad is down stair on his own. Should I bond dad and son to prevent any accidental litters as he cannot be neutered for another 6 weeks and the same goes for the young female. Please advise as we go on holiday next week and again at the end of the month and I need to get housing sorted along with mum being spayed between all this. My mother in law is looking after them while we are away so I need to get the most of this done before all this takes place. Help!

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Hi Louise

I'm glad your bunny family have all got a clean bill of health!

I know I've posted these links before, but maybe the info you're looking for is in them:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327923-Accidental-Litters-and-Taking-on-Babies

~Siblings will need to be split by 10 weeks at the latest- The boys can then be neutered and allowed to recover and it also prevents any risk of accidental litters.


http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html#As_Baby_Rabbits_Come_Of_Age

In any case of domestic rabbit babies, do not remove the babies until they are a full eight weeks of age. Separate the male babies from the females at this time. Males can become sexually mature as early as ten weeks!



How long will you be away for? Can you be sure that there will be no fighting whilst you're away, between the males? How savvy is your MIL at spotting things that need attention?

MightyMax said:

Hi Louise

I'm glad your bunny family have all got a clean bill of health!

I know I've posted these links before, but maybe the info you're looking for is in them:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327923-Accidental-Litters-and-Taking-on-Babies

~Siblings will need to be split by 10 weeks at the latest- The boys can then be neutered and allowed to recover and it also prevents any risk of accidental litters.


http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html#As_Baby_Rabbits_Come_Of_Age

In any case of domestic rabbit babies, do not remove the babies until they are a full eight weeks of age. Separate the male babies from the females at this time. Males can become sexually mature as early as ten weeks!



How long will you be away for? Can you be sure that there will be no fighting whilst you're away, between the males? How savvy is your MIL at spotting things that need attention?

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We are away Monday to Friday/Saturday. Then at the end of the month for a week Sat- Sat. I don't think she's at all rabbit savvy but neither am I! That's why I need so much help and advise. I've read and read links until I don't know what to do at all!! I'm hoping in the time we've got before we go away it's ling enough for them to be friends. They've been in the garden together before and tonight they've spent an 2 hours in the run together. Dad ignored the baby initially. Then there was a big chase and the baby relented and submissively laid flat to the ground while dad mounted him and scratched at his back a bit like I've seen mum do to the young and the baby just laid there and took it, then continued his playful race around. I've brought them inside to put them in the indoor cage for the night where I've put hay all on the floor and a new litter tray and a new bowl for dads food and a small old one that belonged to the babies for the little one. They've got the front room and they've both been in the cage to eat. They seemed to share the bowls between them but baby is being a little cautious and not over staying his welcome at the bowl too long but enjoying his hay!

Just a thought Louise H, any RU members nearby who could possibly help out with your bunnies whilst you are on holiday?

I don't know! Does any one on here live in Leeds, West Yorkshire??

It may be a little premature but... Onyx (dad) kept laying down, kicking out his back legs and the youngster was hopping around eating the hay. Then suddenly the young one laid down next to Onyx and leaned his head against him. Then he licked Onyx ear and snuggled up next to him. Dad just let him and they've been laid there for about 10 minutes. Is this a good sign or could it be the calm before the storm??

Loiuse H, why not start a thread in the Rabbit Chat section, asking if anyone who live near or in Leeds could help? I know that there are quite a few RU members in that area.


Good sign. May change though but for now, a good sign.

I shall try that. This morning they've been doing their own thing. A little more mounting and scratching from dad but some grooming from dad too and a little more huddling together by the youngster. Our vet said at 16wks they will neuter him and they would be happy to take them both in together for companionship if they are still bonded. She said if we see any aggression just to remove the baby. How will I know for sure that we've been successful? What am I looking out for? Just them grooming one another and comfortably laying together and sharing food with no aggression??

They spent all day yesterday together in the front room and the cage and all night. Dad tends to lay there stretched out or on his side a lot of the time. He seems very relaxed. He pawed him a little again yesterday and baby just laid flat in submission. The later there was some grooming of each other. Usually baby grooming dad but I've seen dad grooming the youngster a few times, and late on last night dad positioned himself under the baby's head (he tactfully slid himself under his chin!) and the baby layer across the top of him! I thought this may have upset dad as I thought this was an invitation for him to be groomed but obviously it didn't go that way. However Baby jumped over him and sat eating gay and dad just stayed laid out. Then they both went for a drink and sat there next to each other, dad taking the lead. On my limited discription how would you guys read this??

Please don't bond the baby with dad because when baby his sexual maturity they will undoubtedly fight, possibly to the death. You're going to need to get some additional accommodation unfortunately.

Sky-O said:

Please don't bond the baby with dad because when baby his sexual maturity they will undoubtedly fight, possibly to the death. You're going to need to get some additional accommodation unfortunately.

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Yeah this is what I was thinking. Males can normally be neutered at 12 weeks or as soon as their testicles drop. It'd be worth it to get some extra housing, wait til the baby is neutered and the hormones have dissipated and then bond them. You don't want to risk them fighting once baby's hormones come in, that may affect whether they will bond or not in future and it'd be risky if they were to fight when you're away and no one was there to split them up.

Since posting that this morning I decided it wasn't for the best long term due to this reason. I let the baby spend the day with his mum and sister and they've gone back together. Onyx is back to being in his own. He's such a laid back bunny. He's acting no different being on his own tonight to the way he was with the baby last night!!! I'm going to get mum in for her op a week on monday if possible. And go from there. My worry is the young male reaching maturity in the next week and impregnating mum and sister. Fingers crossed I'm safe here! Once we return and get mum neutered we are purchasing another double hutch. I really need to get them paired up with out too high of a risk of babies or fights. So the question is...Neutered dad and daughter together and spayed mum and son, until the youngsters are old enough to neuter??? Or anything else you can suggest???
This is just not at all what I planned!! The plan was always to neuter them when old enough before anything like this happened. A number of vets that I contacted told me the rabbits had to be 6 months old before they would neuter them The wait along with our not keeping them completely separate led to the litter, for the vet to THEN tell me 2 weeks ago that they do neuter at 4 months but some vets at the surgery don't like doing it too young!! She, however, will do it at 16 weeks. So....we are on a countdown AGAIN!!! Thank you for replying and helping guide me through this nightmare that consumes my every thought and minute researching, reading, discussing.