Anyone ever bonded an intact male and a spayed female?

Hi,

I'm asking if someone has experience with intact buck + spayed doe living together.

Yes, I know, and don't need to be told that this isn't the most promising combination, I would be glad to hear from people who tried it, and with which actual results, positiv or negativ. It's just something I'm contemplating, so I'm looking for people with experience to make up my mind.
And no, neutering the buck is not an option.

I don't have much experience with neutered animals, only had a male castrated foster dog for a short time - it was funny, female dogs didn't recognise him as male at all, niether treated him as female, were somewhat confused and some even ignored him completly - to the point that I had 2 dogs on my lap, niether of them caring that there was another.
I think if the buck doesn't see her as female and focus of his desire it could work out. If not, the doe would just go back to live with one of her daughters.

Buck would be a 3yo laid-back dude, free range house bunny, doe a 6yo breeding doe that is quite an Alpha and wouldn't take becoming retired from breeding too well without beeing spayed, very hormonell, bossy girl. They would be free range in house and garden, the doe was my housebunny for 8 months when she was 1 (myxo quarentine), was quite destructive with her hormones raging.

So, if someone has first, or second hand experience, please speak up

No experience but a Google search last night showed up a forum where it had been tried and one was successful but the others had lead to needed emergency neutering for the male. (I seem to have lost the link - my phone doesn't keep browser history).

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Thanks for the pointer, found the thread. Unconclusive, either it was male/male that most times went wrong, or it was about very young rabbits.

There is also the concern that my perfectly housebroken buck changes his litter habits and becomes the wandering fountain he was in his youth again.

Preitler said:

Thanks for the pointer, found the thread. Unconclusive, either it was male/male that most times went wrong, or it was about very young rabbits.

There is also the concern that my perfectly housebroken buck changes his litter habits and becomes the wandering fountain he was in his youth again.

Click to expand...

:thumb:

I don't know if it would be worth considering housing them side by side for a while and seeing how he reacts. My main concern would be him pestering the female - even neutered they still carry a certain scent.

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It's so difficult to say that I don't think I'd risk it. When I was much younger I managed to bond two adult males (unneutered), but I also (accidentally) let two other boys come in contact with each other, and within seconds one of them badly hurt the other, biting his genital area leaving him permanently disfigured. The 'attacker' in question was the most laid back rabbit you'd ever meet, he was hand reared, the lovliest dopiest most friendly boy, I never would have expected it. I've never had an unneutered boy with a spayed girl, BUT I had a trio of one spayed girl, one neutered boy, and one boy who was neutered late on in life but had a gland tumour affecting his hormones that meant he acted just like an unneutered rabbit. He did pester the girl and try hump her a lot, but she never got distressed by it and never tried to hurt him. I don't think many rabbits would of put up with him like she did.

In any rabbit bonding scenario there's three main outcomes:
- Good bond, rabbits are happy
- Rabbits put up with each other, they're not hurting each other but not happy either
- Rabbits fight, could potentially kill or severely injure each other

There's always going to be exceptions to the rule but attempting a bond with one or more unneutered/spayed rabbits is much riskier and towards the 'putting up with each other/fighting' outcome. If you do want to risk it please plan carefully and think about
- Do you have an area completely neutral to both rabbits?
- How are you going to break up any fights? I'd strongly recommend some very thick gardening gloves (you do not want bare hands near a rabbit fight trust me) and something else to distract/separate them
- If one (or both) become injured, can you get them to the vets quickly? Think about car access and having two carriers at the ready
- When to do it. You'll need to supervise them closely for a few days so the start of a weekend/holiday may be best

Hm, he is really friendly with does, sometimes had one with him for a week, no stress, got along fine. Does changed colour though, and I don't want my perfectly housebroken buck turn back into the wandering fountain he was in his youth.

He was perfectly fine and friendly with kits up to 3 months, they are just neutral to him, doesn't pester them. When the kits get older (4-5months) the young bucks are more the problem, they started aggressions. My hope was that he sees a spayed doe too as "just a rabbit", without second thoughts:roll:.

Breaking up fights isn't the problem, being there when one starts might be - although he never started one, and the doe is an Alpha who get's what she wants by posture, humping and occasional fur plucking, there's only one doe that is her arch enemy, but since both are older than 5 it all calmed down. No idea how neutering would effect her character.

Well, I think there are too many "if"s where something could go not as desired. :?