my rabbit doing his thing..?

Question

My Rabbit just met his new friend she's quit nervous I think... Anyhow he kept on stiffing her and bammmm right behind her doing his thing... I'm not sure if I should leave them in the same cage. I separated them ...should I leave them in the same cage or wait a little longer?

Answer 1

I hope he is neutered or she is spayed, otherwise expect babies in a month. If she is spayed but he is not neutered, they will be more likely to get along if you have him spayed, that way he won't be so sex-crazed. The mounting should stop after they get used to each other, if he is already fixed. I would not leave them together unsupervised yet, as rabbits often can get into serious fights if you just stick them together without a trial period. You need to make sure they are getting along consistently in neutral territory, followe by non-neutral territory, before you leave them alone together. You can discourage biting by using a spray bottle on the aggressor.

http://www.rabbit.org has a lot of bunny bonding info under the behavior section

Rabbits do enjoy company once this bonding period is finished with, and they're so fun to watch cuddle and groom :)

Answer 2

As some mentioned, they should be fine if one or both of them have been neutered (this is usually the case if you've payed over $100 at a pet store for the rabbit. If it's from an animal shelter it's also been neutered. If it's from a rabbit breeder or a cheaper rabbit at the pet store then it more than likely has not been neutered). The female will be nervous with a male in her cage, especially if she's never been mated before. Even after they've been mated (at least from my experience with breeding rabbits) the females tend to whine and bolt around the cage avoiding the male. There's a reason why there's so many jokes about rabbits breeding uncontrollably. If you leave them together and neither one has been neutered, then you will (and I stress the will part especially ifthey're indoors) have babies in about a month. If you leave the two together for another month I can pretty much garuntee the result won't be pretty. The nicest thing you could hope for is that the mother reabsorbs the litter before having them from the stress the male is causing her. If that doesn't happen then chances are she'll cannabilize her litter after having them from the stress the male is causing her. See the pattern? Rabbits don't mate for life and there's certainly not much cuddling afterwards. My best suggestion for you would be to put them in seperate cages and in about a month put a nestbox (a box with wood shavings, hay, etc. about as big as the mother) in with the female rabbit and see if she has her litter.

I highly reccomend seperating them as soon as possible, even if they are neutered. Rabbits are happier and healthier when not in the company of other rabbits all the time. Even if you put two female rabbits together they'll fight and establish a pecking order. NEVER put two male rabbits together once they're past about 10 weeks of age. They'll fight nonstop. I'll give you the pros and cons of seperating them, the pros and cons of keeping them together and the pros and cons of having one or both neutered and still keeping them together.

Seperating pros:
-Happier, healthier rabbits
-No offspring (or having to worry about cannabilizing and such)
-Less stress for each of the rabbits
-You don't have to have them neutered (which can run upwards of $100 per rabbit as not many vets neuter rabbtis)

Seperating cons:
-extra cage, dish and water bottle
-extra space needed for the extra cage

Keeping them together pros:
-Really the only pro is if you wanted to become a rabbit breeder and even then having a male and female together isn't beneficial

Keeping them together cons:
-Everything mentioned in the paragraphs above but also add this: The male might become terrirorial about the cage and terrorize the female.

Neutering them and keeping them together pros:
-No offspring
-No testicular or ovarian cancer (can't get cancer on an organ you don't have now can ya)

Neutering them and keeping them together cons:
-As mentioned, it will cost you probably over $200 to get them both neutered or over $100 just to get one neutered
-If just the female is neutered, the male is still gonna do his thing and keep her stressed
-Even after neutering the male may become territorial and still may do his thing (he's just shooting blanks now) and still cause stress to the female.

So after all this longwindedness (though I find it beneficial to cover as much info as I can) my suggestion is to seperate them. Then you won't have to put them through the pain of surgery and you don't have to spend all that money on getting them neutered (if they're not already).

Answer 3

What's your main concern here?

Afraid to have rabbit babies within this 2 months or worried that your new female rabbit gets frightened by him?

If you're not worried about having additions in the rabbit family, you may let them stay together in a cage as long as none suffers any injuries/bites/wounds/missing patches of fur. Seperate them once you hear shrieks from the female rabbit that indicates that she's very frightened by the male's arousal habits.

Anyway, my male rabbit still do his thing on my female rabbit (who is sterilised) and they are okay with each other. :)

Like the others who have answered, if you are not comfortable by this behaviour and would not want any rabbit babies, sterilise the male one and he will stop all the humping. And of course, do check out more details/price on the procedures of sterilisation. Every operation has its risks, you have to consider if this is necessary.

Answer 4

i've had the same experience. first thing male get neutered and female get spayed ( the spay will also help prevent reproductive cancer) the humping is a sign of dominance. i would cage them separately until spay and neuter are done. keep the cages close together and allow them supervised play time together.

Answer 5

it depends on the age of the rabbits? If they are over 6 months I think he may be mating with the girl,but if they are younger , this can be quite normal when they are first introduced.

Answer 6

Well did you put them in there to breed?
If you didnt then its probably to late and they are gonna multiply like...well...like rabbits

Answer 7

I would seperate them.

Answer 8

has he been snipped? if so it should be okay, if not then seperate them.