[marie]

Can anyone please tell me if rabbits fall in love with other rabbits. We have a male and female and they are always trying to be together. We have had the male a year and got the other about 3 months ago. We were told it was male, but soon discovered it was female. 5 baby rabbits apeared. Anyway we are having to baracade the cage to keep them seperate. We are now rehoming the female but am a bit worrid that they are very attached to oneanother and will pine if seperated. Will she be ok or should we keep her but keep them so they can only see oneanother.

[Sandy]

Arh, how sweet but, its nature's way, the male and female are just driven to mate at all costs  , you can have him castrated then they CAN be lovers!!!!!!

[SallyintNorth]

Arh, how sweet but, its nature's way, the male and female are just driven to mate at all costs  , you can have him castrated then they CAN be lovers!!!!!!

I did this with a male rabbit when I was younger.  The female went mad.  She had phantom pregnancies and then just went mad - raging mad, aggressive, biting, savaging the male, visitors, me - and in the end she had to be put down.

[plumseverywhere]

They do bond. my two are so soppy one one another 

[Womble]

I thought rabbits only ovulated after sex anyway (that's why they breed like, er.......) so no wonder all the phantom pregnancies and eventual aggression / frustration!!

[Sandy]

I had no idea about ovulation of rabbits  I want a pair of giant bunnies to stay in the top of our garden, they should be safe as its fully enclosed and the chickens and ducks have eaten all the plants but there is loads of soil for a bunny to  burrow in!!!!! ANyone know of a giant one they do not want? You certainly learn thing on here and I have had bunnies loads of times in the past, all been very tame!

[CameronS]

I know i could not break up my two boys, they have been together for about 2 years now and, ahem very closely bonded - the confused little lads they are 
 
If they have been together for a long period of time then you will most likley have seperation problems.  The best way to deal ith the problem is to get him castrated, if they are fit and healthy then they recover from the operation well.

[marie]

We have found a good home for our female, and she will have other rabbits to fall in love with so I think she will be ok. The male will unfortunatly be with a guineapig to keep him company, but we will see how they go as I know that rabbits can become agressive towards guineapigs. So we will seperate them but so they can still see oneanother if this happens. The female is expecting more so we will wait until they are ready to go before taking her to her new home. We already have people lined up for the babies, so we dont have any worries about having to keep hold of them.

[Hopewell]

Rabbits can definitely bond very strongly, and there have been reports of rabbits that stop eating and develop gut stasis when separated from their partner. It is possible to have females spayed as well as males castrated and this would prevent all the aggression problems etc associated with false pregnancies. It would also prevent uterine cancer that female rabbits are very prone too (especially if they are not being bred from).

I would also have some concern about housing a uncastrated male rabbit with a guinea-pig, as they sometimes will attempt to mount the guinea-pig. At the very least I would suggest putting a piece of drain pipe in the hutch so the guinea-pig can get away from the rabbit. Also guinea-pigs have differing dietary needs to rabbits.

[Sandy]

   

Also guinea-pigs have differing dietary needs to rabbits.

  see somethng else I have learnt tonight,  poor guinea-pig being pestered by the Rabbit, a bit like male ducks, anything thats around 

[Smalltime]

An old thread I know - but rabbits, certainly pet rabbits, pair up for life and once the bond is there they should not be seperated unless they have to be. After seperation or the death of a partner, there are thousands of documented instances of the remaining rabbit dying in short order, as mentioned above. Despite the scientific evaluation, its pretty clear that they die of a broken heart. Sometimes a rabbit will bond with new partner but often they don't really.

Pet rabbits should not be kept alone and bonded pairs should not be seperated. As mentioned above, they don't like being picked up really, this applies more as the rabbit breed gets bigger. Big rabbits really are not suitable for picking up all the time and rabbit ribs are easily fractured. Some will bite if you annoy them, our largest rabbit has never bitten and is the most placid (and the most intelligent) but I would not try and pick him up, rather let him jump up onto my lap. If you want a pet you can pick up a lot, get a cat!

 

[jaykay]

So if they aren't to be separated, how do you avoid having hundreds of baby rabbits?

[Smalltime]

We had them both done, well the lady had been done already but the chap was a rescue job and we forked out to have him done as well. They still mount each other (in fact she tries to mount him more often than not  ) but they are very happy together. Bonding them was not easy as she had lived alone all her life and was about 18 months when we got her (her third owner already  ). They are inseperable now and adore each other, her behaviour is markedly better and happier. They binky around whenever they are out and about. The male rabbit is also extremely bright and does need a bit of entertainment, his favourite game is to nose his ball around the room which then releases the odd pellet. Jessy never got it but Domino, he figured it out straightaway!

[Smalltime]

Happy Bunnies

Jessica & Domino

I would never dream of seperating them now to be honest...nor would I keep one on their own again, clearly much happier in pairs or groups.

[colliewoman]

 
I live in a static caravan, and recently rescued a lil dutch bunny, so last pay packet he got thee snip and we have just taken on 2 spayed does and are in the process of bonding them. 3 rabbits 2 dogs a  spider and a husband and me in a static