# Bonding unneutered and unspayed bunnies- for breeding



## Xayzen (Nov 1, 2020)

Hello! I have a female, unspayed bunny for the past couple of months now and a week ago I got a male, unneutered bunny. I’ve researched online and it gave numerous advice and recommendations such as switching them from each others’ cage to get used to their scent, letting them eat beside each other with a glass border between them, and letting them run in a space where they both either size each other up or voluntarily run to each other. Each time though, the female bunny is aggressive towards the male rabbit, where she lunges and claws at the male, therefore, this is where we separate them. I was wondering if anyone has any more advice and recommendations to try because I realized most advice found online is for rabbits that are neutered or spayed.


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## Catlyn (Nov 1, 2020)

You can not successfully bond rabbits that are not fixed. They will inevitably be driven by hormones and fight until they both might be goners for all the injuries they can inflict on one another. That is also why all baby bonds tend to break and unsuspecting people then freak out.
If you do not want to/cannot get BOTH of them fixed and wait two months after that before any introducing, they should not be attempted to be bonded at all. Trust us, it's safer for both of them this way.
I also forgot to mention that since you have a buck and a doe, if you even attemot to let them bond, the boy might make the girl get pregnant and an unexpected kitten litter is nothing to be scoffed at. Right now ypur best bet would be to keep them separate and make sure that a door is always shut in between so no escapee accidents are able to happen.
The best of luck with learning and improving!


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## zuppa (Nov 1, 2020)

Hi, do you remember when exactly you started bonding them?
Was female aggressive from day #1 or just recently?
How old are they?
Are you planning on breeding them?


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## Xayzen (Nov 1, 2020)

Catlyn said:


> You can not successfully bond rabbits that are not fixed. They will inevitably be driven by hormones and fight until they both might be goners for all the injuries they can inflict on one another. That is also why all baby bonds tend to break and unsuspecting people then freak out.
> If you do not want to/cannot get BOTH of them fixed and wait two months after that before any introducing, they should not be attempted to be bonded at all. Trust us, it's safer for both of them this way.
> I also forgot to mention that since you have a buck and a doe, if you even attemot to let them bond, the boy might make the girl get pregnant and an unexpected kitten litter is nothing to be scoffed at. Right now ypur best bet would be to keep them separate and make sure that a door is always shut in between so no escapee accidents are able to happen.
> The best of luck with learning and improving!



I see, I was wondering how do you let these two rabbits mate or at least be friendly with each other then? (Sorry first time rabbit owner)


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## Xayzen (Nov 1, 2020)

zuppa said:


> Hi, do you remember when exactly you started bonding them?
> Was female aggressive from day #1 or just recently?
> How old are they?
> Are you planning on breeding them?



I just got the male rabbit a week ago, so let’s say 3 days ago. When we first introduced the two together, the female (who was with us longer) sniffed the male but the male started humping the female. After this we separated them and started doing the recommended actions to do (like switching cages, etc) after this, it is mostly the female who would be most aggressive, lunging at the cage when the male rabbit walks or is nearby, etc.

i was told that the female was about a year old and that the male was 6 months old. I wanted to breed them, but as of now my first step is to make them friendly with each other


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## Blue eyes (Nov 1, 2020)

I'm moving this to the Rabbitry and Showroom section where breeders can address your question. I've also included "breeding" in the thread title so members can see that that is your goal.


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## zuppa (Nov 1, 2020)

Xayzen said:


> I just got the male rabbit a week ago, so let’s say 3 days ago. When we first introduced the two together, the female (who was with us longer) sniffed the male but the male started humping the female. After this we separated them and started doing the recommended actions to do (like switching cages, etc) after this, it is mostly the female who would be most aggressive, lunging at the cage when the male rabbit walks or is nearby, etc.
> 
> i was told that the female was about a year old and that the male was 6 months old. I wanted to breed them, but as of now my first step is to make them friendly with each other


Breeding rabbits don't have to be bonded, they actually can't live together at all, they only put in for 10 minutes for breeding and that's it. Female will get pregnant immediately most of times and after that she will get aggressive to male and won't let him mate with her because she is already pregnant. she can damage him if he continues chasing her, so you have to keep them completely separately. You can't breed her too often as well if you care about her health, she will be pregnant for one month and after she will have to feed the babies for 2 months, then she will need at least one month to recover (this would be the worst scenario but commercial breeders say that's enough). Well depending on why you want to breed them, if you are going to eat her babies or feed them to the snakes it doesn't really matter to you I suppose. At least do some research before breeding rabbits, they are living creatures just like yourself.


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## Xayzen (Nov 1, 2020)

zuppa said:


> Breeding rabbits don't have to be bonded, they actually can't live together at all, they only put in for 10 minutes for breeding and that's it. Female will get pregnant immediately most of times and after that she will get aggressive to male and won't let him mate with her because she is already pregnant. she can damage him if he continues chasing her, so you have to keep them completely separately. You can't breed her too often as well if you care about her health, she will be pregnant for one month and after she will have to feed the babies for 2 months, then she will need at least one month to recover (this would be the worst scenario but commercial breeders say that's enough). Well depending on why you want to breed them, if you are going to eat her babies or feed them to the snakes it doesn't really matter to you I suppose. At least do some research before breeding rabbits, they are living creatures just like yourself.




I see. As for the reason we're breeding them, we were looking to keep them, then spay/neuter the parent rabbits afterwards. I've read about breeding and how to approach it but I guess I wrongly assumed that bonding will have to take place before they mate. How would I go about making them mate when the female bites and claws at the male? I've brought them together inside the male rabbit's cage but she still gets territorial about it.


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## zuppa (Nov 1, 2020)

Xayzen said:


> I see. As for the reason we're breeding them, we were looking to keep them, then spay/neuter the parent rabbits afterwards. I've read about breeding and how to approach it but I guess I wrongly assumed that bonding will have to take place before they mate. How would I go about making them mate when the female bites and claws at the male? I've brought them together inside the male rabbit's cage but she still gets territorial about it.


I can't comment on this thread sorry I am afraid of moderators. 
I personally wouldn't force them if she doesn't want to mate with him maybe she doesn't like him, just imagine if someone would hold you on a table and would lift your tale that's what breeders do if a female doesn't want to be bred. 
It is also possible that your female is already pregnant, as you said that you saw some humping, or she just doesn't like him.


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## Xayzen (Nov 1, 2020)

zuppa said:


> I can't comment on this thread sorry I am afraid of moderators.
> I personally wouldn't force them if she doesn't want to mate with him maybe she doesn't like him, just imagine if someone would hold you on a table and would lift your tale that's what breeders do if a female doesn't want to be bred.
> It is also possible that your female is already pregnant, as you said that you saw some humping, or she just doesn't like him.



I should have specified that the humping happened on the female's head so unfortunately its unlikely she is pregnant. But I understand your POV, we'll try talking to local vets and breeders to see our options going forward. Thank you


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## majorv (Nov 5, 2020)

Putting two intact rabbits can go one of two ways. They get along and you have a litter, or the female is aggressive and can potentially castrate the male during the fight. 
Your female is territorial because you’ve brought a new rabbit in. Put them close to each other but kept separate and let them get used to each other. Use a neutral small area to put them together and at the first sign of aggression, separate and try another day. Worst case is to table breed.


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