# Brother rabbits, how do I stop them from humping?



## Reactor

Well, I have two rabbits in one cage and they are brothers. Though honestly it was funny the first time I saw it, I must say as a seventeen year old boy I found it funny. Now it's slightly just irritating. Very irritating actually. The larger male will be laying down relaxing in the cage, and the other slightly smaller one will come up and just have at it like it's an open house. 

Is there any way to stop this? I can't neuter them yet as they are not old enough. I also can't afford another cage at this time though. Are there any suggestions?


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## Kipcha

How old are they? Are their testicles descended?

Honestly, if they are descended, I would seperate them till they're neutered. If a rabbit happens to get annoyed, it can easily result in a torn scrotum and an expensive emergency bill. Rabbit fights between unaltered males can turn vicious quick.


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## Reactor

Ah, alright. Well currently they are around three months old. The smaller one's testicles are descended though, yes.


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## missyscove

Even after they're neutered there will be some humping to establish which one of them is the dominant bunny. If you'd like to keep them together after they're neutered, I'd suggest not splitting them up and getting them neutered asap. Male-male pairs are notoriously difficult to bond. I have a pair of boys that I adopted bonded from a shelter. They came in together and stayed together through their neuter. I adopted them about a week after they were neutered and they continued to hump eachother for a good 3 weeks after I brought them home.


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## Reactor

missyscove said:


> Even after they're neutered there will be some humping to establish which one of them is the dominant bunny. If you'd like to keep them together after they're neutered, I'd suggest not splitting them up and getting them neutered asap. Male-male pairs are notoriously difficult to bond. I have a pair of boys that I adopted bonded from a shelter. They came in together and stayed together through their neuter. I adopted them about a week after they were neutered and they continued to hump eachother for a good 3 weeks after I brought them home.



On average how much do you think this would cost? And would a vet be willing to do it on rabbits this young?


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## JBun

I think it will depend on how big they are and on the vet. If you can find a spay/neuter clinic, the humane society, or a rabbit rescue, sometimes they will have a much better price on a neuter. Or just call around to the different rabbit vets and get a price. If the humping just started up then he may settle down after a few days and not do it as often. Just watch for any signs that your other rabbit might be getting irritated with him doing it.


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## missyscove

Yes, different vets will do it at different ages; it depends on what they are comfortable with. Many vets are willing and able to do it as soon as the testes drop into the scrotum. Rabbits (like rats) are actually able to move their testicles from their scrotum into their inguinal canal even after they've descended, so in some cases it appears that they have not descended even after they have. A neuter is not nearly as invasive as a spay. Do you know roughly how much yours weigh / what breed they are?


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## agnesthelion

You've gotten some great advice and I just wanted to pipe in and say that I agree and that I would encourage you to seperate them until the neuter. Rabbit fights can end up really bad

As far as when a vet will do it it does alot of the time depend on size of the rabbit. Sometimes vets won't put buns that weigh less than 3 lbs under anesthesia.


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## LakeCondo

As long as they aren't aggressive toward each other, you probably don't need to separate. But at the first sign, separate them so they'll have a better chance to re-bond. Luckily for you & them, neutering males is a much simpler operation than spaying females is. But even so, they'll have to be separated afterwards until both heal. This should only be a few days. The hormones will still be there for at least a month afterwards, but at some point the humping will slow down but probably not stop entirely.

Don't get grossed out by the humping. It doesn't mean to them what it does to humans, so just ignore it unless & until it becomes aggressive.


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## Chrisdoc

It´s all great advice but I had a similar situation with mine. It is difficult, my two boys used to hump each other regularly and they were Ok until they got to about 8 months and then I had to neuter them as I was worried their fighting would get serious and I really didn´t want to separate them as they´d been together since babies . Since they´ve been done, they hardly ever try to hump now. 

However, after the neuter, I separated them for a few days until they recovered and when I put them back together they started fighting so I had to separate them. I did manage to bond them again and they´ve gone of famously since. I don´t know now whether I would have separated them had I known what would happen, it was just that I´d been reading loads and everyone recommended it . I think in hindsight that as long as you keep your eye on them, you should keep them together to recover and there shouldn´t be a problem.


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## ladysown

is your cage big enough that you can divide it in half? if so, do that. easy enough to put dividers into cages.

Once their testes are descended they are old enough to be neutered.


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