Neutering & Housing together?

[iMoto_129]

I currently have two male buns, one a black Californian and the other an albino Californian/New Zealand mix. Marvin (the white one) is about 4 months old and George (the black one) is about 7 months old. George and Marvin get along great. They live and play together 24 hours a day. I plan on adopting a female lion head in the very near future who is about 4 months old. I do not want to house them all together until they are all neutered. Currently, the buns have two cages. One inside which is a 7 foot x 2.5 foot x 3.5 foot C&C cage, and the other is outside which could comfortably house 4 buns. I have a couple questions.. 1.) How long should I wait to neuter&spay the buns? 2.) Would it be okay to house them all together if only the oldest is neutered? 3.) would it be okay to wait until all of them are old enough to be neutered and spayed, and get them all done at once? 

Thanks in advance! Sorry if its confusing!! 

I did read other threads and I could not find a clear answer so I figured I would try and find my own. 

[tobyluv]

Welcome to Binky Bunny!

Before rabbits are bonded, the first step is always to have both (or all) spayed and neutered. Except in the case of very young bunnies (3-4 months old or less) unneutered males should not be housed together. George is certainly old enough to be neutered and Marvin may be too, or it may be another few weeks for him. If his testicles have descended, then he is ready to be neutered. Since Marvin is approaching his “puberty”, which means the hormones will be in full force, it’s possible that he and George might start scuffling or even fighting, so you need to watch for that. You may need to separate them if one or both starts showing signs of aggression, if you don’t go ahead and separate them now Things can sometimes change very quickly with rabbits, when hormones are involved.

If you are adopting the female from a rescue or shelter, they normally spay them before the adoption. Most females are ready to be spayed around 5 months, some vets prefer to wait until 6 months. It would probably be best to try to schedule the neuters and spay (if the rescue doesn’t do that) for the same time, or as close as you can get. After their surgeries, wait about a month to start the bonding process. That would give the female time to completely heal and time for all the hormones to be flushed out of the males.

[LBJ10]

I agree. The boys should be neutered before you bring a girl home and the girl should be spayed (and healed, etc.) before any introductions. If the boys are really bonded and not fighting, then you might be able to get away with neutering them in the very near future and keeping them together. As Tobyluv said though, there is the potential for fighting if hormones kick in. You’ll want to keep an eye out for that and if you don’t plan on having them neutered really soon then it might be wise to separate them.

[iMoto_129]

Thank you for the info! They haven’t been acting any different lately. George will occasionally mount Marvin, but its very seldom. What are reasonable prices for the spays and neuters? I emailed a local vet and they gave me an estimate of 500$.. I know they are not cheap, but I wasn’t expecting $500 per rabbit.

[LBJ10]

The price for neutering seems to vary widely depending on where you are. Larger cities with higher costs of living tend to have higher prices, but not always. I’ve heard everything from $80 to $600. Do you have a rabbit rescue/shelter? You might try calling them to see if there is a low cost clinic for rabbits. Some shelters give out spay/neuter vouchers too. It just depends.

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