Bun very scared of me

[BunLifeForMe]

Hey guys. I need a bit of help with my new rabbit. She is a 7 month old lionhead and I only got her a few days ago so I’m obviously not expecting her to warm up to me yet. However,I’m having a bit of trouble.
I don’t like keeping her in her cage so I’ve been letting her out every day for about 6-8 hours, letting her get used to the house since I also have a 11 month old male rabbit who has left his scent on EVERYTHING (funny story- I thought he was a female and I only just found out that he’s a male). So when I approach her she’ll just bolt off and go hide under the bed, where I can’t get her. She will let me pet her while she’s in the cage, though. The two rabbits are very friendly towards each other and she always sits near his cage, so the only thing that could possibly scare her is me. Which is normal, I get it. But that means I can never get her to go back in her cage. She won’t go in herself so I have to trap her every time in order to catch her which is AWFUL for our bonding, obviously. None of the rabbits are fixed so today I actually let the male out so he would go hump her, because that would be the best chance for me to catch her and put her back (he’s kinda stupid and is always humping her face for some reason ).
So what do you suggest I do? Should I keep her in her cage until I’m sure she feels okay with me touching her? I feel really bad doing this to her but I don’t want to keep her confined in a cage all day.
Also, can anyone explain to me the process and costs of spaying/neutering? I travel a lot by boat and I can’t carry two cages with me every time. So I need to get them fixed or one of them has to go – I actually got the new rabbit because we all thought the other one was a female as well!

[tobyluv]

You cannot let the male hump the female, for even one second. They should not be allowed out at the same time. It takes only a few seconds for them to mate and for a pregnancy to occur. It can happen without you knowing it. Unaltered rabbits are also very likely to fight. Just because they seem friendly with each other now, doesn’t mean that will always be the case. When rabbits fight, they can severely injure each other. Rabbits can even mate through cage bars, so they shouldn’t be allowed any physical contact at all, there should always be a space between them. It’s no better if he is humping her head.  Genitals have been bitten and injured when that happens.

A rabbit’s space should be limited for the first few days or a week, after arriving at your house. You could attach an x-pen to her cage for some extra space for her.

Even if your other rabbit had been a female, you cannot put two rabbits together and bond them unless they are both spayed and neutered, and you need to wait around a month after surgery for the hormones to die down. Two females can fight viciously, and so can two males, if they aren’t both fixed.

At 7 months of age, your female is old enough to be spayed. A male can be neutered when his testicles appear, which can happen around 3 months of age. Some vets may like to wait a little longer. The cost for surgery can be high, but there are some low cost clinics around. You have to make sure that any vet who sees them and performs surgery is a rabbit savvy vet.

If you don’t want to or don’t have the money for both surgeries, you will either have to keep the rabbits apart for their whole lives or rehome one of them. Spaying and neutering also has health benefits and behavioral benefits. Unspayed females can have a 80% chance of developing uterine cancer. Both males and females can spray, be aggressive, be hard to litter box train, can have attitudes, etc., if they are not fixed.

[BunLifeForMe]

Yes, I know it only takes seconds so I was very careful with that (besides he was humping her face). But obviously that’s not something I want to ever do again.
So it would be best to get them fixed anyway, right? Even if I give one of them away?

[tobyluv]

Good homes for rabbits can be hard to find and many of the rescues stay full, so if a rabbit was already spayed or neutered, that might make it easier to find a home or rescue for it, since it would save money for the person or rescue group.

It would be great if they were spayed and neutered and bonded and you could keep both. It generally is easier to bond a male with a female, neutered and spayed, of course. If you are seriously thinking of keeping both, then it would be a good idea to go ahead and have the surgeries. As I said before, vet care and surgery can be expensive for rabbits, since they are considered exotics, but you may be able to find a low cost clinic that accepts rabbits. You just need to be vigilant while you have them, and having them both fixed would give you peace of mind. If a cage was not secured properly or a rabbit jumped out of a pen, or someone else didn’t realize that the rabbits couldn’t be out together, that’s all it takes for an accidental litter of bunnies to be born or injuries to deal with.

Two good articles on rabbit bonding are:

http://rabbit.org/faq-bonding-multiple-rabbits/
https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/9/PID/940/Default.aspx

Even though it seems like bunnies may be getting along, there cannot be a true, permanent bond unless both are fixed.

If you can get an x-pen to attach to her cage for more room for her, you can sit in the pen and let her come to you. Read or don’t pay attention to her and she should be curious and come to you. Then you could give her a little treat. That will get her used to your presence and make her feel more comfortable around you. Just be aware that rabbits can jump in or out of x-pens, especially shorter ones, so if she is out in the pen area, make sure that your male is secure in his area and that they can’t meet up. Since she will be in a confined space in the pen, you should be able to herd her back into the cage a lot easier. Also, give her a small treat when she goes back in so that she associates the cage with something positive.

[BunLifeForMe]

Alright! Thank you so much for the advice!!!

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