Rabbit help needed!

[AlexandraLT]

Hello.
I have three four month old dwarf "female" rabbits who are all "sisters".
They were all living happily together until a couple of nights ago i heard fighting going on in the cage!
I then saw alot of humping between two rabbits and another one getting attacked by one of the other rabbits.
I immediately seperated them (1. because it was 4am and i wanted some sleep. and 2. because i knew something wasnt quite right!)
The next day i decided to sex them to check that i had the combination i was told. and actually found i have 2 males and a female!
I then knew at this point they all needed to be split until i could do something about it.
I tried the two boys together and they seemed fine to start with and then one tried humping the other and they started fighting again.
I now have a dilemma!
I split the indoor cage, which i made into three to seperate them as a temporary thing, until i could find something more suitable!
I use cardboard to split it into sections but now the rabbits have decided to chew through the cardboard so i need to use something else.
Any help or suggestions on this situation or what i could use?
Thanks for all help!

[Liz47]

Hey, sorry to hear you're having trouble.

Rabbits are very likely to fight, even if they are the same gender/from the same family, once they reach sexual maturity. Which in females is usually around 6 months but in males earlier (around 4 months). So this is likely to have happened with the male/s. They will all need to keep seperate obviously, even the two males as severe fighting could occur but I am not sure what you could do to seperate, if you don't have anything the rabbits can't chew through (like NIC cubes, I have used pannels from a little pen before) to seperate the cage into sections do you have any other cages? Or any small rooms/areas you could keep the rabbits in that are rabbit proof? Bathrooms tend to be fairly rabbit proof (keep the toilet lid down!).

I believe rabbits can get pregnant rather young, so you may have to get your female checked. A vet can check and also see what is the best option, ie carrying out the pregnancy or an emergency spay may be able to be done.

As I mentioed earlier a lot of rabbits do fight if left unneutered, so the two males need neutering. This can be done whenever their, er, balls drop aslong as they are a good weight. The female will also need to be spayed, this can be done from 6 months onwards generally, some vets will do it before 6 months if the rabbit is mature enough and a good weight. The males will still need to be kept single until a while after their neuter (sorry can't remember the exact number of weeks) as they can still be fertile. The female will also need to be left alone until she is healed up.

You can then try to rebond them all, trio's can work but they can be tricky. Bonding will need to take place in an area totally neutral to all 3 rabbits. Start in a small space then if all is ok you can gradually increase the space and add things like a bowl, toys etc (not at first as the rabbits could get territorial over them.) Their accomodation will also need to be cleaned with white vinegar solution or similar to try and neutralise that too before they go back together.

I have a bonded male/female pair (spayed/neutered) and a single neutered male as Beano, my female, won't accept another rabbit. Spaying will also prevent cancer, which affects 80% of unspayed older does and neutering will prevent fighting, spraying and generally make all the rabbits calmer, happier and healthier. Hope you can get something sorted for the buns

[billybobbs]

You need to see and have a think whether you could keep up to 3 or more cages in your home if they all need seperating. And also your little female may well be pregnat now and you have to find suibtable space for her and her litter.
I really feel for you, it must be an awful situation to be in. I hope you manage to at leat get the males living together. You may need to consider outdoor hutches x

[AlexandraLT]

Thanks for all your help liz.
I have been looking into getting all of them done, but got quoted £105 to do the female and £103 each for the boys.
Im now in a sticky situation whether to do that or whether to spend the money on a hutch and let them all be happy alone.
They dont show any aggression or anything when they are in their runs (had to do some improvising and seperate the big run into three decent sided runs with wire. And they are all fine (I know this is completely different and i will not risk putting them together again!)
I dont know what the best thing to do is. And if i did get all three done, it doesnt mean the problem is solved.
I know rabbits like to or sometimes prefer to have company however all three seem pretty happy now they are seperated.
Decisions decisions!!
x

[AlexandraLT]

Originally Posted by billybobbs

You need to see and have a think whether you could keep up to 3 or more cages in your home if they all need seperating. And also your little female may well be pregnat now and you have to find suibtable space for her and her litter.
I really feel for you, it must be an awful situation to be in. I hope you manage to at leat get the males living together. You may need to consider outdoor hutches x

Thanks for your help! However im really hoping she is not pregnant! I know nothing about rabbit pregnancies, and really had no intention of this happening!
Im so angry that they told me all three were females and only one was! I know it must be hard to sex them, But surely they cant be so wrong!
I also have three dogs which means the rabbits had to be kept upstairs and i really didnt consider having this problem to then this where i would put the other three cages!
One of my males seem so much happier on his own.

Thanks for your help
x

[Liz47]

Wow, that is expensive! Obviously vet fees vary but on average it costs about £80 for a female spay and £40 for a male neuter, spays are a tad more complicated so therefore more expensive. For me it cost £80 for Beano and £60 for Boris (my single male). Is there any other vets in your area that are rabbit savvy you could ask for prices?

Sadly many places do mis sex rabbits! I adopted my Gordon from a rescue so he was already neutered but he was in the rescue due to being bought from a pet shop by some one who was told he was a female so he was put in with all the other girls and got them all pregnant, so the lady could not cope with the amount of rabbits she ended up with! At 4 months although it is possible, hopefully, it will be less likely she is pregnant. You may not be able to tell until the last few days when she starts nesting, collecting hay/bedding and plucking fur from herself to line the nest. Although a vet could check.

Rabbits do like to live in pairs/or more but I have a single male who is a housebunny so gets lots of attention from me and he is happy, I found him as a stray so didn't intend to take on another rabbit, I do intend to get him a wifey bun but atm it isn't possible, so if you give them plenty of attention/stimulation they can be happy singlely. You may find they start spraying though, Boris pre neuter was terrible for it, he would spray every time when I walked in my room/past him!

Hope you do manage to find a good solution xx

[AlexandraLT]

There is an rspca vets close by however not sure how good they are.
And there is also another one who i have not phoned yet.
Hopefully they will be cheaper as £40 and £80 are really doable costs
To spend £300 i cant really justify.
Thanks for your help xx

[Liz47]

Originally Posted by AlexandraLT

There is an rspca vets close by however not sure how good they are.
And there is also another one who i have not phoned yet.
Hopefully they will be cheaper as £40 and £80 are really doable costs
To spend £300 i cant really justify.
Thanks for your help xx

Hopefully they'll be better Re the bolded bit, I agree with you there! xx

[AlexandraLT]

one more question...
They have been living inside, would they be alright to be moved outside?
I dont think i can fit three hutches indoors! x

[Queen Of The High Teas]

Originally Posted by AlexandraLT

one more question...
They have been living inside, would they be alright to be moved outside?
I dont think i can fit three hutches indoors! x

Yes you can move them outside, but do it now whilst its Summertime and hot, so if they still have to be outside by the time the weather starts turning again, they will of adjusted to it and grown a nice thick fluffy coat to protect them.

Oh and it takes 6-8 weeks for the hormones to die down in males, which means if you put them outside due to lack of space it will be end sept/oct ish by the time you can re-bond them, so yeah I'd move them out now.

And yikes that is really expensive what your vet charges! Mine charge £45 for a neuter and £65 for a spay. I'd look around if I were you!!