Keeping Bonded Pair Apart Until Neutered?

[dorothybeeman]

I have two male rex rabbits. They have been together and bonded for as long as I've had them, about 6 months. They are both approximately 1 year old. They are both getting neutered at the same time in 3 weeks. They started humping and chasing each other about 3 weeks ago. Neither of them seem to like it when the other mounts him but until now they seem to have tolerated it. The still sleep together, groom each other and share food from the same bowl. This morning I noticed a lot of fur in their living space which is fairly large. They have lots of room to run around and chase each other, which they do almost all day long. There is poop everywhere although they are litter box trained. I know that when their hormones are raging that they poop all over and that should improve after their surgeries.

My question is, would it be better to separate them until they get neutered in 3 weeks or will it be too hard to bond them after surgery? The room they live in is large and they can see out into the rest of the house. It would be fairly easy to put in a wire divider which would still give them each a lot of room, they would still see and smell each other and could touch noses. My concern is that they are being stressed by each other. They spend so much time trying to mount the other and they seem to be constantly running from each other. They have places to hide but they just run all over their room. It's gotten to the point that they prefer humping over eating!

How do I know if they are stressed to the point of needing to be separated? They have never hurt each other, never bitten, never swatted or even "growled" at each other. They still sleep nose to nose but I'm at work all day so I won't be there if things should suddenly escalate. Will it be more stressful if they can see each other but not touch each other? Any suggestions or wisdom is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Watermelons]

You should seperate them because they sure don't sound bonded.
You should give it a good 4-6week after surgery before attempting to bond them.

 

[JBun]

They need to be separated. At this point you are risking serious injury occurring if you continue to keep them together. In fact I'm surprised nothing has happened up to now. It's never a good idea to keep two hormonal males together. They will continually pester each other and one of them can eventually just get sick of it and snap. The stress and lack of attention to eating could also affect their health. You actually risk making a future bond more difficult if you don't separate now, because if it escalates and they get into a serious fight, that can alter their ability to get along permanently, and they may never rebond once that happens.

Whether to keep them near each other or not depends on how they react to their separation. I would want to keep them in pens next to each other if it doesn't end up being too upsetting to them, as this could make bonding later a little easier since they will still have that contact with each other. But if being separate and near each other proves too distressing and if it affects their eating detrimentally, you may have to separate in completely different rooms, but that could prove more distressing, so you will just have to see what works best.

So separate, neuter, wait 4-8 weeks, then rebond.
https://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/opcare.html