Male Rabbit Not Neutered, Should I Still Get a Companion?

ImaginaryFactory · Jul 31, 2012

Chester, who I've had since Dec. 5, 2010 (a b-day gift), is not neutered. When he reached some teenage stage, he began humping my foot non stop. That's all he wants to do, everytime he sees my foot and just my foot. Once he gets tired or he can't reach my foot, he waits. He urinates on my bed if he manages to get up there. Sometimes he craps on the floor, luckily he hasn't been doing that. In his cage, he urinates in the litter pan and another corner of the cage. He craps just about anywhere. I'm wondering if getting a companion could change any of this. Here are some other questions I have:

To have a companion: Do both rabbits need to be neutered?
If I manage to find a doe or a buck that is spayed or neutered already, then can I have Chester remain unneutered?

Oh and is this a good cage size for two rabbits, or can you even have two rabbits in one cage?

http://www.ferplast.com/casita_eng.php

I'm thinking about getting the last one, the Casita 120.

MiniLopHop · Jul 31, 2012

Getting another rabbit will make it worse because he is being territorial and hormonal. I suggest you get him fixed and then try to find him a mate after he has some time to calm down.

Korr_and_Sophie · Jul 31, 2012

Getting a companion for him won't make his any less hormonal or help with litter habits. He may redirect the humping to the other rabbit, this can become very frustrating to the other rabbit as they don't really like to be chased around and humped all the time. It could lead to fights or other issues when the rabbit has had enough. Having another rabbit around can make litter habits worse, this does go for neutered rabbits as well. Rabbits tend to be territorial and will want to mark their territory with pee and poop, if you have the 2nd rabbit in the area the first spends a lot of time it, you can end up with the rabbits pooping around the other rabbits cage.

While they are some pairs that get along when one rabbit is intact, there are usually some issues. Even if the intact rabbit is not hormonal all the time, there can still be times when they will want to hump more, even females can be like this. Having one intact would work better if the rabbit is not too hormonal and won't be wanting to hump the other rabbit all the time.

I would say that if you really want to get him a friend, you should get him neutered. You would have to get a spayed female (intact female and they will breed, male and fighting it more likely).

The cage is a good size for a single rabbit, but really won't be big enough for a pair. If you could add a pen around the cage, it would give more room without needing to buy another cage. You really can't buy a rabbit cage that is big enough for a pair of rabbits, the one you are thinking about is as big as they get (or at least as big as I have seen). You can look into large (or bigger) wire dog crate or an x-pen.

BlueRiley · Jul 31, 2012

It sounds like the most effective way to temper your rabbit's behavior would be to neuter him. Is there a particular reason you would prefer not to neuter?

agnesthelion · Jul 31, 2012

As others have said, I don't think you'll have much success trying to bond Chester at all unless he is neutered.

Even then, bunnies are tempermental and can be tough to bond. If you do want a companion for Chester, alot of people take their bunny with to "date" (joke term for letting bunny pick out their friend) to see which bunny they react the best with.

The cage you are interested in is barely big enough for one bunny. One bunny in that cage would need alot of free run time, in my opinion. That cage is not big enough for two rabbits.

Good luck!

Kipcha · Jul 31, 2012

I would recommend not doing it for the simple fact that he still has testicles. There was a member of the hopping club that tried to let two unaltered bucks "play" together and they wound up with a $800 emergency vet bill because one tore the others scrotum open.

Nancy McClelland · Jul 31, 2012

Neuter first then look for a 2nd bunny. Neutering will also help mitigate some of the things you don't care for, i.e. foot humping, marking with poop, etc. Hutch will need to be MUCH larger than that.