Rebonding Siblings After Spay/Neuter

[AshAndMaple]

Hi, so I'm looking for advice in advance of my 4 month old boy being neutered (he's still too small atm). My girl was spayed a fortnight ago.

They're litter-mates and they've been living in separate rooms for a fortnight, but when I do bring Maple into Ash's space for a cuddle on the sofa, he jumps up and is always very affectionate with her - licking her face etc. I'm still keeping them apart until after Ash has been neutered bc sometimes after a few minutes with Maple he does get a little... hormonal shall we say!

Because Ash is affectionate, I feel reintroducing them to living together should go well? I know he might act a little different after surgery, but when they were babies he would always be cuddling and licking her too. In-between them living in separate rooms, one would be in an exercise pen while the other ran around the room so they still had contact.

So, does anyone have advice for re-introducing them? I don't really have a neutral space I can put them both in bc I live in a flat and they're living in the main areas. I could set up the pen again and have that as neutral territory? Maybe if I sprayed the carpet it was on top of with something bunny-safe so didn't smell like either of them? I swap toys between their areas anyway, and there hasn't been any spraying of urine of anything - just scent marking with their chins.

 

[JBun]

You need to wait at least 4 weeks post neuter for his hormones to fade enough that they won't cause issues when rebonding. But if he's still too hormonal at that point you may need to wait up to 6-8 weeks. Set up a bonding pen and neutralize hard surfaces with vinegar/water mix, and you can cover soft surfaces(eg. carpet) with a waterproof tarp or shower curtain, etc. You can also use sheets or cardboard, etc, to cover the sides of the pen to make that look different as well.

In the meantime, read up on bonding methods and rabbit behavior. One of the most important things to know is what escalating aggression looks like so you know to intervene before either bun could get hurt. I always stop them circling as that can very quickly escalate into a full out fight and a tornado of teeth and claws. Once a full out fight occurs, there is very little chance of bonding after that, not too mention the serious injuries that can occur from a full out fight.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html
https://cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Understanding_your_rabbit
Some humping, minor chasing, and a little bit of nipping and fur pulling can be normal, but I always stop it before it goes on too long and starts to upset the other rabbit too much. Also if humping occurs where the head is faced the wrong way towards the butt, stop that immediately. There was a good discussion in this thread, on when to intervene when bonding.

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/when-to-intervene-rabbit-bonding.104770/

 

[AshAndMaple]

You need to wait at least 4 weeks post neuter for his hormones to fade enough that they won't cause issues when rebonding. But if he's still too hormonal at that point you may need to wait up to 6-8 weeks. Set up a bonding pen and neutralize hard surfaces with vinegar/water mix, and you can cover soft surfaces(eg. carpet) with a waterproof tarp or shower curtain, etc. You can also use sheets or cardboard, etc, to cover the sides of the pen to make that look different as well.

In the meantime, read up on bonding methods and rabbit behavior. One of the most important things to know is what escalating aggression looks like so you know to intervene before either bun could get hurt. I always stop them circling as that can very quickly escalate into a full out fight and a tornado of teeth and claws. Once a full out fight occurs, there is very little chance of bonding after that, not too mention the serious injuries that can occur from a full out fight.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/bonding-bunnies.html
https://cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together
http://language.rabbitspeak.com/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Understanding_your_rabbit
Some humping, minor chasing, and a little bit of nipping and fur pulling can be normal, but I always stop it before it goes on too long and starts to upset the other rabbit too much. Also if humping occurs where the head is faced the wrong way towards the butt, stop that immediately. There was a good discussion in this thread, on when to intervene when bonding.

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/when-to-intervene-rabbit-bonding.104770/

Thank you, this is really helpful I hadn't thought about covering the sides of the pen, but that will definitely help if there's any spraying too!