When should I separate juvenile female rabbits?

[Imbrium]

I have two female bunnies, a 10 week old lionhead and an 11 week old holland lop. My vet is willing to spay them at 4-5 months of age, but since they're very small breeds and surgery is tough on rabbits, I plan to try to hold out until they're 5 months old.

I want to keep them together for as long as I can since they love to cuddle up together and (more importantly) because separating them will reduce the amount of cage space each one has and make it harder to give them both an appropriate amount of "floor time" each day since that happens outside due to them not being fully box trained yet. I ordered two more playpens online 'cause Petco was having a 20% off sale w/free shipping on orders over a certain amount which means I'll still be able to give them each a 28-30 square foot "cage", but they'll have either half the time or half the space to run around outside each day - I only have 1-2h a day right after the sun comes up before it gets too hot outside for bunnies.

At the same time, I know if I wait too long to separate them and they get into any fights, that will make it harder to bond them after they've recovered from surgery.

I know they reach sexual maturity "around four months of age"... is that pretty much always right at 16 weeks, or can it vary (and if so, by how much)? Also, I'm familiar with the behavioral characteristics of unspayed female bunnies, but I was wondering if any of those emerge before the point at which hormones can cause them to start bickering. (Basically, do I need to separate them as soon as the oldest one reaches 16 weeks or are there "early warning" signs that one or both is starting to get all jacked up on hormones that I can use to tell me when to get them in separate cages?)

Once they're sexually mature, should they be apart all the time or can I house them in separate cages but still let them be around each other in neutral territory (ie in their outdoor run)? My assumption is they need to be separate at all times until after they've been fixed, but I thought I'd ask to make sure

Any advice on how to handle the transition from asexual juveniles to bratty teen bunnies to spayed bunnies who are ready to start the bonding process would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

I'm looking for answers on this too...

Good luck!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Some still get along and others start battling. We separated at 12 weeks and the males were out much sooner. Just didn't want to chance it and vet bills are never cheap. Kept them in separate hutches but close together.

 

[Imbrium]

hmm, I hope they last a bit longer than that... Gaz hits 12 weeks this weekend. would hate to make them spend two months apart! Gaz is half holland lop/half throw pillow anyway, though - crossing my fingers some of that sticks with her.

 

[majorv]

I've kept sibling females together for up to 4 months. As long as they have enough space and get along, you're okay. I kept two sisters together for just a little bit too long once...I came out one morning to take one to a show and found some fur missing from the top of her nose....dang it...I had pushed my luck!

 

[ldoerr]

I have had female siblings live together for many months without a problem. I have a friend who keeps does together until they are full grown (because she never has enough cages).

 

[Imbrium]

well, they're not actually siblings/sisters... they've been together since the lop was 8 weeks and the lionhead was 7 weeks, though. Gaz is a calm little chubby ball of fluff... Nala's a feisty and hyper little trouble-maker, so they've got totally different personalities. they often play separately but eat and sleep together, which is super adorable.

 

[skyprincess67]

Very interesting......we have two female Holland Lops. They came from the same breeder, but different parents........they are currently 4 mths old and are only 11 days apart in age. So far so good, but after reading about this, I will keep an even closer eye on them. Plan on getting them spayed at about the 5 mth mark. It would break my heart if they started fighting since they have been so close since birth.

 

[Imbrium]

well, if they do start fighting, get 'em separated ASAP and keep them that way until after the surgeries - by the time they've recovered enough to start bonding them for real (as opposed to "baby bonding"), they'll have had time to forget the fight or two they may have before you get them separated.

if you can, I'd keep 'em where they can still see and smell each other (cages an inch or two apart is best - room enough that they can't fight through the bars, but close enough that they don't forget about each other) from the time they start fighting until shortly after they're spayed. from what I've read, that's the best way to maintain some of the bond they currently have without giving them an opportunity to wreck it up with teenage tiffs

 

[Imbrium]

so... Nala bit me twice yesterday :S

I picked her up and carried her over to "my" corner of their indoor cage (like I do every single night)... she doesn't like to be carried, but if I hold her firmly against me, she never struggles and she knows I'll sit down on the floor when we get where we're going. as I was sitting down, she just arbitrarily chomped my hand!

I scolded her, but didn't let her go - I just sat down and held her on one arm while giving her full-body pets with the other hand until she started chittering her teeth so loudly she sounded like a little motorboat (her reward for putting up with getting held). at some point, I was trying out different ways of petting her to figure out what she liked best and accidentally tickled her rump... so she spun her head around and *chomped* a very sensitive part of my chest! ><

I scolded her again, then went back to giving full-body pets and she went back to chittering her teeth in happiness - serious mood swings there!

this behavior is very unusual for her - she's NEVER bitten me before! an exploratory nibble once or twice and a couple accidental bites when she was trying to chew on my clothing and caught some skin, but never a deliberate bite.

is this a sign that she's starting to have hormones kick in? she's a lionhead, just under 12 wks old

 

[ldoerr]

I have a friend that scolds her rabbits by twisting their ears slightly. She has the BEST behaved rabbits that I have ever seen. A little bit of being uncomfy for the rabbits does wonders for their behavior.

 

[Imbrium]

the trick of holding her head down gently works well to discourage bad behavior... I'm just curious if the sudden aggression/mood swings is an early sign of hormones.