Can I Keep These Rabbits Together..?

[Liv15]

I have a lionhead buck which I breed from (although I don't think I want another litter for a while.) and a (half) lionhead doe. I have bred from the doe before but she is too old now that it would be cruel/risky to breed from her again. My lionhead buck is my house bunny, he lives in a large indoor cage. I would really like to have my doe be my house bunny again and I was thinking I could get her neutered and she would live with the buck (the cage IS big enough). I am experienced with keeping rabbits but not so much with "bonding" them.

Anyway, to summarise, has anyone got any experience with housing an unneutered (intact) buck with a spayed/neutered doe? Should I give it a try and see how they go? I know male and female are the best pairs as they are more likely to get on than same sex pairs but I'm just worried about the buck pestering the doe a lot since he won't be neutered. Or will he lose interest? I suppose it depends on how dominant the female bunny is...
Sorry for the long question!

 

[Megalodon]

why not fix them both?

 

[Skies]

My grandmother used to breed pedigreed show and pet rabbits, we had a barn full of about 300 of them. You cannot keep them together unless they are both fixed, the doe could get seriously or fatally injured. 

 

[Liv15]

Yeh I figured that oh well, I think I'll stick to keeping does together then

 

[Skies]

Yeh I figured that

oh well, I think I'll stick to keeping does together then

That's a much safer bet!

 
I've seen some gnarly rabbit injuries... just.. gruesome... they can fillet each other open *shivers* not something you want to risk. *heeby jeebs* 

 

[Liv15]

Yeh I think if I put them together the buck would always pester the doe, then the doe could get hurt or most likely (seeing as she's bigger than him) she would turn around, have a go back and it would be a pretty bad fight. I'm thinking about getting a double tier rabbit cage but so the top bit is blocked off from the bottom, that way I could have her as a house bunny without all the 'complications'
And Skies I see on your profile you have a chihuahua called Matilda / Tilly. That's funny because I originally named my doe rabbit Matilda and she's always called Tilly for short

 

[Skies]

Yeh I think if I put them together the buck would always pester the doe, then the doe could get hurt or most likely (seeing as she's bigger than him) she would turn around, have a go back and it would be a pretty bad fight. I'm thinking about getting a double tier rabbit cage but so the top bit is blocked off from the bottom, that way I could have her as a house bunny without all the 'complications'
And Skies I see on your profile you have a chihuahua called Matilda / Tilly. That's funny because I originally named my doe rabbit Matilda and she's always called Tilly for short

Haha that's pretty awesome! I loves me my Tilly girl. ♥
 
Yeah, we kept all of our rabbits in rows of 3 tier rabbit cages, they really come in handy! If you're crafty enough, you could even build your own, like we did... it's a lot cheaper, and you can customize the sizes.  

 

[Liv15]

why not fix them both?

I do still intend to breed from the buck

 

[Skies]

 

why not fix them both?

I do still intend to breed from the buck
 

One day I would like to breed again, I miss the babies SO much!! ♥

 

[Liv15]

One day I would like to breed again, I miss the babies SO much!! ♥

My mini lop actually had a baby two nights ago! Only one though I am making sure it stays nice and warm though. It's really fat, full of milk because being the only one it can get loads from mum. Any advice on this? I mean, you don't think there is going to be an 'over feeding' problem is there? The smallest litter I've had before this was 2 kits and that went completely fine.

 

[Skies]

 

One day I would like to breed again, I miss the babies SO much!! ♥

My mini lop actually had a baby two nights ago! Only one though

I am making sure it stays nice and warm though. It's really fat, full of milk because being the only one it can get loads from mum. Any advice on this? I mean, you don't think there is going to be an 'over feeding' problem is there? The smallest litter I've had before this was 2 kits and that went completely fine.
 

No, over feeding shouldn't be an issue, let it ride. Fat with milk is a good thing . That is quite a small litter! I don't recall any of ours having any less than 4. Are you sure she only gave birth to 1 and didn't eat the others? If she's new to breeding, then it's possible.. although unlikely that she'd let the one live, so probably not the issue. (I'd keep my eye on her)

 

[Liv15]

No, over feeding shouldn't be an issue, let it ride. Fat with milk is a good thing . That is quite a small litter! I don't recall any of ours having any less than 4. Are you sure she only gave birth to 1 and didn't eat the others? If she's new to breeding, then it's possible.. although unlikely that she'd let the one live, so probably not the issue. (I'd keep my eye on her)

I pretty sure she didn't eat any as I gave her a feel a fews days before and I could only feel the one. She's been pretty stressed out the last few days but she appears to be being a good mother. She has had 3 litters before, the first two had 4 kits and the third had 3 kits. I bred from her after that, twice and both times there were no babies - i guess she never got pregnant (they did definitely mate) (this time I let the buck be with her for a longer amount of time (still, only one kit!). All of her litters have been from the same buck, although the 2 times I bred her, that didn't give us any babies was from the usual buck and a different buck. So I would have thought maybe the buck had a low sperm count but seeing as I used a different buck that one time, I guess it's the doe . Hmmm...?

 

[Skies]

 

No, over feeding shouldn't be an issue, let it ride. Fat with milk is a good thing

. That is quite a small litter! I don't recall any of ours having any less than 4. Are you sure she only gave birth to 1 and didn't eat the others? If she's new to breeding, then it's possible.. although unlikely that she'd let the one live, so probably not the issue. (I'd keep my eye on her)

I pretty sure she didn't eat any as I gave her a feel a fews days before and I could only feel the one. She's been pretty stressed out the last few days but she appears to be being a good mother. She has had 3 litters before, the first two had 4 kits and the third had 3 kits. I bred from her after that, twice and both times there were no babies - i guess she never got pregnant (they did definitely mate)

(this time I let the buck be with her for a longer amount of time (still, only one kit!). All of her litters have been from the same buck, although the 2 times I bred her, that didn't give us any babies was from the usual buck and a different buck. So I would have thought maybe the buck had a low sperm count but seeing as I used a different buck that one time, I guess it's the doe

. Hmmm...?
 

Yeah, it sounds like she'd just not a productive breeder, sorry to hear that!

 

[Betta_Shark5678]

My parents breed rabbit for meat.  As my doe, Patches, got older she had less babies, and she's eaten a few litters, out of fear, we think.  We recently got two new, dogs, and they love to sniff around the rabbit cages, unfortunately Patches is afraid of them.  The worst was when she had partially eaten three of her babies, and I found them when feeding her that morning 

 

[Liv15]

Yeah it's not nice to find that it can be anything that makes a doe do that, like a thunderstorm, another animal by her hutch, anything that spooks them. I put a blanket over my does hutch once because she was gonna have the babies in the daytime and she was being really skittish.