4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[OverWyreGrower]

I have 2 un-neutered males living together. Starsky is at least 5, has dodgy teeth, a head tilt and refuses to eat anything except pellets.

Sweeney is about 2 or 3, eats tons of veg and sleeps curled up like a dog.

 

They are both rescue rabbits, and before I got them had never been outside/on grass and had never had any company.

 

They've always humped each other, and seem to take it in turns to chase round the run and hump the other. Then the other will do the chasing and the humping.

 

There has never been any aggression between them. They'll happily lie down and sleep next to each other.

 

Recently though, Sweeney has been getting a bald patch on one bit of his back/bum. There's no irritation, or wound; just a lack of fur.

 

Starsky seems to be humping most out of the 2 of them, and I think he is pulling Sweeney's fur out

 

I was thinking of seperating them into their own hutches, but am worried about them getting lonely. It also means that only one of them will be able to go in the run at any one time, and one of them will have a single storey hutch, whilst the other will have a double storey one.

 

I can't get Starsky neutered as he'd never survive the anaesthetic. Would neutering one of them have any effect, on the other's humping?

 

What can I do?

[ChrisP]

I don't know how helpful this will be but both of my rabbits have had their operations, and they still hump each other

 

Possibly (probably) unrelated but do they have toys in their hutch? As i found that once i had a couple of rattles in the hutch they "left each other alone" a bit more than they used to!

[Hockeyaholic]

I have the same problem occassionly with my 2 girls. Delilah is the one who tends to get the bald patches on her sides. I don't know about your 2 but the humping seems to come in phases, so it allows her fur to grow back. I spoke to my vet about it, as neither of my bunnies have been 'done', & she basically said as long as they've got space to get away from each other & things to occupy them its just one of those things. She also said that neutering them wouldn't necessarily correct the issue & to just keep an eye on the situation.

 

I think at the end of the day as long as the bald patches aren't becoming sore & like I said they have plenty of space & toys, theres not a lot else you can do.

[Antonia]

Neutering buns late in life may not have any effect on sex drive. It is at this time of year they really get their rutt on so to speak, so a solution for two older males could be to have them living next to each other through bars over the spring/summer and reintroduce for autumn. This is not ideal as they may still reject each other when it comes to put them back together. Rabbits are notoriously difficult and territorial. The best pairs are a neutered male and female...

[cathybc]

I have a pair of bunnies that didn't like each other, both resuces, even thoujgh both were neutered and one of each sex. They live in my shed, one in a run, the other free ranging in the shed - so they are close to each other but can't actually get at each other. They were like that from about Sept last year, then this summer, I have put them together in a run in the garden under my supervision for some time each week. They now live together properly,no problems. So perhaps try to separate them but keep them close.

[Hockeyaholic]

I don't know about OverWyreGrower but certainly with my two bunnies its not that they don't like each other...its that they like each other too much