Chances of rabbits mating?

[nothernexposure]

I've just found out our 2 rabbits are actually brother and sister, not 2 sisters!! Boys bits are too small to be snipped so we're taking him back in 3 weeks to be rechecked and hopefully neutered then. What are the chances of our girl rabbit getting pregnant before then and what do I do to prevent it?? They're approx 18 weeks old.

What's the saying ... "At it like rabbits" ?!!

very likely
you need to keep them separate (and look up caring for baby bunnies)

Eeek! Thank you, frantically sourcing a 2nd hutch, do they need to be close enough to see/smell one another to keep them bonded? What about run time, we've only got enough space for 1 run. Do we let them take it in turns or will that cause problems?

Turns will be fine and keeping sight of each other will definitely help maintain a bond

Virtually certain - they need to be separated now

100% separate now. And don't think just a layer of mesh would keep them separated safely - does have been known to get pregnant through wire, they're ambitious!

Thanks, they're now in separate hutches and not happy! They can see one another and 'chat' but can't reach one another. They'll need to take turns in the run and we'll possibly let them out together when they can be supervised. Feel very guilty at separating them and amazed at how it's changed their behaviour. Hope we can get boy bun neutered asap so we can get them back together again.

They won't be able to go straight back together after the op - the male will still be able to impregnate the female for up to 4 weeks (but has been known to happen up to 8 weeks after the op!), so don't rush them back together.

To be completely honest, if you are having the buck done, you would be best to have the doe done at the same time,

That way they could go back together sooner (a couple of days after recovery).

There are benefits of having her done too and that is that it reduces the risk of her developing cancer of the uterus.

I thought this was BS too, but this came straight from the vet and is is all over the internet.

Apparently an non spayed female could have a much shorter lifespan (typically 5 years)

www.vets4pets.com/pet-health-advice/rabbit-advice/neutering-your-rabbit/
www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/neutering-spaying-rabbits

Thanks, we'd taken them to the vets to get them neutered which is how we found out we had a girl and boy! Vet wasn't keen to neuture the girl as she's still quite small but I'll ask again when we're back in a couple of weeks. Would solve the problem of keeping them seperate for ages.

Yeah I had similar when I got another girl to keep the other girl company, (as her sister died), took her to the vets for a check over and found out she was a he.... that was not what we planned at all... :)
Good luck and let me know how you get on x

So, girl bun has started pulling out fur 😯. I'm assuming this means she's nest building and we were too late separating them! How long till we see a litter??

Oh dear Baby buns within a week, according to this:

wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Pregnant_rabbits

Oh no!!! How many baby bunnies?

ZOMBIE THREAD

Ooo, old thread popping up!! Fortunately no baby buns! We think it must have been a phantom pregnancy. Boy bun had the snip (man, got very stressed about him at the vets). They've been reunited for just over a month and are now very happy buns. Now just got to get our girl sorted.....

Aww that's good news!

wrt the fur, our girl (who wasn't done) used to do this about every 6 moths, I assume connected to hormonal cycles.

Our neutered male also did it!