castrated rabbit behaviour

Question
We have a male rabbit that had been castrated for 3 weeks before we got him a female friend. They get on great but the male seems sex mad and wont leave the female alone! She doesnt seem to mind and even seems to encourage him. We thought he wouldnt be interested in trying to mate once he was done. The vet said as long as we waited 2 weeks getting a female would be fine. How long will he behave like this,we thought having him done would stop this behaviour or is it just a case of waiting for him to calm down. The female hasnt been done yet and we dont really want baby bunnies. We're a bit worried his op didnt work and she'll get pregnant.

Answer
Dear Susan,

Sorry for the delay; I have just finished an excruciatingly busy middle school ecology outreach program that pretty much prevented me from doing anything but that!  But now I'm back.

While two weeks is usually sufficient to prevent pregnancy after neutering, sometimes viable sperm can remain for longer--even up to a month (some vets say more).  So I hope she's not pregnant.

If she is still accepting his advances, she's not pregnant.  Once she starts to run away from him and whimper, she's either pregnant or having a false pregnancy.  The former lasts about a month, the latter about two weeks, so you'll know soon.

It is very important to have her spayed, since unspayed females have a very high risk of uterine cancer.  So pregnancy isn't the only reason.

The male should calm down once the excitement of the new female has worn off, since he's neutered.  But it might take some time.

In the meantime, as long as she's not objecting to his amorous advances, this will only help their bonding.

Good luck!

Dana