Introducing 2 male bunnies

Question
QUESTION: Hi,my daughter has a New Zealand White Flemish Giant cross 11 week old male rabbit.She is concerned that if he is castrated too early he will not reach his maximum size.She has waited for a long time to own a giant rabbit so when would be the best age to castrate him without it affecting his size
Thanks

ANSWER: Hi,

you only start thinking about neutering when he has hit sexual maturity.  For larger rabbits it's probably between 4-6 months.  You will start to notice behavior changes (males spraying you), trying to mount you arm or leg, etc.  

Once he hits sexual maturity you need to get him fixed.  He will still grow normally.  Rabbits grow until about 1 year old.  So even if you neuter him at 6 months, he'll still grow.

The key is having a good rabbit vet do the operation.  Your vet should also give you (and demand them if he doesn't offer, otherwise find another vet) pain meds for bunny for 3-5 days so he'll keep eating through any pain, and also post-op antibiotics for 3-5 days to help prevent infections.

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

to find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,should we introduce our 11 week old male giant breed x to our 18 month old desexed male english x rabbit now or wait until the younger rabbit is castrated.We have not had much success in introducing our older rabbit to any other animal(we have owned him since a tiny baby and he was rescued from a fairly revolting environment)and he is a rabbit that likes his own space.Our rabbits live inside (we live in adelaide australia)bit hot for them outside but my daughter would like to try and introduce them they are technically both her bunnies

Thanks

Answer
Hi, definitely wait until he's neutered, and wait 4-6 weeks after the neuter, because it takes 4-6 weeks for his hormones to stabilize to their new lower levels.  You don't want mood swings or unpredictable behavior to occur during the bunny dating process.