Keeping a male/female pair

Question
Dear Dana,

I am hopefully going to be adopting rabbits in the near future and I would like to get a male/female pair and have them neutered. They will both be young when I get them and not fully mature.
I was wondering if I can keep them together prior to their operations without any litters?
I have been told that males and females can mature at different ages so would it be possible to have them done at different times?
I am reluctant to separate them at all - pre or post operatively, and was wondering if this can be avoided with keeping a male/female pair?
Thank you for your help,
Regards,
Gillian

Answer
Dear Gillian,

The perfect solution would be for you to adopt a pair of needy, abandoned rabbits from your local rabbit rescuer.  Not only will they already be neutered/spayed, but they will have known personalities and health histories (if you buy a baby rabbit, there's no guarantee his/her personality will not change at puberty--and not always for the better), and best of all, you will be helping solve the terrible rabbit "dump" problem, instead of encouraging more breeding.

You can find your local rescue groups here:

www.rabbit.org/chapters

and call up to make an appointment to meet their adoptable bunnies.

You *can* buy a young pair, but I wouldn't recommend it for all the doubts you already have.  Males do tend to mature earlier than females, but it's not impossible for a very young female to become pregnant, with disastrous results.  And you're also right about not keeping them separate.

So this is why I recommend the adoption of a bonded pair.  I hope this helps!

Dana