How to Live with a House Rabbit

I've been living with house rabbits my entire adult life. It all started when I was a young 19 and living in my first apartment. The landlords specifically told me that I could not have a pet unless it was in a cadge, so I asked my father for a rabbit (he had a farm and brought me the cutest 3 year old, all grey Netherland Dwarf) and told the unsuspecting landlords that the bunny lived in his cadge permanently.

Su didn't, of course. I put him in a cadge when I wasn't home or at night when I couldn't be there to supervise him, but Su ran free when I just hanging out at the apartment. And yes, my rabbit is a boy named Su. Rabbits are a joy to live with and each have a personality all their own and I might be bias, but Su is the best rabbit in the world. I had him neutered shortly after he came to me and this curbed some behavioral problems such as spraying, marking, and aggression. Since then he's hasn't shown much interest in cords that have power running through them (but he loves speaker wire), he's always picked one spot for his bathroom and stuck with it, and he loves to be pet.

After living alone for 3 years, my partner and I asked my father for a companion for our rabbit. He had just had a Doe give birth to a mess of babies and when they were old enough we chose the only male in the litter. I wanted another male rabbit because I knew that after female rabbits were spayed there was a chance they would continue their nesting pattern with something called false nesting. Female rabbits have been known to pull their hair out to make nests and this wasn't something I wanted to live with. So we got PhilBert, and the adventure continued.

PhilBert was a dark red mini-lop with a poufy top hat and a punk attitude. Even after he was neutered, PhilBert ate every cord he could find. He peed everywhere and ate anything he could find, and socializing the 2 rabbits was a chore. Thinking it would be a good idea to introduce the rabbits before they became housemates, we brought Su to the farm and let him play in the hay with the small lop. Little did we know, this was the worst thing we could have done. You see, we didn't know that as a general rule, whichever rabbit is brought in to the home turf of another, so shall the home rabbit be forever dominate. This little slip up put Su, the older, wiser, and more responsible rabbit, at the mercy of PhilBert for their entire relationship.

PhilBert was only with us for 4 years. We loved the little guy and it was devastating when a weasel snuck into the house and took him from us. Su, forever a trooper, fought off the weasel not once but twice and suffered only a broken toe. The 3 of us mourned PhilBert for months and when it was time to move on we asked my father once more for a rabbit.

Butters came into our lives just 5 months ago at the very young age of 3 months old. He is a Butterscotch Dwarf and became fast friends with the now 8 year old Su. They share the same love of clean, well groomed fur and Butters has learned from his mentor which chords are dangerous and which aren't. We haven't had him neutered yet because we feel that he is a little young. Male rabbits can be neutered as early as 3 ½-5 months, yet we prefer to neuter between 6-8 months. This extra time lets the rabbit fully grow while stopping negative habits like spraying before they start.