Timid boys in a 4-way bonding…

[Cottontail]

How do you encourage your most timid bunnies to participate in bonding sessions?
Vinny is such a timid boy when sessions start that I feel bad for him and don’t know how best to encourage him.
One-on-one Vinny and Duncan coexist with no problem and will cuddle but not groom each other.
During 4-way sessions, Vinny tries to find a corner and sit distance himself from the other bunnies if he can’t hide under a female.

Here’s a brief summary of our 4 bunnies and their social identities: (All desexed)

Tilly and Duncan  (2 and ~3 years, respectively)
Tilly- Gentle/laid-back Alpha female.  Formerly neglected house-bun.
Enjoys bathing other bunnies and humans, and will hold you in place with her front paw while bathing you. Doesn’t like to fight/hump til she reaches her breaking point, then is relentless and generally wins due to her size and her thick armored coat.  She will pee/poop with no discretion during sessions.  She will fight other females for alpha status.  All woes are forgotten with food. ~6.5lbs

Duncan-  Tillys bondmate/husbun.  Former escaped meat bun.
Prone to gassy/musky episodes when upset.  Has a history of anxiety attacks but is a generally happy and friendly bunny.  His favorite pastimes are running, binkies and chinning everything in sight.  He thinks that the way to get his head kissed is by nipping other bunnies’ butts until they turn and face him and then pressing his forehead into their face.  He will hold his pee in sessions until he can get to any type of litter box.   ~6.25lbs

The Munchkins (~10.5 month old mini-rexes, previously feral kits)

Velvet- Cuddle bunny with a Napoleon complex.  She is the smallest but very much an alpha.  She loves to cuddle with humans and her brother for hours on end and usually enjoys being held.  She has been known to escape her enclosure and try to drive other bunnies out of the neutral run-space when they enter it.  She will pee during sessions, even on other buns.  She is hump-happy and will turn into the Monty-Python bunny when her alpha status is challenged.  ~4lbs

Vinny- Velvets bondmate/brother.  He is from the same litter and larger than Velvet but relies on her to let him know who and what is safe.  His favorite past time is running full speed and binkying around things. He is afraid of bananas and doesn’t want anything to do with being the top bun.  He generally distances himself from bonding sessions and will hold his pee until the session is over, only going in his litter box once the strange bunnies are gone no matter how long or short the bonding session.  ~4.75lbs

[BinkyBunny]

Ah, poor Vinny (and smart! He doesn’t want to get in a tussle!). I wish I could be of help as the most I have bonded are three at a time, and they all were very engaging—too engaging at times. Hopefully others with multiples will come along with some advice.

Funny that he is afraid of bananas! That is a first. Like afraid of a whole banana or just seems to run at the scent of it or ?? I know that has nothing to do with the topic really, just am very curious!

How do the other bunnies react to him in general? Do they show aggression or just ignore him? How much space are they currently in when bonding. IF they don’t fight much, it might be a good idea to decrease the size of the enclosed bonding space? So far how long have the bonding sessions been?

[Cottontail]

BB- Vinny will sniff the banana, but then he hides his head under his sister until the scary thing is gone… She’ll usually eat it for him. If you offer him banana while she is not next to him he’ll back away and turn his face, sometimes leaving to find his sister. He loves berries, though, so he’ll usually get cranberries or blueberries when the others get banana.

The other bunnies don’t really show any aggression toward him… Tilly has licked his head once or twice, but then will ignore him. Duncan will lay next to him, but usually ignores him… and Velvet will bathe him, cuddle him, and hump him. He’s never shown any interest in being top bun and just wants to do whatever his sister wants most times…

The bonding spaces we’ve used are a large carrier (just enough room for the 4 buns), the bathtub, and a small pack-n-play. During tub and pack-n-play sessions Vinny will usually find a corner away from any tussles and just sit and wait it out. He refuses treats during most sessions and has held his pee for up to 9 hours at one point! There was a litter box in with them, but he never made an effort to go to it and he had NO issues going potty and stuffing his face the moment the session was over. Occassionally he’ll decide he wants the session to be over and will climb on top of Duncan to use him as a step-stool as he tries to climb up the side of whatever enclosure they are in (Duncan doesn’t seem to care when Vinny does this), but that’s usually the extent of his intentional physical interaction with the other bunnies other than hiding under his sister.

They seem to do well in the carrier, but not much grooming… Just one big bunny-pile while the other half-to-third of the carrier is left empty. Once in the tub the big bunnies will stay wherever there is a towel or cloth, while the munchkins don’t care if the surface is cushioned of smooth so sometimes Vinny will be on the opposite end of the tub unless moved to the group. He does the same in the pack-n-play.

Short sessions last about 30-45 minutes, most are around 3-4 hours, and the longest has been nearly 10 but I was worried about Vinny not eating or peeing so we ended that session despite lack of aggression between anyone.

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