three bunny household

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This topic has 15sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 17 years ago by meg1.

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- 10/22/2007 at 9:53 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Does anyone have experience of intergating a third bunny into the house? I currently have a girl and boy – both neutered and bonded together, but have been asked to rehome a 6 month old boy bun. I’m not sure if it would work due to my pair being so closely bonded together. If anyone has any advice on how I could go about it (or if it’s even possible!) I would be grateful.
  
  Thanks
- 10/22/2007 at 11:48 AM
  osprey
  Participant
  2065 posts
  I successfully integrated a third bunny into my existing bonded pair to make a trio. It was a bit frustrating because everything feels like it takes forever, but it really only took about 2 weeks to do. Here are some random tips I picked up along the way:
  
  The initial introductions should be done in neutral territory, with the pair separated. Some people have had success introducing the single to the pair, but that did not work for me. In your case, I’d focus on the two boys first to make sure that they do not fight.
  
  The more time you can spend with the buns together and supervised the better. I was lucky in that we tried to bond the trio during the Christmas holiday season, and I was off from work for a week. This allowed us to work with the bunnies several times a day.
  
  We set up a large play area for the three of them once we were sure they would not kill each other. We used boxes, ramps made of lumber, cardboard tubes, etc. in neutral territory. The buns could play together and were given their meals together when we were home, and were house separately in the same room when we were out.
  
  When the bunnies were in the mood to snuggle, I kept all three of them with me on a neutral sofa at the same time, to get them used to close proximity.
  
  Is the six month old boy neutered? He should be before you start trying to bond the trio.
- 10/22/2007 at 8:34 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Trios are absolutley possible, but you should be prepared to have them separate IF they can’t make it work. (also, of course, like Osprey said, make sure that the new male is neutered first and it can take a month for the hormones to die down)
  
  It will really depend on if the other two accept him. The dynamics of dominance may come into play, and if one of your bunnies and the new bunny is stubborn to be top bun, then it can be extremely challenging.
  Osprey has given you some good advice.
  
  Here are some more links to about multiple bunny bonding..
  
  http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm
  
  http://www.ontariorabbits.org/diet/behavinfo2.2.html
  
  Oh, and don’t be surprised if your bonded pair start doing some dominance gestures with each other as introducing them to a third sometimes makes want to re-establish their roles as a pair.
- 10/30/2007 at 1:12 PM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Thanks for your advice. Teddy, our new bun has been neutered today and is sleeping it off!
  
  I have introduced the bonded pair to him with him still in the cage. Lily was fine but my other little fella was a bit wary and tried to box the bars. Think that is probably due to all the hormones though and seeing the new "Mr" bunny as a threat.
  
  I’ll try again in a couple of weeks with just the two boys together and see how it goes. Am also going to try the swapping cuddly toys into different cages trick and see if that helps.
  
  Thanks again for your advice. It’s appreciated!
- 10/31/2007 at 12:18 AM
  Gravehearted
  Participant
  2428 posts
  i hope Teddy makes a quick recovery from his neuter – sending healing thoughts his way. please let us know how the bonding goes once you start.
- 11/03/2007 at 10:29 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  ok, well the initial meeting with the two boy bunnies did not seem to go as well as expected. I took them both into a room considered to be neutral territory and let them greet each other. The new boy bun then proceeded to mount the little one, which I expected would happen, but then the new bun got really aggressive with it and starting to bite my little fella.
  
  I split them up immediately and left them to calm down. This was Thursday night. I haven’t put them together since. I have moved the new bunnie’s cage next to the other bunnies though in the hope they will get used to the sight of each other and this might help. I’ve also swapped two cuddly toys around which should now smell of each other.
  
  Does anyone have any further thoughts?
- 11/04/2007 at 6:45 PM
  Gravehearted
  Participant
  2428 posts
  I would give Teddy a bit more time to recover since it’s not even been a week since his neuter. You might even wait several weeks for his hormones to start calming down.
  
  hmm – was it nipping or aggressive kind of attacking? were they circling?
  i’d recommend stress kind of bonding -like daily car rides.
  bonding two boys isn’t easy – I’d be inclined to start with your girl first and see how that goes.
- 11/04/2007 at 9:48 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  When he was nipping out him, was it while he was mounting? IF so, that is normal, and what you can do is pet the one being mounted to help keep things calm. ALso only allow him to mount for 20 seconds at the most and then force the mounter to take a 2 minute break before allowing him to mount again.
  
  Like gravehearted said, he may need some more time to heal and it does take a frew weeks to a month for hormones to die down, so you would be better off waiting until that happens.
- 11/07/2007 at 1:26 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Hello all,
  
  The two boys have been really getting very aggressive with each other. The third bonding session turned into an all out fight with fur flying. I think my smaller bun must feel he has to defend his territory against the "intruder" even though they were in totally neutral territory. There was a lot of biting scratching and jumping at each other to box.
  
  I have given it a go to try and bond Teddy with Lily. Lily is absolutely terrified of him and refused to come out of the corner, which was very hard for me to watch as she is such a softie anyway.
  
  It is very disheartening to see them all so stressed out. I think perserverance is going to be the name of the game, here.
  
  Luckily, if things do not work out between them all, I have a very good house- rabbit -owning -friend, who is looking for a companion for his current rabbit, Oscar.
- 11/08/2007 at 4:45 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Hello all,
  
  Well, we tried again last night to get the two boys together. It seems that Frodo is now being more accepting of Teddy. Teddy was quite submissive, offering his head to be groomed, which is good. Also when I let Frodo and Lily out to roam the house, instead of being solely focused on Teddy’s cage, they did their own thing and hopped about the house happily.
  
  It seems that progress is being made!
- 11/08/2007 at 4:49 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Progress!
  
  Teddy was offering his head to Frodo to groom last night – although Frodo wasn’t interested, at least it did not break out into a fight.
  
  Lily and Frodo weren’t interested in Teddy when he was in his cage last night either. Instead of sitting obsessively in front of it , they hopped around the house doing their own thing.
  
  The only slight problem is the fact that Lily and Frodo have seemed to have lost the ability to use a litter tray now! oh dear.
- 11/08/2007 at 10:07 AM
  MarkBun
  Participant
  2842 posts
  There you go. I attended a bunny bonding class recently and just as an FYI, the bonding process could take over 3 months to happen (if it does happen at all). Although, I am not sure if I agree with all of the practices. They mention two of the more common ways to help with the bonding is to take them on car rides and to run a vacuum so that they tend to huddle together with the unknown happening around them. To me, it seems they are saying to scare them into each other’s arms, er paws, which I don’t really agree with.
- 11/10/2007 at 9:51 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Oh Dear! I seem to have posted three replies by mistake! anyway, moving on….
  
  I think it’s going to be an uphill battle with these three. Another fight between Frodo and Teddy. This time, no mounting activity, just Frodo going "straight for the jugular!" Had to seperate them with the use of my trusty oven gloves! That was Friday night. However, Frodo and Lily ignore Teddy’s cage when out and about now so that is progress, and they are all very keen to ignore each other when yoghurt drops are about…
- 11/11/2007 at 3:19 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  And the other challneging part are the poop wars you are experiencing right now. That should subside once they are bonded. How long right now are your bonding sessions?
- 11/12/2007 at 3:08 PM
  Gravehearted
  Participant
  2428 posts
  it seems as if it’s one step forward and two back with regards to bonding. it sure can be daunting when they’re really going at it too.
  you might want to try a stress bonding activity – like car rides or pushing them around in a shopping cart (lined with a blanket) at the local pet store.
- 11/14/2007 at 3:35 AM
  meg1
  Participant
  31 posts
  Well, the vigorous pooping problem seems to have subsided slightly. Frodo is attempting to groom Teddy through the cage bars now so that’s good. I decided not to have any bonding sessions since last Friday’s debacle, and to just let them work it out for themselves when it is their turn to be loose in the house. They are making the choice to approach each other’s cages and "lie" up against each other. Think this is a massive improvement. So with all this activity going on, I think I might be ok to let get together again at the weekend and see how it goes.
  
  I think I’ve been expecting too much too soon, as Lily and Frodo loved each other almost immediately when they met.
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