Okay, so I have a bonded male and female pair who have been happily together with me for almost 4 years now. Recently I rescued a female rabbit who desperately needed a home and fast. I am already aware of the basics to bunny bonding but have never bonded a trio and need help!! My female, who’s name is Buns, and her pair Hero, are usually pretty peaceful, Hero can be a brute sometimes but he’s not a biter. I have no choice to cage them in the same room, in seperate X Pens, with about half a foot between them. I introduced them in my bathtub downstairs so they would have no territory issues. And they had no problems at all! They basically just ignored eachother/ walked around checking out the tub. I was hoping it would be more stressful for them and that they’d cuddle. But that didn’t happen, but atleast they didn’t fight! The problem I’m having is that because they’re caged next to eachother, my female Buns is completely aggressive and tries to box Penelope(the new girl) through the cage whenever she gets a chance, even when they’re both locked up and can’t reach eachother. hero also got slightly aggressive when he saw her in the room but when they’re both locked up he could care less. But hero and buns usually have free roam of my bunny proofed bedroom, and now I have to seperate run times so they all get some freedom, but I’m afraid they won’t leave her alone through the cage. Also the bonding in the bathroom seems to have reenforced my bonded pair, they snuggle like crazy when I bring them back.
I just don’t know if I’m doing this properly, how I should continue due to them having to be right next to eachother, how to keep going about bonding. I think stress bonding works the best because my bunnies are snugglers when they’re scared. Maybe a car ride in a box. I’ve never seen my little girl so mean before, but I know it’s because she’s territorial. If anyone has any ideas or input or suggestions on their run time etc, that would be great! And like I said, they have no problems in neutral territory except some mounting which is to be expected. They are all fixed also.