Trio bonding trouble

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This topic has 3sd replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 3 months ago by Sirius&Luna.

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- 08/08/2018 at 6:03 PM
  Harrison
  Participant
  5 posts
  Hello! I am having some concerns bonding Mel (male) to an already bonded pair, Gus (male) and Nala (female). For the record, they are all spayed and neutered and well cleared of their hormones by this point Their cages are next to each other in a pre bonding fashion.
  
  In trying to bond Nel to the pair, the only trouble seems to be with Gus. Originally he would attack Mel on site, but this was fixed after I realized there was still small traces of the area being Gus territory. I also kept them apart for a week with no bonding sessions. Typically, I start off with light stress bonding, then love them all in a some what small area, and give them a giant salad which I they all eat. The problem is afterwards when Mel starts moving around, Gus will nip at him which freaks him out which makes Gus mad and more bite at him. If I pet Gus a lot, he calms down and forgets about Mel. This worked for awhile
  
  Now the two of them huddle next to each other and basically beg to be groomed. Mel has never groomed anyone or anything so they just kinda sit there until Gus nips at him asking to be pet which as I said about sometimes freaks out Mel. It’s almost like they haven’t figured out who is dominant. If I let them they are both happy but I don’t want to have to constantly pet them. I hope this makes sense. For the record, I has gotten much better but I’m scared they will be in this stalemate situation and will eventually fight.
  
  Any input would be greatly appreciated
  
  Oh and Mel and Nala are great together, she willingly grooms him (although he won’t return the favor), and they love to cuddle
- 08/09/2018 at 4:34 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  When you say the cages are next to each other, did you actually swap them between cages too? Just being next to each other isn’t really enough.
  
  Have you been working with the pairs separately rather than a trio? While it can be useful to see what the dynamics of each pair are, when bonding a trio it’s useful to have the full trio there for the majority of the bonding sessions.
  
  I bonded a trio, and it was my girl that was the problem. She sounds a lot like Gus – whenever one of the boys moved to close to her, she would nip. I did what you did – I would sit there and pet her constantly, and eventually the boys learned that they could walk near her without getting nipped, and she learned that all they wanted to do was walk past and she wasn’t in danger. After about a week of that I backed off a bit and let them interact more. There was the occasional scuffle that I had to break up, but really it was a matter of time and giving them time to interact and get used to each other.
  
  I think you’ve got the basics there, and what they need now is more time. You can try the banana/juice on the head trick to get the non-groomers to groom. But I also think having the whole trio rather than just the boys might change the dynamic and make it work better.
- 08/09/2018 at 4:21 PM
  Harrison
  Participant
  5 posts
  Thank you so much for the reply yes their cages are right next to each other and I swap them over every day and a half. I have only bonded them as a trio as well, no pairs! Did you do any stress bonding? Also what would you do after a fight broke out?
- 08/10/2018 at 3:22 AM
  Sirius&Luna
  Participant
  2320 posts
  I didn’t do any stress bonding, personally I don’t think its needed for MOST bonds and I would leave it for only when they’re being really tricky, but I haven’t ever needed to do it.
  
  I never had actual fights, I would intervene as soon as there was any chasing or fur pulling, then would sit in the bonding space until it had calmed down again.
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