Hi there,

It might be easiest to confine Oreo while you are bonding. Mostly I think this would make it easier to do pre-bonding with all three. Otherwise you’ll want to rotate who is free-roam.

In terms of the space you use, anywhere that Oreo has been will not be neutral. So you might need to get creative. A friend’s house, a pen in the backyard, a pen in the garage, your kitchen table, etc. The more neutral the better (ideally they won’t even be able to smell where they are).

Whether you work on two at a time or all three is up to you. Since you seem a bit nervous, it might be better to work with different combos of 2 to get a sense as to which pairing will be the most difficult. Ultimately the dynamics change with all three, so eventually you will need to work with all three together, but it might be nice to start with two at a time.

In the early sessions you should be in the bonding area with them (or right next to it if it’s a small space so you can reach all bunnies). I’ve always had better luck with larger bonding spaces (vs. small ones). When they approach each other you can pet them to calm them down and swap scents. This helps build trust and a positive association.

If it’s a space that any bunny (or all bunnies) have been, it’s not neutral. But, the fact that they are all going everywhere helps with pre-bonding as it gets them used to each other’s scents and helps them lose track of who’s territory is who’s (which will be good later on when you move them in together).

I missed this in your OP, but before you begin, all bunnies must be spayed and neutered, and their hormones need time to settle (varies, but usually 3-6 weeks for males). There are some account of successful bonds with one bunny unspayed, but i can’t imagine that working in a trio. The hormonal bunny will continue to trigger outbursts from the other ones. The constant humping by the unneutered one will annoy the others and cause problems. Existing bonds can even be upset by the presence of an unneutered male in the area (they smell very strongly!).

Once midnight is neutered then you should do pre-bonding (cage swaps every day or two where you leave the litter boxes where they are, or litter box and toy swaps if it’s not possible to swap who is in which cage) for several weeks (many here recommend 4 weeks). This will really help them get used to the other bunnies presence and should make bonding itself go more smoothly.