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So disclaimer is that I haven’t bonded a trio. I’m currently struggling with similar questions (I have a pair and a single foster also!). But I do know it is very common for the current pair to split during the process, so you end up with three singles during bonding, but then end up with a trio at the end.

My sense is that by not doing full side swaps etc, it might make it harder to get the trio, but I appreciate the fact that you don’t want the poop wars or to deal with three singles. It may be possible to bond them all without doing the full side swaps etc, but might be much harder. I don’t really have advice on the poop wars, they tend to come with the territory of bonding (pun intended!) but go away once they are bonded or at least they get used to their neighbors.

I’m wondering where your bonding area is? In tougher bonds it is especially important to have a very neutral space (not even within smell of their normal areas). I’m also unclear as to how many actual sessions you’ve had.

Stressing can also be a very useful tool (such a car ride together), but I also understand it may not work if one bun is very easily stressed. But you could try working with the two that are the most difficult in that way.

I have also more recently really come to appreciate the roll of petting in keeping the buns calm and building trust between them.

Can you describe a typical bonding session in a bit more detail?

Whether it’s worth it to continue is your call. I think with enough patience that most bonds are possible, but sometimes it’s not worth the stress on you or the bunnies.

So I would focus on the space that worked the best, the balcony. It was likely the most neutral and also slightly stressful.

You also should focus on preventing scuffling, rather than just breaking things up. It is very important to end on a positive note, rather than to wait until things turn bad.

Here’s what I would do (either working with all three or the pair you think needs the most work): Do sessions on the balcony, set short time goals (2 min, 5 min, etc). Put both buns in. If they ignore each other, great. If they approach each other, start petting them and swapping scents. This makes them think they are being groomed. Keep this up for as long as they are near each other. If one goes to move away, let them. End the date at the set time goal, unless things are tense. If things are tense, pet them until they are calm.

Keep this up until you notice they are not so tense near each other. You can gradually increase the time limits if this goes well, but always end on a good note. Food can be helpful, but treats can also make them kinda crazy which can be confusing sometimes for them. I usually wait to add food until things are bit more calm. Once they get to the point where they are calm near each other, slowly ease off on the petting. Pause for a few seconds, then continue, etc.

Your goal is to build trust between them. Fighting results from fear of the other rabbit, so the more trust you can build the more they learn to trust the other bunny.

I would say if there is no progress at all with this method after a couple weeks then you might reassess whether to keep trying, or change the method (maybe use some stressing).

There are many many different strategies, so what you read does work for some bunnies! Sometimes buns are good with minimal interference, but for less experienced bonders it can be hard to know when to step in. I learned this petting technique from the lead at the rescue in my town (who has several decades of experience…), and used it with bonding my most recent 2 pairs, and it worked so well! It just made everything much more calm and less stressful for everyone.

You definitely will eventually need to back off, but in cases where the buns just start scuffling it is OK to have your hands on them a lot in the early phases.

I am bonding a trio as well and it has been a long process but I think they told you to give up a little too soon. My trio has a more difficult pair as well and recently they’ve been giving kisses on the head. Listen very carefully to the advice you get here because this is what got us moving forward in a positive direction!

If you can do the two difficult buns on car rides and leave the stress bun at home then put all 3 together for a date immediately after the ride that should help. It worked well for us, and I also have 2 difficult ones and the 3rd freaks out easily.

I also suggest using a VERY small pen. I tried to post a picture from out date today but I couldn’t get it uploaded for some reason so I’ll post a link to imgur. The pen is actually larger today because they’re done so well. I had it as small as humanly possible before and it seemed to be better for this group than a larger space.

One last thing… It’s very hard to tough out a date that isn’t going well but 1 to 10 minutes is too short. 10 should be your minimum unless they’re being very, very bad. If you try the car ride though I think you’ll find is easier to keep them together for longer periods. We’ve been sitting here for 2 hours. They still can’t be left alone in here but we’re getting there! It actually takes an hour and a half to 2 hours before they get tired of being vigilant and finally start to kind of relax.

Also I know your one bun is easily stressed but if you can’t change enclosures could you at least trade litter boxes back and forth? Getting acclimated to the poop and pee smell of the other rabbit is really important!

Just a little backstory to give you hope, my black bun was very antagonistic towards the white one for a long time and broke into her enclosure one day… She’s 4 times bigger than him and almost killed him! So we’ve had major setbacks but they’re getting friendly and there’s definitely going to be a bond between them soon. Some rabbits really are not bondable but I just don’t think you’ve done enough to give up unless this really isn’t something you can do.

Here is the photo of our new, larger date space :). https://imgur.com/a/KnSCyvb

Haha! That’s the “larger” space? LOL I don’t want to see the smaller one!

Looks to be going well though!

Very small…I had the same pen closed up a bit smaller than that. It was the only way to keep them from starting a tussle (because theyfthey could barely move lol). I’m just going too increase little by little 🙂

@BunnyTheBunny I haven’t started yet :p

But so far my pair are doing ok and Bonnie (the single) is settling in and getting more confident. 🙂

I don’t want to discourage you lol we’ve been at it over a year, but I have a mini breed rabbit and 2 average sized buns. The mini bun broke into the big bun’s play area and she almost killed him…it was his fault, he was harassing her and she’s 4 times bigger than him. But I backed way off for a long long time because I was so freaked out about him getting hurt again. Since I started with car rides and really actually made true efforts at this we’ve had amazing process when everyone giving kisses, and it looks like they’re getting closer to settling who is dominant. The little one has also stopped trying to harass her through their xpens. So don’t look at my timeframe please, we had special issues! But… we’re also working through those issues so you can do it!