Advice on bonding a trio

[EthelMartha]

Hello!

This week we picked up a new male bunny to attempt to bond to our existing two house rabbit girls. He came to us with skin mites so is currently in quarantine in the bedroom until the mites have gone in two weeks.

He’s two years old and is not neutered, the girls are but I’m wondering if bonding will be easier once neutered and if it’s advisable to wait until then to attempt it?

The woman that we got him from said that he’d never shown any aggression towards females, although he’s only ever been paired with females to mate with. He’s seen the girls through the back door when we’ve let him out for a run around the garden, he was very curious about them but didn’t show any signs of aggression or anything, he just seemed to want to have a look. The girls broke out into a fight, it was over very quickly but should we be seeing this as a red flag that it’s going to be a difficult bond?

We’ve got neutral space for when they do finally meet properly and have read up as much as we can on it, but any advice or tips would be massively appreciated! They’ve also all been doing a lot more droppings outside the litter box than normal, we don’t think the new rabbit is properly litter trained, but for the girls this is unusual.

Thank you

[Bunny House]

It is better to have him fixed so there is no territorial or sexual behaviors. Just because he was fine around another female doesn’t mean he’ll be fine around your girls. It would probably be fine to not have him fixed but he will want to mount them which can irritate the girls and then they fight him to get off of her and then it can start a massive fight and hurt the bond. It’s better to have him fixed so there wouldn’t be any reason for a fight to happen, also, not having to clean up his markings. Before mine was fixed, he would spray up the walls, it was gross, now he doesn’t.
But it’s better if you can pay for it now and help his behaviors die down beocrw bonding.

The girls will fight because there is a new bunny in the house, it is normal, even though we don’t like to see it. I would suggest after he is cured of the mites, to start prebonding, this can be done before and after he gets neutered, but will need to continue for at least a month after his hormones have spiked and then calmed down.Bunnies that aren’t bonded will pee and poop outside the litter box even if they are trained because they are marking their territory so it’s best to get him fixed and then start prebonding so hopefully the markings will die down and then you can do bonding dates.

[Asriel and Bombur]

I agree with BH, but I’d also suggest to separate your girls. With an unfixed bun in the house, and because they’ve already fought, they’re probably going to continue fighting until they boy is neutered. Keeping them together even if they fight is dangerous because they can fight to the death, and it will be very difficult to bond them all later on. So keep all three separate until he’s been neutered and allowed 1 month to heal and then prebond.

[EthelMartha]

Thank you for the very detailed reply!
He’s got to go to the vets on Wednesday for his first set of vaccinations, so will get him booked in for the neuter then. I think I’ll wait until after the neuter to do any prebonding, just to hopefully keep the girls from fighting.
Thankfully we haven’t had to deal with any spraying yet, that doesn’t sound very pleasant

[EthelMartha]

Thanks for the reply, I will get him booked in for the neuter as BH suggested.
Unfortunately I think it will be very difficult to separate the girls, they have free roam of the living room and an outdoor run, our other rooms in the house (only the kitchen and bathroom) are way too small and unsuitable for a giant.
They seem to have only fought on the occasion that they saw him, so I think he’ll have to stay inside until he’s been done and I’m going to remove the rug in the hallway so they can’t get anywhere near the bedroom to smell him.

Will keep everyone updated on how this goes, I’ll keep a close eye on the girls.

[Bunny House]

Great! Keep us updated!

[Author]

Messages