Bonding 3 rabbits all of which are Unbonded

[vashira]

Hi everyone. I’m new here and hoped I could get some advice.

I have a 2.5 yr old neutered lionhead who lives free run in my house. I have a 2-3 yr old spayed mini rex who is free run in her own bedroom.

I tried bonding for a few days on my kitchen table. Didn’t go too badly. My male is the dominant one and he pawed  the female if she approached him.

He also licked her head for a bit. Unfortunately, due to my male losing his bonded partner Aug 10 (renal failure) he started to get GI Stasis. I stopped

the bonding attempt for the time being. He’s had enough stress for a bit.

I am adopting a 3rd bunny, a spayed netherland dwarf, adult (age unknown).

I’d like to know whether you folks think I’ll have a better chance if I bond 2 first, then add the 3rd? Or try to bond all 3 at the same time?

If you think I’d have a better chance if I bonded 2 first, which two should I bond? My male with one female or two females, then add the male later?

The only thing I know about the 3rd female that I don’t have yet, is she had a date with a boy bunny and she rode him and took a big chunk of fur off

his back. So it doesn’t appear she’ s the submissive type.

The female I currently have,  tried to ride my male too. I stil feel he’s the most dominant of the two.

Any ideas and opinions would be very greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you.

 

Marie.

[MarkBun]

Throw them all into a closet with a week’s worth of food and hope for the best?

Seriously though, bonding three at once can be a bit of trouble. The one that is going to be the hard one is the netherland dwarf. They are notorious for being very pig headed and opinionated about everything. Typical Napoleon Complex.

I’ve never done the three at once thing. Osprey would be the best to answer this but he’s gone for a little bit. I would suggest trying to bond the dwarf with the boy first and then have the other one come in. But it may be that bonding a trio all at once works better as they have one another to distract the third.

Sorry, not any help. You could put all three into an exercise pen and have something ready to seperate them if things get ugly.

[MooBunnay]

From what I have heard about bonding trio’s, is giving each bun one on one time with each of the other buns, so that you’ve only got two buns spending time together at once. I would imagine that it might get pretty difficult to control the situation at first if you have all three together. Also, if you introduce them one-on-one at first, you can see which ones are going to have more problems, and which ones will get along better. So I think that yes you should introduce all three at once, but slowly, and trying each single bun with the other two buns individually. When you kick-off your bonding sessions, I am always a big fan of the car ride (taking the two on a car ride in a carrier together) to help the bonding along, it has worked well for me so far because it makes them cuddle together right away.

[vashira]

Thank you so much for replying. Sorry it took me so long to reply back. I have my netherland dwarf female now bonded with my male lionhead. I’ll wait a while before I try to bring in my mini rex.
I’ll definitely need advice at that point.

[Beka27]

i have been trying to find info on trio bonding and i’ve found very little. i wonder if you would continue to post on your experiences when you start and be our “guinea pig”?

[vashira]

Posted By Beka27 on 11/02/2008 10:20 AM
i have been trying to find info on trio bonding and i’ve found very little. i wonder if you would continue to post on your experiences when you start and be our “guinea pig”?

Yes, I will do that Beka27…As you know, Munch (male) and Amethyst (female) are now bonded. I’ve read a number of threads on one on one dates so that’s probably how I will proceed.
Can anyone advise whether I should do one on one dates with Pearl/Munch until they are bonded then work on one and one dates with Pearl/Amethyst? Or, alternate dates, for example Monday have a Pearl/Munch date….Tuesday, have a Pearl/Amethyst date and continue alternating like that?

I’ll probably wait a bit still to start since Munch/Amethyst bond is still fairly new.

Thanks for any advice.

 

Marie.

 

PS my female Amethyst is the alpha bunny

Pearl my other female is at the bottom of the totem pole as far as being boss goes

[Beka27]

i *think* i would try with Amethyst and Pearl first. if Munch is more laid-back, he might not have as big an issue with Pearl… do a few dates and see how they are interacting and then i guess we can proceed from there. will you be able to videotape again i hope?

[vashira]

Thanks for the advice Beka27.
I will video tape them when I start (sometime in the not too distant future).

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