Bonding a Trio *BONDED*

[Sarah Jones]

Hi, It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have a dilemma! My two bunnies, Dougal and Ermintrude, took a while to bond, but I eventually managed it when I took them to my dad’s for a month and they were in neutral territory. They fought at mine before, but not so awfully I feared for their lives or anything.

Now, however, I have a new fluffy bundle of mischief to add to the equation. My ex had a bunny on it’s own after his ex gf left with his bonded mate, who she has breeded with in the past. This was some time ago though, and I offered to take her in and try and bond her with mine (or at least offer more than a single level hutch) about a month ago. My two are a mini and dwarf lop, and are 2 years old. The new one, who was supposedly a dwarf, is clearly half monster (I jest, but she’s definitely got something like a hare in there!), and is about 6-7 years old and un-neutured.

I tried to bond the two girls in the garden, probably a bit too fast, and with a bit too much space, and with blood pouring from mouths and holes in ears, this was clearly not the way to go about it. My two have total run of the house and garden, are both neutured and love each other dearly, but even they started fighting with the new one in vicinity.

So, dilemma. Dougal had his eye removed two weeks ago due to an infection, and he’s still a bit tender and can easily be blindsided. Minnie is tiny but determined to make sure noone invades her home, Chloe is 7 and won’t take any c**p off anyone. She is too old for neuturing.

What is the best way to bond?! I am going to my dads (the neutral territory), this weekend, and I would at least like to start bonding them whilst there. How should I go about it? Or should I give up before something worse happens? I feel so sorry for the new one as she clearly would do so well having some bunny friends…

Any advice much appreciated. I have considered the car as a meeting place, but Dougal and Min love car travel so would not have much luck with it!

Thanks! Sarah

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[Beka27]

hello Sarah! i love your bun’s names… those are definitely very unique. so Dougal is a neutered male (2), Minnie is a spayed female (2), and Chloe, the new bunny is an unspayed 7 year old female. this could prove to be tricky. it is harder to bond an unaltered bun, and it’s harder still to bond into an exisiting pair. you’re going to need to start in very neutral territory so i would take them to your dad’s since that worked before. are their cages or pens near each other? that might help so they can get used to each other’s smells, and you’ll want to let them have run-time separately. take it slow. i don’t have experience bodning a trio (i’m still working on my pair), but i think it is easier to bond the new bunny to one, and then to the other. in your pair, who is the dominant bun? my guess is if Chloe can win over the dominant bun, it should be easier…

it sounds like even if they do not bond, Chloe is going to have a wonderful life with you. she is a lucky bunny! pics please!

[Sarah Jones]

The cages are not together, they are not even in the same county just now Chloe is at my mum’s living the life of a house bunny, but my mum is renting and now she has to buy new curtains, and she just had to replace all her tv wires! If she buys, it wouldn’t be a problem, as my sister and mum would happily have her as a house bunny. She is very demanding however, and was living with my other sister in london for a week but would sit on her head until she got a tickle which meant she was getting no sleep. If i’m honest, she seems VERY keen on humans rather than bunnies, which surprised me as she was left in her run a lot.

My dominant bunny is Minnie and it would be a very good start to bond these two, as I don’t want Dougal involved until his eye is fully healed (ie, you can’t tell he ever had an eye there at all!)

The problem is, my two live in a massive dog kennel in the garden, and it’s hard to “place” another cage near it, and i wouldn’t want an indoor cage outside all day.

To my dad’s I can take a dog crate for the old lady, and my two little ones stay in an old garage converted into a giant rabbit pit of fun.

Should I put her in, in the crate, or will she immediately be annoyed to be stuck away whilst the others have such a massive space. or should i just chuck the two girls in and see what happens? (probably not!). alternatively, should i find another small cage and just bring them into my dad’s kitchen and see what happens when next to each other for a night or two?

blimey, this is going to be hard work. maybe i should take monday off work and stay down there an extra day!

sadly, if i do have to keep her separate, i will have two separate runs, and will have to split my garden, and both sets get half my time, and that is far from ideal obviously i have such a happy little life with my two now, (i feed them, they ignore me), and it would be great to have this one able to join in for her twilight years…

[Sarah Jones]

ps. i will try and get some pics tonight, as we have unheard of 27 degree weather in london, which never happens when wimbledon fortnight is on! hopefully you can see them eating some specially prepared bunny kebabs

[Sarah Jones]

ps. i will try and get some pics tonight, as we have unheard of 27 degree weather in london, which never happens when wimbledon fortnight is on! hopefully you can see them eating some specially prepared bunny kebabs whilst i host a wee bbq!

[Sarah Jones]

attached some pics before evil eye operation.

*cough* – i think they are beautiful even if noone else does dougal has one eye, minnie has no tail. i do seem to pick ’em!

[Beka27]

i see. i saw your other thread too with your outside run. another option if they will not bond would be to keep her by herself as an indoor bun with you, but you could get an xpen for her to have a bit of supervised outside garden time.

[Sarah Jones]

she was an indoor bun with me at the start, but my two original buns are outdoor/indoor buns. so if they don’t get to go in they would be depressed … and when i put her away in her dog crate whilst they were in, minnie would shove her whole head through the bar until one or other bit each other, and then my current young bun would have a go at dougal… not ideal, but hopefully i can find away. if it worked for these two and they now get on so well, hopefully it is possible with three.

what’s annoying is, i can see that both min and chloe want to have friends and be friends, but it’s stubborness. i hope i don’t sound like a silly old bunny lady when i say that! you know what i mean! they would both like some company, even more company, and neither is willing to give…

if it comes to it, i will split my garden in half. i will get another big run and put a fence down the side of my garden by the house and chloe would live on her own down there and i would have them inside half and half. i just don’t think it’s that fair on either of them, they should all get quality time all the time! fingers crossed i find a way!

[MarkBun]

I think that the issue is that there is no neutral ground for them to bond with. Min is guarding her territory and Chloe is a fightin’ hormonal gal who needsta keep herself in charge.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Sazemo Have you started yet? Just wondering how it’s going?

[Sarah Jones]

hello. it started today! drove down last night, and they are separated in two sides of the garage. i took them to a completely new garage and minnie and chloe had a few fights. i then took them out for two hours earlier and had dougal in the centre wrapped around by wire so they couldn’t reach. and they have been approaching each other, running away and fighting occasionally. certainly no grooming or love being felt yet! fingers crossed there is more progress tomorrow, and then they will stay here for a week and i’ll take another day off work this week and come down here for another long weekend and try it some more. *sigh* fingers crossed! i really hope this works!

[Sarah Jones]

Bonding was successful. They are back in London and not killing each other. Minnie is a little frightened of the other one still, but there are no fights, Dougal grooms the new girl, and as soon as the new girl settles and tries to stop humping everything in sight, I think it will be all good! They are now in the cage together all day til I get home, and I have done a bit of DIY and made my hutch so that both sides are vented with mesh, so there are basically two rooms and the high shelf so they can get away from each other when necessary. Some bonded pics attached i’ve also added one where they got into a little ruckus!

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[Beka27]

great! i’d continue to keep an eye on things if they are still scuffling sometimes.

[Sarah Jones]

yep, it’s less scuffles and more humping, so i’m not too concerned, but i try and keep an eye on them when i’m in all the time. the rest of the time the old girl sleeps quite a lot. they all are eating me out of house and home though!

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