Bonding offspring+parents?

[rexineffex]

We have a surprise litter (male was already neutered, mom will be spayed once the litter is weaned).  While this was not our plan, we do have plenty of space for a third, and keeping one of the little ones that we have raised since day one sounds like a delight.

I’m wondering if anyone has experience with keeping an offspring of a pair and how that went. We’ve bonded 4 pair of rabbits now over the last 20 years or so, and I’m pretty confident in that with both total stranger adult buns, litter mates,  etc.

My initial thoughts are that once we sex and separate the babies that we’ll be finding new homes for, we just keep whichever baby is going to stay in the enclosure with mom and dad and let them grow there, learn the litter habits that the parents have already agreed on, etc, and just join the team.

I’m wondering if anyone has done that- was it successful, challenging, unsuccessful. Are there other approaches that work better, or concerns when expanding a bunny posse through birth rather than deliberate play-date / getting to know you type pre-activities?

The parents are ~5month old and have been bonded for ~3months very happily.

Thanks for any experiences you might have to share!

[DanaNM]

You’ll need to separate the baby from the parents once it’s weaned and until it’s neutered/spayed, but odds of success  are really the same as with any other bonding, maybe slightly better, and the process is the same.  Unfortunately it’s not recommended to just let them stay together because rabbits don’t recognize family relationships and once the young rabbit hit puberty it’s very likely that fighting will happen. But, if you separate before puberty then it will likely go well.  So basically once the rabbit you intend to keep is weaned, you should separate it from the parents (but it can live side by side), and then neuter or spay once it’s old enough. Then proceed with bonding as you normally would. Trio bonding can be a bit tricky because there is a risk of the original pair splitting up during the process, so you should be prepared for that to happen with extra enclosures and supplies if needed.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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