Bonding Two Pairs

[Char31]

Hi Everyone,

Hoping for some advice!

So we have four buns, in two pairs. A bit of a back story, we first got our netherland dwarf Bailey, had him neutered and then shortly afterwards acquired Saffron a mini rex, so the intention was to bond them as a pair. We had to wait a while until she was old enough to be spayed, but they got to see each other etc. Bailey never seemed very keen on Saffron from the start, tried to nip etc. We then rather impulsively rescued another bun Willow, with the intention of bonding them as a trio. The three lived separately until Willow had been spayed (she was left after giving birth and was still producing milk at the time we brought her home). We had by this point tried Bailey and Saffron a couple of times but it hadn’t gone very well, so we were extra nervous about three of them.

Last summer we took them all to a local ‘rabbit whisperer’ for three weeks, who is very experienced, but sadly after those three weeks Bailey just wouldn’t accept Saffron (he would just keep chasing and nipping her endlessly). So we then had Bailey and Willow as a pair, and Saffon on her own. We couldn’t bear to see her alone, she’s so so friendly and needy! So we then found a rescue mini lop, Simba, and brought him back to bond with her. We successfully bonded them ourselves (proud moment!!) fairly easily and so we now have Bailey & Willow and Saffon & Simba!

My question is…. what are the risks of trying to bond them as a four, how to best go about this, and I guess we could end up with 4 separate buns but hopefully that would be worst case? We were advised by the ‘rabbit whisperer (!)’ that bonding them as a 4, rather than a three might be possible as it would diffuse Bailey being agressive to Saffron.

Would love some advice if anyone has any similar experiences. I’m a very experienced bun owner but not when it comes to trying to bond 4, especially as Bailey and Saffron are not keen on each other! Is it worth it or are we best to stick to 2 and 2?!

Thanks so much for reading!

[DanaNM]

I have not had similar experiences, but I think the bonder you’ve worked with has summed it up pretty well and you’ve identified the worst case outcome.

It’s possible the quad could work better than the trio, but it’s very hard to know for sure. And of course the worst case is you end up with a bunch of single buns, or any other combination (a different trio with Saffron excluded again), or a pair and 2 singles, etc.

Is the bonder willing to help you try the quad? I wonder if a good test might be to see how Bailey behaves with Saffron and Simba together?

My gut is telling me that since the trio didn’t work out it would be a much safer bet to just stick to the two pairs. But I also don’t think the pair bonds would be completely ruined if you tried a few sessions just to see how it went (especially since they all live in the same home already and are used to each other on some level). You might need to do some extra monitoring of the pairs after any bonding sessions to make sure they are OK.

The ways of going about it depend a lot on your comfort level. Very experienced bonders will tend to work with the 4 as a group. Since you are relying on Simba to diffuse aggression, it seems like that would be the way to go for you. But it would be good to have a helper, or get some help from the bonder, because with 4 bunnies things could get hard to manage rather quickly. Some people will work on the most challenging pair first, so that is an option too, but the entire group dynamic is different than individual pairs, so eventually the whole group does need to be together.

 

. . . 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.  

[poopscoop12]

I watched a video of a girl successfully bonding 5 rabbits as it changed the dynamics when there are more girls/boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y06Lz6RDy8M of course all bonds are different! Keep us updated
P.S. I want that fluffy boy that keeps getting bullied omg he is ADORABLE!

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