Change of plan: The Greebo and Lily bonding journal

[Bianca]

As I’m sure many of you have seen, I now have a fourth rabbit – Lily. So instead of a trio with Maggie and Terry, I plan to bond Greebo and Lily and then hopefully in the future all four of them.

For now I am starting with vague pre-bonding. As in, they live in the same room as each other but unless they sit awkwardly can’t see each other. They can smell each other though, and sometimes when Maggie and Terry are out the room I will let either Greebo or Lily out in their bigger area, meaning the future couple can see (but not touch) each other.

Day 1: Mr. Neutered less than 1 week ago took one whiff of Mrs. Spayed 1 week ago and ran in circles honking. Good start Greebo, well done.  He settled pretty fast and hasn’t done it since (that I have seen) thankfully. 

[Q8bunny]

To be fair, when I saw Lily, I ran in circles honking too: OMG OMG OMG

[Bianca]

Haha, I had to resist doing that the first time I met her because there were a lot of people around!

Day 2: Everyone is pretty relaxed considering they all live in the same room and can see, smell, and get quite close (but not touch) each other! I’m going to see how everyone goes to decide who I bond to who first. Terry and Maggie are still pretty happy with Greebo when he isn’t out with them trying to hump them! The two pairs seems like the most practical, but I guess I will go with whoever likes who! It won’t be for a while anyway, seeing as a certain someone needs to recover from being neutered first!

[FluffyBunny]

Ooh a (future) quartet! Looking forward to seeing how the bonding works out!

[Bianca]

Day 3: Let Greebo have a run in most of the study while Terry and Maggie were out. He and Lily sniffed through the bars (they can’t touch though) quite a few times, and eventually Lily would stop running away after a sniff and actually just stayed there. Greebo on the other hand… if we named our rabbits after Big Bang Theory characters he would be Howard. Every time Lily willingly sniffed him he would start honking and bolting around the room.

Day 4: This morning I found Terry in Lily’s area. The only possible way he could have done that is to jump over the barrier. Which is quite high. Brat. Looks like he is getting better at jumping. So I will make the barrier way higher to stop that happening again. Thankfully nobody was hurt. Terry was sitting on her “cave” (the top of a litter tray), and she was behind the storage bin where he can’t fit. She didn’t appear too stressed though, and neither was looking angry. I’m not too sure how long they were together but I suspect a while going by how settled Terry was.

[Q8bunny]

Terry sounds like such a character – Sir Terry would’ve liked him, I think

[DanaNM]

Posted By Bianca on 7/30/2017 10:30 PM

Day 3: Let Greebo have a run in most of the study while Terry and Maggie were out. He and Lily sniffed through the bars (they can’t touch though) quite a few times, and eventually Lily would stop running away after a sniff and actually just stayed there. Greebo on the other hand… if we named our rabbits after Big Bang Theory characters he would be Howard. Every time Lily willingly sniffed him he would start honking and bolting around the room.

Day 4: This morning I found Terry in Lily’s area. The only possible way he could have done that is to jump over the barrier. Which is quite high. Brat. Looks like he is getting better at jumping. So I will make the barrier way higher to stop that happening again. Thankfully nobody was hurt. Terry was sitting on her “cave” (the top of a litter tray), and she was behind the storage bin where he can’t fit. She didn’t appear too stressed though, and neither was looking angry. I’m not too sure how long they were together but I suspect a while going by how settled Terry was.

Oh, man, I never knew how high my bunnies could jump until I had to make barriers during bonding! When I was bonding Bunston with Bertha, he must have jumped 4 1/2 feet to get to her! I looked over and he was hanging from the top of the fence by his front paws scrambling to get over! Crazy kids! 

. . . 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.  

[Deleted User]

Crazy kids!

hahahaha too true! I say that quite often.
Asriel is the “Incredible Flying Bunny”! The other day he hopped right out of the top of his cage and into Bombur’s! The height is like 3 feet, and it’s quite a distance!

[Bianca]

They sure are trouble makers! Thankfully nobody has broken in with anyone else since.

Day 5: I used a bookshelf as one of my main barriers. Unfortunately the night before I knocked it partially over. Nobody was hurt, but it has caused a slight shift in all my barriers. Now there is a tiny little spot where Greebo and Lily can see and slightly touch each other. I didn’t realise for 24 hours, but fortunately they are getting along well through those bars and just sniff politely before Mr. Horny runs off honking.

I’ll post Day 6 (today’s) update later tonight. Right now we have Greebo out in the lounge room for a good run. He spent a while being stupid then tried to nap behind the piano and nearly got stuck.

[DanaNM]

Posted By Bianca on 8/01/2017 11:20 PM

They sure are trouble makers! Thankfully nobody has broken in with anyone else since.

Day 5: I used a bookshelf as one of my main barriers. Unfortunately the night before I knocked it partially over. Nobody was hurt, but it has caused a slight shift in all my barriers. Now there is a tiny little spot where Greebo and Lily can see and slightly touch each other. I didn’t realise for 24 hours, but fortunately they are getting along well through those bars and just sniff politely before Mr. Horny runs off honking.

I’ll post Day 6 (today’s) update later tonight. Right now we have Greebo out in the lounge room for a good run. He spent a while being stupid then tried to nap behind the piano and nearly got stuck.

Oh my! Glad everyone was OK with the bookshelf! But oh man, Greebo sounds like a riot 

 

. . . 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.  

[Bianca]

Posted By DanaNM on 8/02/2017 1:13 AM

Posted By Bianca on 8/01/2017 11:20 PM

They sure are trouble makers! Thankfully nobody has broken in with anyone else since.

Day 5: I used a bookshelf as one of my main barriers. Unfortunately the night before I knocked it partially over. Nobody was hurt, but it has caused a slight shift in all my barriers. Now there is a tiny little spot where Greebo and Lily can see and slightly touch each other. I didn’t realise for 24 hours, but fortunately they are getting along well through those bars and just sniff politely before Mr. Horny runs off honking.

I’ll post Day 6 (today’s) update later tonight. Right now we have Greebo out in the lounge room for a good run. He spent a while being stupid then tried to nap behind the piano and nearly got stuck.

Oh my! Glad everyone was OK with the bookshelf! But oh man, Greebo sounds like a riot 

 

Greebo is insane! It amazes me how much doesn’t faze him either. The bookshelf fell onto his section of the study, but luckily hit the wall so it didn’t go all the way down. He was right next to it. He kept eating. Didn’t move. He only got upset when we disturbed him trying to fix it. Remind me not to turn around and crash into bookshelves anymore! 

[Q8bunny]

That’s so scary. A BB member lost their beloved bun to a freak bookshelf accident a few months back.
Glad all’s well.

[Bianca]

Wow how scary and sad.

Day 6: We decided to give Greebo and Lily some time while I cleaned the study tonight. They mostly ignored each other. Then Greebo vaguely chased Lily, but no honking. He is pretty clumsy though so he didn’t do a very good job and wasn’t very persistent. After some more ignoring and vague hellos Greebo managed to “catch” her (aka she stopped caring) and he groomed her head. Then we separated them before he could get too excited – he had just started honking while he groomed her so as soon as he moved a bit we called it quits. It’s a bit too soon for too much bonding but they have been so good through the bars and so desperate to get to each other I decided to give them a small chance. Good job Greebo and Lily!

Side note: when they are bonded I hope she teaches him to stop running through his water – he does it no matter where I put the bowl!

[Bianca]

Update: I think this is more of a foursome bonding journal.. sort of.

Greebo obviously isn’t ready yet due to settling hormones – it’s been nearly three weeks since neuter and he is getting a bit better. We have let him have a few 5 minute “speed dates” with Lily because they are quite obsessed with each other. They mostly ignore each other when out, Greebo has groomed her a couple of times, and we separate when we can tell he is getting too “excited.” There has been no aggression between them. Lily is super submissive and Greebo is just excitable.

Lately Terry and Maggie (particularly Terry though) have been showing a lot more interest in Lily and hanging out by her area rather than Greebo. He still gets a lot of their time though. Lily is very interested in them too. Last night I watched her trying to groom Maggie through the bars – they can’t bite each other but her hair is so long it sticks through enough to gently groom the ends!

I decided to give them a few minutes together, heavily supervised. It went really well. Terry immediately tried to groom Lily. She ran away. Then they ignore each other for a bit. So Lily came back to Terry, touched him, then ran off again. Then she did the same to Maggie. Maggie got grumpy at Lily once (she was in a bad mood because she had turned around a few seconds earlier and crashed into Terry, which was all Terry’s fault somehow) but all she did was grunt and chase for 2 steps. I distracted her to be safe. But then they ignored each other again and I put Lily back. I don’t want to rush this.

This morning I found Terry and Maggie lying by Lily’s area. Lily was as close to them as she could get, and she had brought a piece of pineapple up next to them as well. They obviously couldn’t eat it through the bars and she hadn’t finished eating it, but I thought that was really cute!

[DanaNM]

Awww, that’s great! That’s so lovely that they already seem to like each other. 

. . . 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.  

[Bianca]

Today I decided to try a one on one session with Lily and Terry. I took them into the bathroom because that is neutral territory and a fairly safe space.

Apparently the floor was cold. I put them down and NOPE! They both launched themselves onto my lap where they squished up together and demanded pats.

Lily got on and off a few times to explore but Terry noped out of the floor altogether. Brave rabbit that one! Husband put the bath mat down so they could have a warm spot. Terry still didn’t want off my lap so I put him on the bath mat – he tried to reverse back onto my lap!

I moved out the way so they couldn’t get back on my lap. They checked out the bathroom a bit and Terry debated whether he wanted to jump into the bath to check it out. He didn’t. He and Lily groomed each other a bit, and Lily quickly learnt that she could demand grooms from Terry. Who didn’t always get the hint. So a lot of this bonding session was Lily shoving her head at Terry – to the point where she ended up almost under him. At one stage Terry decided to groom himself while leaning on Lily to make life easier. 

I think I will do a few more sessions with these two, then maybe try Lily and Maggie without Terry. And take things from there. Greebo is still getting the hormones out his system so he doesn’t get to join in for a few more weeks. 

Husband took a few photos.

Noping out of Operation Touch the Floor

“Hey Terry, please groom me more?”

“GROOM ME!!”

[Bianca]

We had a second play date tonight, this time in the study which is where everyone lives, so not neutral territory. Greebo was also in the room, but in his area.

The date still went well. They ignored each other a lot, groomed themselves a lot, played a bit (not together), demanded pats from me, licked me (my right knee is amazing apparently), and sniffed each other a bit. Terry wanted to groom Lily I think, but she moved away when he tried. When he was minding his own business she would sneak up and sniff him though.

Both of them spent individual time near Greebo, eating hay scraps off the ground while he ate his hay on the other side of the barrier.

There was no chasing, or any other sign of aggression. The most we had was Terry taking a few hops after her like “let me groom you I want to now!”

Will give them another go tomorrow.

[sarahthegemini]

Sounds like everything’s really positive! And how sweet that they jumpedon your lap to escape the cold 

Don’t worry about the honking – I swear Peanut was honking at Buttercup earlier (they’ve been bonded for 6 months now!) 

[Bianca]

Haha, it was pretty funny. They both just leaped up at the same time almost on top of each other!

I’m not too stressed about the honking, I actually find it funny. I think he is going to honk just out of excitement to be honest. But he does still need to let those hormones settle before he gets to bond properly with the others – the honking certainly gets worse when he wants a bit of inappropriate action!

[Bianca]

I wonder if the title of this thread can be changed? Seeing as it is going to be about bonding a pair and 2 individuals to make a group of 4. I don’t want to keep creating new topics though!

Today I had a try with Lily and Maggie. I don’t think Lily knows how to be a rabbit – I wonder if she was hand raised because she is so clingy with people. But she and Maggie did okay. 

First session was on bathroom floor. Maggie wanted to nip a bit but we stopped some of that with a strainer. I gave them lots of pats together and we ended the session when they were ignoring each other. 

Session 2 later in the day was in the bathtub with a squirt bottle and strainer on standby. Maggie again had some nips and Lily lost some fur and got a bit scared when she realised she couldn’t grip the bathtub. But they settled pretty quick (I gave them both pats again) and then Lily spent a while grooming Maggie. Then they both stood there for a minute demanding grooms at the same time, which was pretty funny. Maggie won, and got more grooms from Lily. Then Lily stomped at Maggie so there was a bit more nipping but then more grooming. I ended the session when they were just next to each other ignoring each other. I’m happy with that for day 1. I will keep focusing on individual play dates between Lily and Terry and Lily and Maggie and not try for all three until I think they are ready.

[Bianca]

Yesterday Maggie and Lily had two more bonding sessions. Maggie was a bit nippy in the first one but calmed down after a couple of squirts of water. They ate some food near each other, ignored each other, then Maggie tried to groom Lily. But because of the earlier nipping Lily was like “nope!” and would stomp and go to the other side of the bath. I ended it when they were ignoring each other again.

Then in the afternoon there was a tiny bit of nipping but not as much, a little bit of eating, Lily did lot of stomping, and then a 10 minute long stand off of “groom me”, “no, you groom me.” 

Maggie eventually gave up and groomed herself. 

Then went to wander off and explore, so Lily stomped at her again, so she came back. Eventually Maggie groomed Lily, then lay down right next to her. I eventually had to end it while they were comfy next to each other. 

[Bianca]

Dear Lily,

I know that Maggie is a fluffy angora. But this does not excuse you constantly asking her rear end for grooms. Even with the fluff it should be possible to locate her face. It’s the end with two two dots, two long sticky out bits at the top, a sniffy bit, and a bit that food goes in. Watch carefully when she eats. You will work it out.

Sincerely,
Someone who is questioning your intelligence.

[Bianca]

So day 3 between Maggie and Lily went well. No fur flying at all. They mostly ignored each other. Lily stomps at Maggie and asks the wrong end for grooms. Then runs off if Maggie turns around to groom her.

They shared some lettuce. Then I dropped some carrot pieces in. Lily stole a piece out Maggie’s mouth so Maggie chased her around the bath for it – not aggressive at all though. Lily apparently thought that was a great game and kept doing it. But they did share nicely too.

Tomorrow I am buying a small play pen which is a perfect size for bonding and I can have that in the living room, which will be a lot easier for supervising but staying out of sight. So I can do some longer sessions with them. 

[joea64]

Posted By Bianca on 8/13/2017 4:06 AM

Dear Lily,

I know that Maggie is a fluffy angora. But this does not excuse you constantly asking her rear end for grooms. Even with the fluff it should be possible to locate her face. It’s the end with two two dots, two long sticky out bits at the top, a sniffy bit, and a bit that food goes in. Watch carefully when she eats. You will work it out.

Sincerely,
Someone who is questioning your intelligence.

*guffaw*

I’ve heard of brown-nosing, but that really is going a bit too far! I wonder if the best way to cure Lily of that mistaken assumption would be for Maggie to poop right in her face.  Then again, that might set off the kind of brawl you REALLY don’t want at this stage!

[Bianca]

Haha! I think Lily would probably just run away because “something touched me!!”

Yesterday we started going for a trio. I let Lily and Maggie spend some time together (mostly ignoring each other), and then I added Terry. We did two sessions, and they went quite well. Terry groomed Maggie a lot, and Lily a little bit. There was some flopping from each rabbit at different time – even Lily dramatically threw herself onto her back at one stage!

I’m going to keep doing that for a while I think, and just keep doing longer sessions as Lily gets more confident.

[Bianca]

Woo, trio is doing well. I put them together when I got home earlier, so they have been in the playpen for around an hour and a half I think. Terry and Maggie being bonded already have been spending a bit more time together grooming. But everyone is doing lots of flopping, eating, grooming themselves, etc. Lily is still torn between wanting grooms and not wanting to touch the others, and wanting to stomp at them. But I got this photo..

[Q8bunny]

Super squee inducing pic

[Bianca]

Yesterday we had a lot of progress. They had two super long sessions together. Lily eventually decided to not stomp as much, and came up and groomed both Terry and Maggie. She would do little bits and then back off, and then do it again. Terry groomed her a bit by the end too. And we had lots of flopping. At one stage they all decided to dig up the sheet and move it around.

[Bianca]

Wow, they are doing so well today! Lily still stomps a bit and sometimes Maggie gets between Terry and Lily – Lily is still sort of the “third wheel”. But there has been lots of grooming, eating, and flopping. Lily decided that Maggie’s fluff makes a good pillow.

[Q8bunny]

I want in there too! I want in there too! *hops up and down waving her hand in the air like Hermione Granger*

[Bianca]

Haha, they are all massive fans of cuddles so you would probably have Lily on your lap, Maggie trying to chase her away so she can have the pats, and Terry next to you happy with whatever you give him and trying to groom the girls. Oh, and you might have to throw Terry’s tractor to him a few times so he can either throw it back or throw it at Maggie or Lily.

[Q8bunny]

Squeee! ???

[Bianca]

They have spent the rest of the day together in the study, which is where they all live so very much not neutral territory. No major issues, Lily is keeping her distance a bit more again but right now they are all relaxed and within 1m of each other.

Tomorrow I was meant to bring Terry and Maggie to the school I am volunteering at to teach them about rabbits. I think I will bring Lily as well seeing as they are doing so well forming a trio. I’ll update on how that goes when I bring them home. I will be talking a lot about how much space rabbits need, and to not just put two rabbits together.

[Q8bunny]

Ooo… kind of like mild stress bonding… clever!

[Bianca]

Pretty much!

I did discover last night that someone bit her a bit harder – there was a larger chunk of fur missing and a slight graze on her skin. Nothing too major and it wasn’t really bleeding or bothering her, and they were cuddling when I found them. I think Lily is still learning where and how hard to groom each rabbit, and for how long. Terry only likes really gentle grooms so he gets a bit upset if he grooms too hard. Even though he grooms so hard that even Maggie will slowly be spun in a circle on the wrong surface!

[Bianca]

Wow, they were super stars today! They visited two different classrooms – receptions (kindy for US members) and then year 1s. And the special class (reception – year 2) came to visit as well. I made up a powerpoint about caring for rabbits ad what they need to be happy and healthy. Then I introduced them to the rabbits, and the teacher and I would take Maggie and Lily around the room so everyone could have a pat. The receptions were super calm and responsible for such young children so I let a few hold Lily. Lily and Maggie loved the attention and Maggie nearly fell asleep in the teacher’s arms both times! 

They would then spend some time in the playpen eating and doing their thing while I talked to the class and answered their questions. The year 1 class then observed them and tried to draw them. 

During all of this all three rabbits were calm, even when the year 1s got noisy. They groomed each other, Terry played, they ate, then by the end when they were tired they all napped together. Terry even demonstrated how he throws his tractor much to everyone’s delight. He threw it in the water bowl twice! 

I also has to spend a while explaining why they were grooming each other, and Terry gave some very good grooming demonstrations while each class did their best to get as close as they could without touching the play pen! They also did some very good banana eating demonstrations!

Lily flopped and Terry sat on her to cuddle and groom Maggie. Good job Terry.

Terry flopped and fell asleep, so Lily groomed Maggie. The kids loved this because it gave them a good view of something fun to draw!

And when they were all tired and napped together in size order!

Now they are home and resting together – I have left Lily with them for the day to see how we go. 

[Q8bunny]

So much cute! It’s fabulous that the day went so well and that your trio is coming along so nicely.

[Bianca]

They spent all day in Terry and Maggie’s part of the study yesterday without issue, so I fed them together last night and supervised. That was mostly fine, although if Lily got under Maggie’s nose Maggie would give her a “look” and she would run away! They were fine otherwise though so I decided to leave them together overnight. I set my alarm for midnight to check on them and they were fine – Lily has decided she loves the bottom part of the bookshelf and was hanging out there. This morning I peeped in to see them all together in the litter tray that has the water bowl. I’m happy with this!

I’ll let them cement their trio thing for a few weeks then see how we go about introducing Greebo. There has been plenty of pre bonding because he lives in the study too, just separated from the others. But they all eat next to him and he loves to watch them – his stare is almost a bit creepy!

[Q8bunny]

You know that you have to show us a picture of Greebo’s creeper stare now.

[Bianca]

Haha, I will when I feed them tonight.

I kind of want to make him a fake bush to hide behind to do that stare.. o_O

[Q8bunny]

Peeping Greebo!

[Bianca]

Well I couldn’t get a photo of Greebo’s creepy stare last night – my phone was being slow and kept taking the photo after he moved. But he went further than staring this time – he and Lily had a kiss through the bars! 

[Bianca]

Can you say trio?

I think it is safe to say the word. They have spent the last 2 nights together, and the days too. Right now they are in the play pen in the lounge room (I’m not letting them loose yet because food delivery is due soon and the dog goes nuts). Didn’t quite get the photo, but they were having a 3 way grooming session. Lily groomed Maggie, and Terry groomed both the girls. Maggie is Lord of the Rabbits and grooms nobody. 

[Q8bunny]

LOL @ LOTR Maggie

Are you planning to continue cementing the bond, THEN test it in a bigger space, THEN let them get used to it, THEN starting to add Greebo?

[Bianca]

They have spent a lot of their time together in bigger spaces already – when I say nights together, they sleep in the study and have access to most of it – apart from Greebo’s area, and under the aquarium stand (which Lily managed to get under last night anyway!). Right now the play pen door is open so they can go in or out of it in the lounge room.

But yes, I am going to let them cement their bond further before I add Greebo – it won’t hurt to give him a bit longer, I think it has been 4 weeks since neutering. I’m doing a lot of pre-bonding though and just playing everything by ear. They get to see each other through the play pen bars in the study (pre-bonding), and I did let Greebo have a run in the lounge room while they were in the play pen. So they saw each other through the sides of the play pen and he ran a few laps around it. It was quite funny actually. Maggie just wanted to nap and ignored them. Lily wanted to say hi to Greebo. Terry wanted to check Greebo out and kept sitting on poor Lily to do so (Lily ended up squishing up next to Maggie and cuddling her fluff). Terry showed no signs of aggression, his body language was all curious, but he did follow Greebo as he did his laps. They sniffed through the playpen window, then Terry did a really dramatic flop on his side. Then that wasn’t good enough, so he got up, looked at Greebo, and flopped again. And a third time for good measure. Then got up and followed Greebo again, then flopped in front of him a few more times. It was almost like he was trying to say “you can be on that side all you like, but in here is mine and I flop wherever and whenever I like!” I have some photos – I’ll put them up soon.

I won’t be doing any more than that for a while, but Greebo needed a run so I decided to give it a go and see how they would react. There will be no actual bonding sessions for a couple of weeks most likely.

[Bianca]

Photos aren’t great because they were taken through the playpen mesh, but you can see the dramatic flopping. I have noticed Terry doing it a lot after he has been playing, so I was amazed to see it after checking out Greebo!

Terry and Lily flopped.

Lily flopped, Terry tried to photo bomb

Terry doing some more flopping because once is never enough when doing a good flop.

[Q8bunny]

Maybe Terry is training for a competition or something.

[Bianca]

I have read that some rabbits do it as a form of gloating. “Look how happy I am. I’m so happy and you’re not because you are worthless” sort of thing. sounds like Terry. A bit passive aggressive.

[Bianca]

Today husband and I hosted our cupcake sale for our local shelter (we raised over $300, yay!). Seeing as the trio are all from that shelter and they are comfortable around lots of people I decided to put the playpen out the front for a while as we sold cupcakes. They loved the sun, but then a slight breeze hit and Lily (who I don’t think has been outside in a long time) decided to use the others for warms – especially Maggie. Maggie is a good Lily warmer. Lily tried to push herself under Maggie at on stage. It was rather adorable.

This play pen was the best $20 I have spent in a long time!

[Q8bunny]

Oh my goodness! So much fluffle cuteness!

(I have a confession to make. Your adorable playpen photos inspired me to order one for Chewie. )

[Bianca]

Haha they are very useful aren’t they?

Terry is taking passive aggressive to a new level with Greebo now. I have let Greebo out in the lounge room while the trio are in their play pen, so they can see each other.

He started yesterday with passive aggressive flopping. Then he added passive aggressive binkies. Now he is trying passive aggressive self grooming. He looked at Greebo and started grooming himself. Greebo moved, so Terry turned to make sure he was facing Greebo before grooming himself again. Very dramatically. Take that Greebo – TERRY IS SO HAPPY!!

[Q8bunny]

Terry cracks me up. It’s even more funny since you said he’s the magic bun who glues all other buns together with his friendliness.

[Dface]

Your fluffle is too cute. It’s giving me a headache!
I particularly love the three in a row pics…

[Bianca]

Thanks guys, I agree that they are super cute! But then again, what bunnies aren’t?

Today I have Greebo in the playpen and the others in the main room outside of it. So they have all approached Greebo through the playpen a fair bit with no signs of aggression from anyone. But Terry would like Greebo to know that he is still VERY HAPPY AND TAKE THAT GREEBO!

Terry has been binkying so much that Maggie nearly did one out of confusion. Poor Maggie. She half put effort into life for a second. It’s okay. She is recovering nicely from such exertion!

[Bianca]

Update:

I swapped the trio and Greebo, so that Greebo could have more space in the study. The trio still have plenty of room to move, but it’s a bit less space so they spend more time together.

I have walked in on some very cute moments the last few days. The cutest was probably the triangle/pile the other day. Terry and Maggie were next to each other bum to face sort of style. Lily had forced herself between Terry’s bum and Maggie’s face and half climbed on top of Terry to achieve this. Wish I had my phone on my to take a photo!

I checked them this morning to find Lily grooming Maggie, and Terry trying to watch Greebo through the play pen bars.

Occasionally I still see Lily offending Maggie and Terry by stealing food out their mouths and running away with it, but no real aggression.

I haven’t done any more with Greebo yet, just the pre bonding I have already mentioned such as living next to each other. I’m in no rush to have Greebo bonded to the others, but I do look forward to it. I just want to give the trio some more time to cement things nicely.

I haven’t decided for sure how I will go about it, but I am thinking I will probably do some specific pre-bonding with Greebo and Terry seeing as Terry has been a bit passive aggressive towards him. I might try play pens right next to each other in the lounge room. Terry is fine with him in the study – no over dramatic flops there ever. It seems to be only in other rooms where Terry deems Greebo’s presence not “normal” that he has to prove how extremely and incredibly happy he is. That behaviour has been settling though, to be honest. After some prebonding I might do some sessions where I have them near/next to each other with husband’s help and we just pat them for a few minutes and put them away. Then I will work on some bonding in the bath. I’ll start introducing the girls once Terry and Greebo are being nice to each other I expect. I’ll just see how we go and play it by ear.

I’ll try to get some more cute bunny cuddle photos soon!

[DanaNM]

Nothin to say other than Squeeeeeee! 

. . . 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.  

[Bianca]

I have created a new thread for bonding the four of them so it can be kept separate from bonding the trio for anyone who wants to read a specific one.

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/162388/Default.aspx

[Nadine]

Hi Bianca, I volunteer at the local shelter and have decided to try and bond a third bunny. I have failed with this before and rehomed one bunny, he now lives with a lovely girlfriend, so it turned out well for him. This time I am trying to add a second girl. What I noticed with both trio bonding experiences is that the same sex bonded bun was jealous when their partner got too close to the new bun. This is at pre-bonding stage, meaning they live in adjacent rooms but can’t get to each other. I didn’t notice you mentioning trouble between the already bonded pair. Did Maggie get jealous at all when Terry showed interest in Lily through the fence? I have set up a playarea in the garden so new bun can be outside, my girl Fluffy got really grumpy when Hopper showed interest in the new girl. She ran at Hopper and they had a bit of a chase, I separated them straight away. I’m worried now that I will break their bond by introducing a third. Do you have experience with bun jealousy? I will finish reading your other blog now. Thanks for any pointers you may have ? Nadine

[DanaNM]

Hi Nadine, welcome

It’s best for you to start your own thread, so as not to confuse members, and so you can get more responses! There are some other trio wizards on the forum that can give you advice as well. This thread is also pretty old, and we try to avoid posting to old threads.

. . . 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.  

[DanaNM]

I’ve locked this thread, please PM me if you have any questions!

. . . 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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