Considering adding a third?

[Karynne]

 So, we are considering adding a third bunny to our household and would really appreciate your input, especially any experiences you’ve had with trios. Is one always the third wheel? What are the dynamics like? How long did it take your trio to become bonded? Any information would be a big help! 

Here’s a quick run down of our situation…

We already have a bonded pair of bunnies, Escobar and Bettie. Both are just over a year old, and fixed. Bettie is a troublesome dwarf that is always finding new ways to cause mayhem, and Escobar is a massive Flemmie that acts as her reluctant partner in crime. This dashing duo is the light of our lives, and an endless source of entertainment for all who visit our apartment. Contrary to most dwarf/giant pairs Escobar is actually the dominant one, although he really only asserts his dominance when it involves food. 

So, now for the dilemma…

March of last year we rescued a baby bunny that someone had dumped in an offleash dog park (who could be so heartless?!?!?). We got him checked out by our vet, and lo and behold he had just hit sexual maturity (probably the reason he was abandoned) so we had him neutered. We posted a craigslist ad, and started screening the potential adopters. Meanwhile he was just hanging out in an x-pen that we had set up in our living room, being his sweet little self. Our bunnies were already bonded and occupying our bunny-proofed dining room, which was adjacent to our living room. Lucky (the rescue bun) and our bunnies could see each other, but weren’t able to interact. Both parties seemed interested in the other, but short of an influx in poop, nobody’s behavior really changed. One day Escobar managed to jump into Lucky’s x-pen, and while I was running to break up what I thought would surely become a bunny brawl, Escobar calmly started eating Lucky’s pellets, while Lucky continued chewing on his apple branch. At the time we had no intention of keeping Lucky, and therefor no intention of bonding them, so I removed Escobar, and everyone went about their business like nothing had happened. After a month of fostering Lucky without incident, we found what we thought would be a perfect forever home. She drove two hours to pick him up, and sounded like the perfect fit, so off he went to his new home, with the agreement that if she could no longer keep him he would be returned to us. 

Fast forward to now. She emails me claiming that she is moving and can’t find an apartment that will accept all her pets, so the bunny has to go, even though she has acquired several new pets since adopting him in April, and is planning on keeping those. I have agreed to take him back, and she’ll be dropping him off after Christmas. It was very difficult to give him up the first time, and I’m not sure I could do it again, so I’m trying to get an idea of what we’d be in for if we decided to keep him and bond him with our pair. 

And here is some adorable eye candy to help you guys visualize my predicament …

[Beka27]

So cute!!! Since he’s already neutered I think you could give it a try. Be aware that it could strain or even break the existing bond, so you might have to be prepared to have 3 separate buns while they get integrated again. Others have bonded trios successfully, so I’ll step out and let them take over.

Kudos for you by the way for neutering him, finding him a home, and accepting him back when the other home did not work out. He’s lucky to have you looking out for him!

[Deleted User]

Trios are heartwarming to own and watch once the bonding work is done. There may or may not be a third wheel but usually only in the beginning.
The only drawback to trios is the time you likely have to invest into their bonding sessions to get everybunny equally bonded to one another. There is usually one bunny bond involved that just won’t budge easily.
–Your case sounds promising on the side of the two males, with Escobar not reacting aggressively upon Lucky entering his territory, that is very rare.
Have you dated Lucky to Bettie? Female rabbits defend their home turf with more assertion so you need to work on her and Lucky specifically to make a trio out of all three. You would want to date Lucky and Bettie with each other in a neutral place to get started. Plan the meetings out in advance, where you will have them meet, what means you will emply to break up any fighting, and how long to make the session last. Always end on a good note, such as quietly sitting next to each other, even if you have to hold them.
When you are dealing with three-way bonds, each rabbit must bond to each rabbit; this is easiest to accomplish by exposing each rabbit to each rabbit in the early stages to one another in paired meetings. Once the paired meetings go peacefully, even if they ignore one another, you can try having all three meet. You will need neutral territory for all these meetings.

[jerseygirl]

You may have already thought of this but it’d be wise to have a short quarantine period when Lucky returns. Just in case he has picked up anything since you had him last. Did this lady have any other rabbits?

I am so looking forward to seeing this trio come about! I hope you’ll keep us updated. I’m off to see if you have more eye candy in profile albums now…

[Karynne]

 Eek! Just realized I forgot about this thread!

Well to update everyone…

I have been battling with Lily for three months to try and get Lucky back to no avail. At this point I don’t know what to believe as she’s lied and flaked out so many times I’ve lost count, and hope. Since she first contacted me to take him back, things have come out about the conditions Lucky is living in, and to be honest, I’m amazed he’s alive. He has free run of the house 24/7, which would be fantastic if she took the time to bunny proof (she thinks she doesn’t have to protect cords because he’s “never shown an interest in chewing them”, and she thinks it’s “cute” when he eats the cat food). Oh and did I mention that she’s acquired TWO new puppies since deciding that she “has” to give up poor Lucky. So that brings the total to three dogs (all of which she’s keeping when she moves) that run free around the apartment with the bunny for eight unsupervised hours a day! Ahhh! The dogs are not trained, two of them are currently teething, and she somehow thinks it’s a good idea to leave them alone together?!?! 

Needless to say, the situation is not good. And for the last month she hasn’t returned my emails, so she may have already gotten rid of him (hopefully to a good home). It’s really discouraging how someone can seem like a perfect adopter, and then turn out to be one of the most irresponsible people I’ve ever met. Has anyone else ever encountered a similar situation? 

 

Side note: I love dogs don’t get me wrong, and I think it’s absolutely possible to have a multi-species household. Plenty of members here have made it work, and we ourselves are planning on adopting a canine family member in the near future, but there are common sense precautions you take in making those introductions that seem to be lost on this girl. Supervising any interactions between puppies and bunnies seems like it would be the most obvious thing in the world, but apparently it isn’t. I just hope that Lucky doesn’t have to pay the price for her to learn that lesson.

[mocha200]

I am so sorry this happened to you! I hope you end up getting him back in the end!

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