introducing a pair to a single spayed female?

[Meg]

Hi there!  I’ve got what’s for now a hypothetical question, out of curiosity: could I adopt a bonded pair at some point and introduce them to my single spayed young adult female (Athena, a Lionhead/Dutch mix, spirited but sweet and non-aggressive), with the goal of their living together as a trio?  Could they all bond as friends, or would Athena continue to be kind of a third wheel?  I know the traditional thing to do would be to find her a neutered male; I’m just wondering how this would be as an option. (I’m getting addicted to bunnies, and there are SO many in shelters near me that need homes!!)  Thank you so much for your thoughts. 

[RabbitPam]

Hi, Meg,
I don’t know the answer to that one, but we have some multiple bonding mothers here and I’ll try to get them to give you advice.

[BunnyMuffin]

Ooh! I’m curious about that too! I currently have a happily bonded male-female pair, but there could possibly be the need to bond them to a 3rd neutered male in the future (my boyfriend has a bunny, so if we get married I’d want to bond them all into a trio to live together). Is there a best approach to this? Any websites or other forum topics that I’ve missed that provide advice?

Thanks so much!

[PEPPA GEORGIE]

Well i have a bonded female spayed couple and one day would like to add another but was wondering if it would be best to be a boy to sort of balance things abit although whoever it was would be neutered or spayed anyway so maybe wont make a difference ???

[Deb'sBuns]

I think it just depends. Once I had a trio, two boys and a girl bonded together. Right now I’m thinking og doing a two boy and single girl bond again. That is just what I have now extra is a boy.

[Deleted User]

Meg, I recommend against getting a bonded pair to bring home to your existing female. Females are notorious for their territorial attitudes and aggression for it. To overwhelm her with a pair invading her home might seriously throw her. If you were to do it, you’d need a long-term neutral zone set-up for bonding each bun to her. This will take time commitment and patience. It can be frustrating. Having said this, you might strike it lucky and bunny-date her at a shelter with a bonded pair that she shows positive interest in. Even then, though, neutral environment is an absolute must-have.  
One at a time is easier. Bunny-Muffin, will you be moving into a new home if you get married? That would be the time to do it.
Deb is right, it all depends on personalities and also, in a big way, on how the intros are configured. But if it was me, Peppa, I’d go with adding a male to the two gals.

[PEPPA GEORGIE]

Thanks Petzy that was what i was thinking, will go with that then does seem to make more sense xx

[KytKattin]

Petzy, do you think that if Meg got a bonded pair of males (like two brothers) that would potentially work? I know how the girl bunnies can be, but if anything was going to work I would think it was that.

[Deleted User]

I think the challenge for Meg would be the fact that her bun is a female and already has established her territory. But it’s not an insurmountable obstacle… she really would need a neutral space that she could manipulate to suit all scenarios. Some people have the theory that two boys, even neutered ones, don’t like sharing one female… but mine do. So it all depends. There are members here with a trio of all females…

I’ve been getting the impression from reading/hearing about bonding and doing my own, that the real challenge is how the humans approach it. Granted, there are incompatible rabbits but these are the exception. I have had people tell me that it’s cruel to subject my rabbits to stress bonding, and that the fact that there was fighting suggested that they are incompatible. Someone made the point how I would like it if I was forced to bond with another human (arranged marriages, maybe?)…. this anthropomorphization has made me rethink the stress bonding approach; I can honestly say that if i were in a very stressful situation with someone else, I probably wouldn’t waste any time finding fault with them, and I may even feel fraternization toward them… many people are just scared to bond their rabbits and are scared that it will be too much stress for the buns. It has to be done right. Going to the vet or nail clipping are stressful, too, but we do it. Jinxing their bonding set-up right, and allowing time is half the battle. Gender should play a subordinate role after desexing… this was my bonding thought for the day!

[MooBunnay]

I agree Petzy that the approach can often have a lot of effect on how the bonding goes. I usually tell people not to human-ize it too much, for example, I helped one girl through bonding who was concerned that her boy bunny hadn’t “dated” enough before picking the right girl. What happened was he basically had “love at first sight” with the first girl she introduced him too, and she wanted him to have a variety of options, because she knew that she herself would like to date a lot of guys before picking a husband. So I told her that bunny bonding is a litter different in the sense that it is probably more stressful for a bunny to be taken through so many dates, and that “love at first sight” is so rare for bunnies that it would probably be better for her to stick with a bunny that seemed to work out for him, rather than take him through a bunch more dates.

The hardest part for me is always trying to allow them to sort out their dominance issues. I’m always freaking out at the slightest sign of a fight, so I probably stress the bunnies out even more!

[Meg]

 Thank you so much, everyone!!  This is really helpful.  I will look for a neutered male for Athena, then.  I don’t have a lot of space, so getting enough neutral territory to make a trickier multi-bun bonding work would be tough.  I really appreciate your advice!  

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