LPT’s Bonding

[LittlePuffyTail]

I changed the name of the thread previously called “What about Olivia”. See my latest post at the bottom.

 

I’m making a lot of progress with Bindi and Stormy. They had a week break from sessions for Bindi’s teeth procedure and got back together for an hour last night and did really well. No humping or biting.

The plan originally was to bond my two boys and then add Olivia. Now I’m not so sure how that would work. The more I read about trios the more I have my doubts. I don’t want to wait forever to try to bond Olivia with the boys but I know it wouldn’t be good to introduce her too soon after they are bonded.

I don’t want any of my bunnies to end up alone, they’ve been alone long enough,  and although I would like to, adopting a fourth is not possible right now. What if I just start adding Olivia to the bonding sessions now? A three at once sort of deal since my boys know each other but are not bonded yet? If not how long would I have to wait before introducing her to my bonded boys?

I really don’t want to risk breaking a cemented bond by trying to add Olivia.

Need input please. I’m really frustrated and not sure what to do.

(((PETZY if you’re out there, help me! )))

[Elrohwen]

Personally, I would try her with one of the boys and keep doing bonding sessions in pairs. When she gets along fairly well with each of the boys and they still get along with each other, then I’d throw all three together and see how it goes. If you just add her in right now, it will probably be pretty overwhelming for her and she might lash out.

I do agree that it’s probably not worth it to cement Stormy and Bindi if you’re just going to add in Olivia, but I would start slow and see how she handles it and how the boys handle her before doing all three.

[Sarita]

I agree with Elrohwen – since it’s not a bond yet, try Olivia and see how that works and work all three together at the the same time.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Thanks for the advice.

I’m going to do a session with Olivia and Bindi tonight and see how that goes. I will start a journal about my sessions. They’ve met briefly when I was trying to discover the best pair and she didn’t like him very much. I think she will be the most difficult out of all 3 because she is highly-stressed and very territorial.

I’m so mad at myself for waiting so long to do bonding work but I really didn’t think I would be able to bond any of them. I was just so scared of someone getting hurt. No point in dwelling, I guess. I just really need to throw myself into this.

[melbunny]

My trio of Brighton, Essy, and Rachel worked wonders. They all really loved and cherished each other. I think it has more to do with the individual personalties. You almost need two of them to be really laid back with only one domineering bun.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Well the intro of Bindi and Olivia was horrible. I put them both on the table for just a side by side visit. As soon as they were together she freaked and yanked a big hunk of hair off his head. The poor guy! That makes me feel so bad!

It was really my bad though, I should not have attempted to do a session after Olivia’s nail trimming. I will try again tonight. Before I mess with her! She’s just such a little stress-ball!

It really sucks to have to go back  and deal with this after I was so pleased with the progress of my two boys. Sigh…

[Elrohwen]

Trios are very tough! Just keep at it and I’m sure you can get them bonded eventually.

[Juli]

Why don’t you try doing a session with Bindi and Olivia for and hour one day and a session with Olivia and Stormy another day and then do a session with Bindi and Stormy the next day. Then if all of the sessions go well, try doing a session with all three of them. Good Luck.

[MimzMum]

I feel your pain, LPT, I am going to go through the same thing with Mimz, Pip & Fiver…no idea how the dynamic will best be served while attempting to bond them. Mimzy & Pip could probably cement quickly again, but then that leaves poor Fiver out. But if I bond the boys, will Pip want to join in and will they let her? It’s a real dilemma!
Keeping all bunny ears crossed for success for your three. Hopefully I can begin my sessions soon and we’ll go through it together.

[LittlePuffyTail]

The boys are doing really well together during our basement sessions. No humping or biting. Lots of heads squished togetherness. They mostly ignore each other and do their own thing. It’s a pretty small area we are working in but I can’t expand that particular area because it’s in my craft room and there’s just not enough room.

How do I know when they are ready to transition to a new, bigger area? I tried a kitchen session last night, I was sure they would be okay, but they weren’t. Bindi was very aggressive, which was a total surprise. He wasn’t humping, just chasing and pulling out Stormy’s fur. The poor little guy was really scared and upset after. Back to the craft room tonight. If they keep doing really well there, where do I go from here?

I also plan on doing alternate sessions with Olivia/Bindi, Olivia/Stormy but very short, sessions for now, every couple of days. I have to take it really slow with her. I really wouldn’t be surprised if she is the type of bunny that just gets too stressed out by bonding and prefers to live alone. But I want to give her a chance.

[Elrohwen]

My metric for when to move on was when I could comfortably read a book during the bonding sessions without looking up to watch them every 15 seconds. So basically, once I was bored and felt safe to do something else, I thought they were ready to move on. When we moved out of the tub and into the hall they definitely regressed, but I got them back up to a few hours at a time much more quickly than in the bathtub initially.

Don’t forget the helpfulness of stressing! If you want to make them play nice in the kitchen, stressing them in a laundry basket when they get nippy can snap them out of it and remind them to play nice.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Just wanted to do a quick update about my boys. We are now up to longer sessions. About an hour or so every day. No fighting or humping. A lot of Stormy stomping. He seems a bit afraid at times. Lots of head-squished snuggling but no grooming yet. They have eaten hay together a few times. I’m not rushing the process because I’m not in a rush. They get lots of attention from me and they live side by side so they have company all day. Bindi has a vet appointment Monday and I may bring Stormy along for the trip to help with the trust issue.

Still not really sure what to do about Olivia. I will try another session with Bindi soon but she’s extremely aggressive. I think it’s very likely that she’s the type of bunny that would prefer to be alone. She runs along her cage and growls at the cats when they come too close. She’s insanely territorial and I strongly feel that trying to bond her to one or both of my boys would result in serious injuries. She attacks when she panics and everything stresses her out.

[Huckleberry]

What about Olivia and Stormy? Have you tried that combo yet? Im guessing that since one of the Stormy/Bindi sessions went pretty rough that Stormy isnt very dominant, I wonder how he would work out with Olivia.

Congrats on a good session with Stormy and Bindi though!!!!!
Good luck at the vets office! Is it just a check up or something up? I hope everything is ok.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I tried Olivia and Stormy together when I was first trying to figure out the best combo. Olivia attacked Stormy and he was petrified. It’s not a good combo because they are both very high stress bunnies. I don’t want to cause too much undue stress to Stormy as he is 7 years old now.

Bindi is going in for a dental exam to re-check his teeth he had filed.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Just wanted to update that we are taking a break from bonding until I get this situation with Bindi figured out (acting strange, blood tests results). I absolutely hate to because they were doing so well before Bindi started acting funny but I feel it’s the best thing to do right now.

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