My quartet

[Loopy]

I have four buns, all siblings who have been together since birth in a shed with a run and have been separated and fixed and properly bonded. They are now sharing a space together and all is fine but the bond is new so i’m Keeping a close eye.

One of the girls who is quite dominant doesn’t seem to be too fond of the other girl. They will lie down together and dominant bun will even take some grooming from the other. However, dominant bun does regularly chase the other girl bun away. Never leads to fighting but she will chase her off. Other than that all bonds are strong and good natured. I am thinking about working on strengthening the girls bond. Has anyone ever done that where they have more than two buns? I thought about taking the girls out for a drive to see if a bit of one on one stress bonding might work.

Also I have never intervened in the chasing because it never leads to anything. But I did have some advice to hold the dominant bun gently when she starts chasing to stop the dominant behaviour. Had anyone ever done that and did it work?

[DanaNM]

Hmmm, how long are the chases? And how long have they been all living together?

Are they otherwise good? Sharing food, litter boxes, snuggling?

And is there a trigger for the chasing? Like, a grooming request not met, meal time, etc?

Sorry for all the 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.  

[Loopy]

I appreciate the questions! It’s still early days – about a week following proper bonding but otherwise they have been together since birth. They have always been together, separated from the boys and never an issue. They were so close.

When I bonded them all, there were already some issues with the girls but nothing major. I had help bonding them from the rspca and they do get on. They eat together, sometimes they sleep near each other (not cuddling so much as close). The more submissive girl grooms the more dominant one.

I know they still need to work out the hierarchy so I don’t want to interfere but also I want to avoid anything becoming a problem in the future.

The chases are really quick because the more submissive bun just runs away and then dominant one lays down for a snooze ?.

They share a litter box but they don’t snuggle. The trigger just seems to be submissive bun approaching dominant bun. She gets chased off and it’s all over. I am not sure they are properly bonded. On the other hand they don’t fight, they share food and also sit and lay close together – not really touching – without any issues.

Every other bun combination gets on famously which is why i’m thinking about working on the girls bond individually. But maybe they are just being rabbits and they don’t all have to be crazy about each other???

[Sofia]

4 bonded rabbits is really impressive! Can’t imagine all the stress and work you had to go through to pull that off!

[bear_the_bunny]

Posted By I’m with Boo on 6/27/2018 5:33 PM

4 bonded rabbits is really impressive! Can’t imagine all the stress and work you had to go through to pull that off!

I was going to say the same thing!  

[bear_the_bunny]

Like you said earlier, I would try working on those two.  You mentioned every other pair worked fine, except for those two, so I would work on them if I were you.

[Loopy]

Lol! Yes – it was quite stressful. I literally sat and slept next to them for 4 days and nights. The 5am chasing was the worst! ? but I had some great help, and i’m So glad I persevered. I will work on the girls’ bond. Thanks for the advice.

[DanaNM]

This statement makes me think they aren’t fully bonded yet:

“They share a litter box but they don’t snuggle. The trigger just seems to be submissive bun approaching dominant bun. She gets chased off and it’s all over. I am not sure they are properly bonded. On the other hand they don’t fight, they share food and also sit and lay close together – not really touching – without any issues. ”

Can you describe the bonding process a bit more?

They don’t all have to be crazy about each other, but one bunny just approaching the other as a trigger for a chase is a red flag. Bonded buns should be able to not only approach each other, but bonded bunnies will basically scramble all over each other without it leading to a chase or anything like that.

Even more importantly, your gut feeling that they aren’t quite bonded is the biggest hint that they aren’t. When they are, you will know!

The dynamics in groups are always different than the dynamics with just the two. I would actually recommend keeping all four together, but moving all of them to a new neutral space together, and seeing if you can do some marathoning there. Or maybe some stressing if that isn’t possible.

It does depend on whether you can keep monitoring them all in the current space you are in. If you can keep supervising, they might just need more time in the current space, but sometimes when you move too quickly to non-neutral they won’t resolve their issues and you end up with fighting.

. . . 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.  

[Loopy]

DanaNM thanks for your advice. That’s really what I was worried about – working on just the 2 girls could affect the whole group bond.

I did bond them all in a neutral space – the bathroom!! ?
Actually since my post the chasing has stopped so I think, as you say they just needed more time in the new space. Thanks so much for the advice!

[DanaNM]

Good to hear it’s improving! It could have well just been them getting settled in to the new space since it was all so new!

. . . 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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