Please help!

[luvmyhunybuny]

I have been working on bonding my trio. 1 male and 2 females. We have done numerous car rides and neutral time. Every neutral time (except for the last session) has resulted in my Holland (Scout; female) going after Lilbit (female). Lilbit was hand raised and has never been around a bunny before. She is a very laid back, calm girl and Scout is a bully (she is a whopping 3 lbs and she thinks she is large and in charge!). Scout chases her and nips her on the behind. Most times Lilbit runs, even before Scout or Smudge get near her. I know this is out of fear. Do I need to keep doing the neutral time daily? If I work on it 3-4 times a week am I setting myself back? I am not sure if I need to keep doing all 3 together (Scout and Smudge, the male, seem to be getting along) or bond 2 and add the third in. In my mind I feel if I get 2 bonded it will be harder to work in the third.

I wish I could get all 5 of my bunnies together, sure would make my life easier! Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can throw at me.

[Sarita]

Hmmm….have you tried Scout with your current pair to see how that would work? Just a thought.

[luvmyhunybuny]

No, Sarita, I have not. I suppose I could try that. Do you suggest I introduce her to them one on one? I guess I worry about breaking their bond. She is just such a sassy girl and everyone else in my house is pretty calm.

[Sarita]

Try it first with both of them and just see what happens. I don’t know what will happen, but maybe 2 against 1 will play to their advantage and she won’t be such a sassy bully girl.

[tanlover14]

Hey there — we recently bonded our three bunnies (2 males and a female) and we got great results by bonding them all separately as pairs and then bonding them as a trio. We had no problem with one bonding towards the other. Note: We did it all at the same time so we were bonding 3 sets all at the same time. It was a ton of work but now they all live happily together!

With the two that aren’t getting along as well, have you tried switching them inside each others cages every other day so they get used to smelling each other — or putting a stuffed animal with the others smell in there so she can take out all of her aggression on that and then sticking them together when all of her aggression on the stuffed animal is taken out?

[luvmyhunybuny]

No, I have not tried switching them. The girls have been living side by side since I brought Scout (the youngest and sassiest) home. Lilbit has no problems with Scout, who often times is grooming her through the xpen. It is Scout who chases and nips at Lilbit. I am going to try doing them in pairs and see how that works. How long did it take you to get your trio together?

[tanlover14]

A couple of weeks – I think about two. It’s really important to always end on a good note, even if it’s just giving them all a treat in close vicinity to each other. And to not get discouraged! The buns have to work through the hierarchy of the group before they’ll ever be able to live peacefully so sometimes a little dominance is good if it gives them the chance to establish that. Once that was established with my buns, they got along perfectly.

[luvmyhunybuny]

Yes, I have ended each session on a positive note. Did it take you 2 weeks of daily sessions? Did you do car rides?

[tanlover14]

Sorry, I haven’t been on much lately so I never responded to your post back !

How has your bonding been going??? It took about 2 weeks, maybe a little less. Our girl was a little harder to bond to the boys since SHE’S the one with the temper and would thump at them mercilessly.

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