Thoughts on a potential trio bond

[Littlemouse93]

Hi all,

This is going to be long-winded, so I apologize in advance! I need your thoughts on the potential bonding of a trio. I have been toying with the idea of bonding a trio ever since I brought Hazel and Lola home. I recently took my senior rabbit, Honey Bunny, to the vet for his annual exam and bloodwork and he has a clean bill of health. I thought that since he’s a healthy older gentleman that maybe he could benefit from being bonded to other rabbits. I tried my best to make use of the bonding template, but I made some changes since I’m describing a future potential bond, rather than one I’m currently working on. Hopefully I’ve captured everything.

My 3 bunnies:

Honey Bunny – Male, 8 years

Hazel – Female, 7 months

Lola – Female, 7 months

Spay/Neuter
Are your bunnies spayed/neutered? Yes
If so, for how long (for each)? Honey Bunny: 8 years, Hazel and Lola: 3 months
If not, why not? N/A
Are you aware of reproductive cancer risk in females? If not, please read about it here. I am aware.

Housing
Please describe your bunnies’ current housing set-up (living together, as neighbors, etc.). This is a bit complicated, sorry! Honey Bunny is housed singly in a large dog crate. He has been a single bunny his whole life. He actually lives at my parents’ house (they live right down the street, so I see him almost every day) because when I moved into my own house there was not enough room for all the rabbits and I felt that it would be less stressful for him to just stay there until I get the space situation sorted out. The reason there is not enough space for all for all 3 rabbits is because there is an allergy sufferer in the family and the rabbits need to be contained to one room to avoid triggering severe allergy attacks. Hazel and Lola live together and mostly free roam in my small bunny-proofed office. They have a two-level hutch that I can close them up in if I need to and houses their hay and litter box. We are in the process of closing in our screened-in porch to make a sunroom, in which I plan to house all 3 rabbits when that project is complete. I would love to be able to bond them into a trio and allow them to free roam in this room in the future.

Potential Bonding Plan

Hazel and Lola are littermates and have not been formally bonded. They have a nice relationship and coexist peacefully, but it doesn’t seem like a love connection. On a few rare occasions I have seen some non-aggressive behaviors that make me feel like I should separate them and do some formal bonding (ie. Both parties mounting, not super snuggly, etc.). Since I have not seen any aggressive behaviors between them, I do feel very comfortable housing them together for the time being. I intend to separate them when I attempt the trio bonding.

Since I don’t have a lot of extra space I can use at my house for neutral bonding, I’m not really sure what’s the best way to get them together for prebonding and bonding sessions. I’m also concerned that once construction starts it will be loud and stressful for Hazel and Lola. Here are 2 possible options I thought of for a potential bonding plan:

1. Move Hazel and Lola to my parents’ when construction starts and do prebonding and bonding sessions there. There’s more room for me to find neutral spaces for bonding sessions at my parents’ because there are no issues with allergies there. I don’t know how long it will take to complete the sunroom project, but I would assume it would be a matter of months rather than weeks. I was kind of thinking that this might be the best option because once/if a bond is established, I can move them all into a completely new unclaimed space together when the room is finished.

2. Leave everyone where they are. When the room is complete, move everybody in and do prebonding and bonding sessions in the new room, since it will be neutral to everyone. Then once/if a bond is established, I can just slowly increase the space they have access to, until they’re free roaming the whole room.

While it would be the ultimate ideal situation if all 3 rabbits would bond into a trio and be able to free roam in the new sunroom, I realize that a trio bond, especially between young rabbits and a senior rabbit, can be quite tricky. This new room will be dedicated to housing the rabbits. There’s enough space for all of them even if I end up having to house them separately, permanently. So, I’m prepared for any outcome.

Do you guys have any thoughts on these 2 options? How about any advice for bonding a trio or bonding younger rabbits to older ones?

Thanks all!

[DanaNM]

I think it’s great you are thoroughly planning things out! If all the buns are healthy, I think a trio is for sure possible. How long it takes will depend on the personalities of all the buns. Since your girls already have a somewhat friendly relationship established but aren’t super close, they might actually accept a new friend more readily than if they were super glued at the hip bonded. But it’s hard to say until you get them all together.

I think both the options you laid out sound pretty good, but I also am leaning towards the first one. Having a variety of neutral spaces to work with is really helpful, plus it might be nicer for the girls to be away from the construction. I think a nice long pre-bonding period will help. It also seems like it is sometimes easier to bond when the female is added to the male’s territory, rather than the other way around. So the arrival of two ladies in your parents’ house might be more welcomed by your boy than the arrival of a boy in the ladies’ turf.

I haven’t bonded a trio before (but am currently in the process of doing so), but have bonded several seniors to younger bunnies. The process is the same, you just have to be even more careful of going at the buns’ pace and being aware of their stress levels and health. This is always true though, because some younger bunnies are so easily stressed out!

With trios, some people like to work on each individual pair of rabbits first, and others like to work with all three at once. I think it really is up to your comfort level and how the rabbits are with each other. If you have a lot of aggression and not a lot of experience, three bunnies is hard to manage. In the trio I’m working on, I chose to do some sessions with the two that I thought would be the trickiest first (my two girls), just to get some ground work between them before working with all three. This also reduces stress on my boy, who is 12! But planning to do some sessions with all three soon.

 

. . . 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.  

[Littlemouse93]

Hey Dana,

Thanks! I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible to give the bond the greatest chance of success. I’ll give them all the time they need. I intend to take it really slow with pre-bonding.

That’s great to know that it might be easier to bring the girls into Honey Bunny’s territory. Knowing that makes me lean even more toward the first option.

I’m really glad to hear that you’ve successfully bonded young and older buns. This will be my first formal bonding experience, so I think I’ll probably rotate  working in pairs of two until I get a feel for the process. I’m actually very nervous about it, haha.

Good luck with your own trio bonding! I’ll be excited to read how it goes in your bonding journal 🙂

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