Tri-Bun Bonding: Now with more Biting!

[Algie]

 Okay, so, we adopted a new bun. Not out of the blue, we did a cute little bunny date first, in a neutral area, and it went pretty well. 

Well, the first thing the new bun did (5yr old neutered male holland lop) was hump the heck out of Chunk, our existing neutered male. But…after that, he just sat in the litter box and didn’t move too much. Beyond that, Euler tried to start things with Fozzie a bit (new bun) but we always quashed the situation. At the end, everyone was happy, and Chunk was asking Fozzie for grooming.

All pretty good, we figured. 

So we partitioned off a bit of Chunk & Euler’s ginormous cage to give Fozzie an area until we get the rest of his stuff tomorrow evening. 

There were two ground-level NIC cubes through which they could see each other. As soon as Fozzie went in his cage, Euler ran up to the divider and starting growling and hissing and trying to bite him! I tried to calm Euler down and ended up having her bite the $*&! out of my wrist. She refused to let go for a bit.

Anyways, I put carpeting between the two so they can’t bite through the bars.

What is the best course of action here? Leave them for a week or so to get used to one another’s scent? 

Does Euler’s behaviour mean I should not even attempt this bonding, or will I be able to bond Fozzie with Euler and Chunk, already a bonded pair. 

I am really surprised by Euler’s behaviour because it is completely unlike her. If anything I was expecting Chunk to behave this way, as that’s kind of how he did with Euler during their bonding, but prior to this, Euler has always been really calm and chilled out. 

Help!!

[Beka27]

How are Chunk and Euler reacting with each other? A new bun in the house can break up an existing bond, so hopefully that won’t happen in this case. I think what you might want to do is try separate dates betw/ the new bun and each existing bun. I don’t know this for a fact tho b/c I’ve never bonded a trio… Keep us posted on what you do and how it works/how they respond.

I just read a post.  Another member has bonded a trio… it took them 6 months from start to finish but they are all living together happily now… so there is hope!  I guess patience and persistence is the key!

https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…fault.aspx

[mrmac]

I am dealing with exactly the same thing. My girl that was part of the bonded pair is going after the new male. Their first intro went well too but now theyre all like this! You’re not alone!

[Deb'sBuns]

Is it easier to bond all three new from the start?

[mrmac]

I think it would be easier to bond them all new at once rather than have a pair and introduce a new one, but thats just my situation.

[Beka27]

I don’t know Deb’sBuns. Trio bonding is kind of a mystery to me.
When bonding two buns you only have two situations to deal with: How does Bun1 react to Bun2? How does Bun2 react to Bun1?

With a trio you need to factor in how Bun1 reacts to Bun2 AND Bun3. Bun2 —-> Bun1 and Bun3. Bun3 —-> Bun1 and Bun2. Just b/c Bun1 and Bun2 might be bonded already, that does not mean that the introduction of Bun3 will not cause chaos in their relationship. Even with the hormones removed from the situation, anything can happen any which way.

[Algie]

 Welp, here’s an update:

No bonding sessions yet, but Taterbug’s (formerly Fozzie) scent has officially broken Chunk and Euler’s bond. Chunk chased Euler all around the room today, finishing with a growl and a definitely aggressive nip. 

They’re all housed in seperate pens until I figure out what to do. Chunk in the majorly huge condo, Euler in a makeshift pen, and Tater in the pen I made for him when we got him. We have the cage that his previous owner kept him in but I can’t bring myself to keep him in there…

So now Chunk hates Euler, Chunk hates Tater, and Euler hates Tater too. YAY.

I am going to a wedding on thurs and wont be back till sunday, but when i get back i will start bonding sessions post-haste.

would it be better to work first on chunk and euler’s broken bond, or on forging a new one between euler/tater, or euler/chunk.

for reference: Chunk and Tater are neutered males, and Euler is a spayed female. 

[Deleted User]

I’m anticipating my own tri-bun bond. Lint and Mops are neutered males, best buddies, Mops being a submissive bun. Now I have adopted Deirdra, a recently spayed female. My plan is to bond her first to Mops… then the hard part will be bonding her to Lint, a very dominant bun. I am planning to take a few months to accomplish this. I have them all in the same room, the bonded boys free-range, and Deirdra in her condo. I am hoping that once Mops is bonded to Deirdra he will have her scent on him and he will become the ice-breaker between Lint and Deirdra. This is just a theory. This might actually break the bond between my boys also… but I can’t see it since Mops has put up with so much from Lint always… right now he is being humped more because Lint is trying to put down the rules that he is still boss even though there is this gigantic other rabbit…sorry to go on about my own situation; each bun is different but one thing is valid with all bonding, patience is key.

[Algie]

 Update:

It’s been…er…two weeks now? Anyways, buns have been living in nearby pens, smellin’ each other up real good. Still a bit bitey if either comes near their cage, but things are progressing (i hope..)

Today I put Euler and Taterbug in the bathtub to test the waters (heehee) for about 20-minutes with a container of celery. 

There was a bit of a bitey-fight in the first couple minutes, so I seperated them, dabbed some vanilla on noses, heads and behind ears, and put them back in the tub. 

Tater mostly just laid in one spot pushing her head under Euler asking for groomies. As I stroked Tater, he would do a funny thing. He would, laying flat on his stomach, hump the bottom of the tub.

Euler just stood over Tater, munching down on all the celery, pretty much ignoring him, so win for that one, I guess. 

I’m going to see if I can make him a little humpy-stand in to see if he goes for it.

Also, later this evening I’ll try to put Tater in the tub with Chunk and see what goes down. 

—

After today’s sessions, I’ll definitely be starting tomorrow’s with some stress bonding. 

 

 

[mrmac]

I have also started bonding my 3. It sounds like we both started around the same time! I hope things go better for you than mine are right now, my girl is over territorial and has become very nippy and aggressive through the x-pen bars. Do they have a favorite treat like raisins or anything? I smeared some raisin goo on their heads to try to get them to lick. Keep us updated! I am curious how other peoples tri bonding is going!

[MooBunnay]

That sounds like a good start to me! Ignoring is always a good thing. Have you been using the “stunt doubles” and switching them to the other cages? I think the best situation would be to have 3 stuffed animals (get animal safe ones, where the eyes or other pieces of the stuffed animal can’t come off and choke the bunny). Then every night you can just rotate the stunt doubles into the other bunny’s cages to help them get used to each other’s scents.

I agree with Petzy that patience is the key. It isn’t easy bonding just two bunnies, and I personally haven’t done a trio before, but I know it can be hard, so stay optimistic and be patient and I think it will all work out in the end

[Algie]

Okay, so: Had Chunk’s initial neutral meeting with Tater today, and it went even better than Euler’s. I think…

They both had trouble getting traction on the bathroom floor, so mostly stuck together, in the head-to-head groom-off position.

I got Chunk to eat some raisins off of Tater’s head, and then, a little bit later he even groomed Tater without prompting!

However, after about twenty minutes of the groom-off, Tater still wouldn’t groom Chunk, and when Tater put his head down to ask for groomies, and Chunk did not comply, Tater would nip Chunk!

That would, of course, get Chunk P.O.’d, and he would nip Tater back. Ugh. So I put them side by side for some relaxing pettings, to end on a good note.

Unfortunately, when I put Euler back in with Chunk, despite Chunk being daubed with Vanilla, they had an epic fighty chase-off all around the cage that only stopped when I brought Euler out of the cage to run around.

What a frustration these buns are…

[mrmac]

No kidding! It sounds like it went well though!

[Deleted User]

Don’t give up, Algie, (I know you won’t). I started to look at my bonding session like they are the object; not the bonded state at the end, but the sessions of themselves… it helps me stay patient.

[Algie]

 Sigh.

I put Euler and Tater in the tub with a bowl of food. 

Did not take long for the bunny circle of hatred to commence. They weren’t this bad the first time…

Tater keeps trying to hump the others, but hasn’t been successful yet. Thus far he’s managed to violate a food bowl, and the floor of the tub several times.

Am not particularly feeling optimistic tonight, but certainly will not give up. Bunnies fights just stress me out. 

[Deleted User]

same here, not very optimistic but there’s always tomorrow!

[mrmac]

we had an off day too, hang in there!

[Deleted User]

Algie, have you done more sessions?
I wonder if you could give Tater a stuffed bunny to hump out his urge before you do a session? Or, have the stuffed one in the tub with them and when he starts to go for a mount quickly move him onto the stunt double.

[Algie]

 Weird that you picked today to ask, since just this morning I got back into it!

I decided to give them all a couple weeks off, just to get used to each others smells a bit more, and to do some cage/litter box switching. 

This morning I got back into the swing of things by sequestering Chunk and Taterbuggy out on the deck. 

It started sort of positively. The very first thing Taterbug did was start by grooming Chunk’s face!!

However, this quickly turned into sexual assault as he began to hump Chunk from behind. Chunk took it for a few seconds, having absolutely no idea what was going on, and then went on to nip Tater. (Rightly so, I should think.)

After I broke that up with my trusty broom, Chunk went to hide in a little teepee made of a tarp hanging beside a bale of hay (i’ll try to take pics next session) and stayed there for a good long while. Tater, on the other hand, alternated between sitting in the litterbox eating hay, marking the dustpan with his chin, and thumping at me. 

This continued for probably about a half hour more…

So this afternoon/evening I’m going to try another session, maybe out on the grass in a pen, and hopefully things will go better-ish. 

 

My current plan is to bond Chunk and Tater, and then to try Tater and Euler, and then put all three together…

Petzy and Mrmac, how often do you guys put all three together? did you wait until you had bonded Mops/Dierdra, and Dexter/Davey first?

By the way, I’ve been keeping up on your threads and they are very encouraging. 

[mrmac]

I did them one on one for a 2 weeks or so, doing some one on one and then some all together, then I just put them toegther on the patio and they just didnt fight?! I wasnt expecting that. I’m glad it help! It is definitley not what I expected, but…baby steps.

[Deleted User]

I bonded Mops and Deirdra first separately from Lint. When it wasn’t going so well with Lint and D, I had Mops present during the sessions as a distraction.
I put mine together every day for longer each session and yesterday I put them together in their neutral bonding pen for a couple of weeks I’m planning.The fighting has stopped so I can do it. i will keep you posted on how that goes in my thread!

[Deleted User]

…another thought, i wonder if there isn’t a strong suggestion here that the outdoor set-ups result in less territorial aggression. It would make sense in that these are all indoor rabbits.

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