Trio Bonding

[Leanne_P87]

Good Afternoon everyone

New to this page and first time poster.  I would love people’s advice as to how to proceed with bonding a trio.

Currently I have a bonded pair – Leo who is a desexed male (7yrs) and Alice a desexed female (approx 2.5yrs).  They have been bonded for 1.5yrs now and were a breeze! Alice s a bossy boots and has some teenage bunny attitude whereas Leo is a very laid back, relaxed boy who goes with the flow and is never aggressive.

A few months back I saved a gorgeous brown and greyish lop rabbit that was dumped.  We placed her in a pen in our spare room, away from Leo and Alice’s cage. I had her desexed and vaccinated and waiting for her hormones to settle before moving Alice and Leo’s cage into her room.  They have been living side by side for about 2 months now.

My initial thoughts were to have Alice and Evie meet due to Alice being the dominant bossy bun of my pair.  I have been using the bathroom for bonding as our house is small and the only real “neutral ground” we have.  Alice initially used to growl and lunge at Evie however that has now changed to chasing every now and again and a nip, sometimes pulling hair from Evie as a result.  Evie never retaliates and will just grunt, thump and run away.

Any time Alice chases too much or nips Evie, I pat both girls to help calm them down.

I do get both girls together and pat them as they lay side by side.  Generally they both smoosh their faces together and refuse to groom each other.  Over the past few days however I have witnessed slight grooming where Evie started with licking Alice and then Alice would do a slight lick. Alice tends to also do a small lick and then paw at Evie’s face.

I have had them together for about 1hr every night for the past few weeks and its slowly getting better but I want advice as to how I could maybe speed up the process?

Also, I have had Leo and Evie together before with hardly any issues whatsoever.  He grooms her like no tomorrow and the only scuffle they have is when she goes to hump him and he gets upset and they sometimes circle in their litter tray as a result (I break this up should it occur).  When is the best time or “right time” to introduce all 3 together? I was hoping to wait until Alice chases less and the girls groom more or seem more comfortable together but I am just unsure.

All advice would be greatly appreciated!

Leanne

[Zombie-Sue]

It sounds to me like you might be hovering a little bit, which is kind of natural, but you might find it helps to dial it back a little, trying making a loud noise or a spray bottle to get the buns to stop instead of petting them.

I think that now is a fine time to put all three in and see how they do, and possibly try to make the sessions a little longer. I know that Tanlover likes to do really, really long bonding sessions–(think, like, days LOL) I had trouble getting enough time together to do that until they actually moved in together, but it seems like she had really good success with it and to me it sounds like you might be ready for it.

Do be aware that all three buns might act differently than just the two of them. Watch out for jealousy or any indication of two rabbits ganging up on the other. Your bonded rabbits might even get confused and chase eachother–all normal. Make sure you keep on the garden gloves or have something to break up fights.

[Leanne_P87]

Thank you for your reply Zombie-Sue.

I have been “hovering” a bit, I am trying to dial it back a bit but our bathroom is long and skinny so I either have to stand in the bath or against the door while they are together.

I thought that if i petted them after a chase or a scuffle would help try and relax both girls and help it along, but should I be interferring too much then I will definety let them sort it out. Its just hard for me to judge what is okay and what is not when I see some aggression from Alice as this is only my second time bonding and Leo and Alice’s bonding was so so easy!

Should I make the area bigger when I have all three together? My only other option is to have a pen set up outside on our grass as the other areas in the house are either not big enough or not neutral.

I have had all 3 together once before and Alice was showing signs of jealously and a lot more aggression towards Evie so I decided to work on the girl’s relationship more before putting Leo back in the mix

[Leanne_P87]

Thank you for your reply Zombie-Sue.

I have been “hovering” a bit, I am trying to dial it back a bit but our bathroom is long and skinny so I either have to stand in the bath or against the door while they are together.

I thought that if i petted them after a chase or a scuffle would help try and relax both girls and help it along, but should I be interferring too much then I will definety let them sort it out. Its just hard for me to judge what is okay and what is not when I see some aggression from Alice as this is only my second time bonding and Leo and Alice’s bonding was so so easy!

Should I make the area bigger when I have all three together? My only other option is to have a pen set up outside on our grass as the other areas in the house are either not big enough or not neutral.

I have had all 3 together once before and Alice was showing signs of jealously and a lot more aggression towards Evie so I decided to work on the girl’s relationship more before putting Leo back in the mix

[Zombie-Sue]

When I bonded my trio, I put them all in the tub together, too, so unless they’re HUGE I think you’ll be fine haha.

Petting rabbits to get them to calm down is a good tool, but you have to walk a fine line between distraction and rewarding them for aggressive behavior, you know? It’s hard for anyone to tell when they should interfere and when they should let them sort it out. You’ll get better as the progress goes along, try not to stress about it.

Speaking of stress, have you tried stress bonding at all?

[Leanne_P87]

Their bonding it taking place in the bathroom on the floor, not inside the bath itself. Evie has a bad back leg (how I found her – an old injury that was never attended to) so I dont want her on a slippery environment as I dont want the injury to get worse.

Ive looked into different stress bonding but had varying techniques and success. Was wondering should I put all 3 together or just the 2 girls?

[MoveDiagonally]

I would try group sessions because while one on one’s can help there is a completely different dynamic between two rabbits than there is between three.

[Zombie-Sue]

Agreed. Put a rug down or a towel if you’re worried about the slippery floor

[Leanne_P87]

I have been using a rug

[Leanne_P87]

I will attempt all 3 this weekend – It is going to be nice weather so hoping to set up a pen outside on the grass.

I’ll let you know how I go

[tanlover14]

Curious as to how your group date goes!

I see Zombie-Sue mentioned me and my horribly long bonding dates! LOL. The biggest challenge is learning how to read your rabbits and their reactions to different stimulus and each other. The longer you bond, the more you will learn about their relationship and how to give them pushes in positive directions.

Also, completely agree with MD. Try everyone together.

Don’t be so quick to speed up the process either! The goal is a strong, successful bond. Pushing them too quickly can be more stressful on the rabbits making it much more difficult to bond them. Let them go at their own pace, making changes as you see fit. You’d think I would be the last person to say that as I love to do long bonding sessions with my group but I’m also very in tune with my group and their bonding habits and what works best for them. So it’s much easier. When you go to “cement” the bond, you will want to do like a two day long bonding session (so prepare time for that ) to ensure they are actually getting along smoothly without any fighting.

[Leanne_P87]

Thanks for your advice

Last night I had all 3 together for 4hrs and it was good. Alice would chase Evie from time to time and go to nip her, but Leo would act as mediator and calm her down by grooming or stop her from doing it at all. They ate, slept, groomed etc. No fights, just the chase by Alice.

Leo would groom both girls.

Currently have them in the bathroom again, been about 3hrs so far. Same as last night and they are all currently sleeping and relaxed

So proud of my 3! We are out all day tomorrow so Ill do as long a bonding session as we can

[tanlover14]

Great job! I’m happy it’s going so well for you and the buns!

[Zombie-Sue]

I’m so exciteeeeeed for yoooooou.

[Leanne_P87]

Update on the weekends bonding:

Friday night they were together 4hrs. Usual chase here and there by Alice. Evie wasnt allowed to come too close to Alice without being told off. Leo just cruised around grooming both girls and sleeping.

Saturday they were together 8hrs or so. Same as Friday night but Alice was less uptight and all buns were eating, grooming and sleeping (with Evie doing her best dead bunny flops!)

Sunday we were out all day but had them together for 4hrs before bed. I watched Alice hop up to Leo who was grooming Evie and shove her head in to try and get some love. After a few mins of nothing, I expected her to crack it but no, she hopped off and sulked lol

I wanted to try and keep them together overnight but my husband thought they would trash the bathroom and said no (we are renting). Hope to find a better area to set them up so they can spend a night together.

So all in all they are so good! They were all eating from the same tray last night and Evie would flop and bink around

Tried to upload photos but they are too big will try again later

[Leanne_P87]

A couple of photos from our weekend bonding sessions

Leo – Himalayan boy

Alice – Dutch girl

Evie – Lop girl

 

 

 

 

[Zombie-Sue]

It’s going great!!!

I see what you mean about the narrow bathroom, lol.

[Leanne_P87]

Yeah its horrible! We have a tiny house so space is limited.

I ended up extending the area on Saturday by placing a pen into the passageway – only gave them another metre or so in length but it did allow them to sleep at opposite ends of the bathroom if they wanted

[tanlover14]

Not too sound funny or anything – but you’ll have to sleep over with them when they spend the night together for the first couple of nights – so why not just pull up your blanket and sleep in the bath tub? I pulled all-nighters and only got about 1-2 hours of actual sleep. Lots of coffee! Maybe he’ll be more apt to let them spend the night together if he knows you’ll be in there the whole time with them???

They all look so cute together!!!

[Leanne_P87]

I would definitely have them supervised over for the first few nights as I will be checking on them constantly anyway.

The bath is tiny but I could manage it … I did have them all out together on the rug in the living room last night as it was so hot and the air conditioner was on. They did pretty well considering it wasnt a “neutral area” (Leo and Alice are out in the living room when we are at home). Still put them back in their pens when I went to bed but I do want them to spend overnight together soon

Ill have to wait until a weekend so I dont have to go to work with no sleep haha!

[Zombie-Sue]

Maybe get a cot and put it outside the door… haha.

[Leanne_P87]

Haha that wouldbe a sight!

[Leanne_P87]

What has everyone done in regards to new living areas if they bond a new rabbit into their pair? I worry that even if my 3 are bonded completely, that if I put them all into the pen I use for Leo and Alice, that they will get their nose out of joint.

I wanted to get a brand new pen with new litter trays and new bedding etc so its a whole new space. Is this a good idea? Or should I be putting in familiar things with all of their smells? I just dont want Alice to get territorial etc

[tanlover14]

Personally, I think either or is fine. I just mixed up everything from my rabbits separate areas. But was careful to use everyones litter box, everyones toys, etc. Although I bought a new bowl and water dish because they needed it when I upgraded to the four. But with my five and six, I have just used the same one. The important this is to make it look new or different so all the buns are immediately curious about this “new area” rather than territorial because they recognize it as their exact space. What kind of pen do you have for them? With my x-pens, I just put everything in different areas, added a new big box for them to play with and climb on, or a bunny cardboard condo.

[Leanne_P87]

I have attached a photo of the pen I set up last night – I used all their litter trays, combined their towels to cover the floor, used all their toys and boxes that were in each of their pens/cages.  Alice still chased and put Evie back in her place.  I broke them up at about 2am as i had to go to work and i was being kept awake by their noises and chasing and constantly checking on them.  I will put them all back together in the bigger pen on the weekend when i have the time to monitor them and they can be together over the day and night

Wish us luck!!!

[Leanne_P87]

Sorry the photo didnt upload … try again!

[Zombie-Sue]

Everyone looks happy… :0

[Leanne_P87]

This was taken when I first put them in the pen together. They were all sniffing around and marking things. Alice just did her usual chasing of Evie, nothing too horrible, but at 2am I had had enough as I had to be up at 6am to go to work lol

[tanlover14]

Hahahah. Neither bun was left in this area were they??

[Leanne_P87]

Well the side closest to the wall is Evies pen, I just extended it. Evie’s pen is back to how it was before I extended it and all the toys, litter trays and boxes are back i the pens/cages they came from. I will be using fresh towels and bedding etc when I extend the pen again on the weekend

[Leanne_P87]

Still yet to have them in a big pen yet (will do tomrrow so i have the time to monitor them) but thought I’d share a couple of cute photos I took last night

Leo is the most beautiful boy … he accepts every bun I bring into the house!!!!

[Leanne_P87]

I officially have a trio!!!

[manic_muncher]

That’s so awesome! Congratz!

[Zombie-Sue]

CONFETTI!!!

[MoveDiagonally]

Congrats!

[Leanne_P87]

Thank you everyone! I am so proud of my 3 little furkids!

I’ve been at work all day so hopefully they have still behaved all day and I dont come home to upset bunnies!

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