Trio scheming…? ;-)

[DanaNM]

Hellooo

Interested to hear people’s thoughts on this, but I’m really just scheming and won’t be taking any actions on this until I can get the buns all vaccinated for RHDV2 so prob not for at least a month (our vet has gotten the first round of approvals though! woohooo!).

So, Bonnie (our foster), is settling in pretty well. I think she’s been with us 3 or 4 weeks? She has come out of her pen a few times, but still isn’t super comfortable with it. She seems to get very excited when she sees the other bunnies (she comes right out, and is just way more active). I know from the shelter she tends to like other bunnies.

Bun Jovi seems to like her. He will lay near her pen when he’s out, and seems super relaxed with her presence.

Myra on the other hand, is FLUSTERED! So I’m trying to balance the way I set up the pens to encourage Bonnie to come out and exercise, but without upsetting Myra so much that she lashes out at Bun Jovi (he of course always decides to try to request grooms while Myra is preoccupied with Bonnie).

When she sees Bonnie in a new area, Myra will run the fence with ears forward. She only did this when I split the room in half. Normally I give them alternating times out for exercise, so Myra can’t see Bonnie when she’s out, but Myra and Bun Jovi can explore the area around Myra’s pen when they are out. Myra now seems used to Bonnie’s pen, so that’s an improvement. Thank goodness there haven’t been any poop or pee wars!

There are a couple things I’m wondering about. First is whether I should wait until Bonnie is much more confident and trusting of us to attempt any bonding. Normally I would think yes, but I know she likes other bunnies, so I just wonder if she would be happier here if she was bonded with them. I had a negative experience trying to bond a very scared bunny with Bertha several years ago, but in his case he was very antisocial towards rabbits in general, and very scared of Bertha. That bond failed after about 5 months so I want to be careful. However, Bonnie does not seem scared of the other bunnies at all, and I know she is good at socializing with bunnies and has never shown any dominating behaviors. So hmmmm.

The other thing is to whether to wait until Myra is super cool with Bonnie being here. I don’t really want to risk doing full pre-bonding side swaps at this time because I think it would stress Bonnie out a lot, and I don’t want Myra and Bun Jovi’s bond to break. I don’t know how Myra and Bonnie would react to each other in a neutral space. Myra tends to be good with other bunnies too at hoppy hour, etc. So part of me (but maybe just the impatient part!) thinks they will be happier if they are just bonded, rather than Bonnie being this “invader” that Myra has to worry about.

IF/when I do eventually bond them, my plan is to take all three to my friend’s miracle garage and marathon them there, likely after a decently long car ride together. I’m tempted to take Bonnie and Myra on a ride together to see how they do, but worry about how Myra would be towards BJ after, so I think it’s best to just go for all three all at once.

Or, final option, do nothing! Bun Jovi is very content right now. Myra is dealing with it, and seems more relaxed about it each day. It would be nice if she didn’t flip out when she could see Bonnie running around though. But the thought of a trio is just so appealing!

Like I said, I have a while still to think about this, but just wondering what people’s thoughts are. Especially people who have bonded trios or other pairs where one bunny was very timid!

. . . 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.  

[Hazel]

I would keep things the same as long as you keep seeing improvements from Myra, once that levels out I would take the next step. Although I’m not sure what exactly that should be, I’ve never gone through the bonding process, my pair bonded automatically back in the day and I didn’t know any better… 🙄

Also, Bun Jovi, try to read the room buddy! 😆

[DanaNM]

You are probably right! More time certainly wont hurt anything. I don’t need another quarantine project lol.

LOL Bun Jovi is so oblivious!  I don’t think he can see very well, so sometimes I wonder if he even sees Bonnie at all!

. . . 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.  

[Wick & Fable]

‘First is whether I should wait until Bonnie is much more confident and trusting of us to attempt any bonding. Normally I would think yes, but I know she likes other bunnies, so I just wonder if she would be happier here if she was bonded with them.’

— It sounds like your balancing a one or the other choice here, when you can have both? As we know, you can absolutely be patient and solidify a trusting relationship with Bonnie and also have her bonded with the rabbits as well. Regardless is it’s another rabbit or a human, I think any animal is happy-er when giving love and affection. I also pause at the idea of assuming rabbits can have feelings of “… but what if? Things can be better, and that makes me sad.”

I also agree that a bit more time to solidify Myra’s dynamic won’t hurt anything.

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.

[DanaNM]

Maybe that point didn’t come across correctly. I absolutely intend to work to build a relationship of trust with Bonnie, whether she ends up in the trio or not, but I was just wondering if one order of operations might be easier for her (I’m also prepared for it to take a very long time to gain her trust). I have witnessed shy bunnies become much more confident when bonded with a confident bunny. At the shelter she had her “friends” that she would lie next to on opposite sides of the fence. So I feel bad depriving her of bunny friends, even though the rest of her situation is a big improvement. She does get to see BJ and Myra part of the day, but only when they are hanging out in a specific part of the room.

 

. . . 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.  

[DanaNM]

Just to give a little update (since it’s been 4 weeks!), everything has been pretty chill. There were a couple days where BJ and Myra were getting a little feisty with each other (Myra full on mounted BJ at one point), but they seem to have gotten past that phase and have been very mellow the past few days.

Bonnie is now pretty comfortable exploring the room and will accept a nose rub if she’s in the right mood. She has no problem sniffing me when looking for a treat. 🙂

Haven’t done any full on pre-bonding, but they do alternate free-roaming, so they are getting to smell each other that way.

Still giving Bonnie free-roam overnight, and I try to spend a little time with her right when I let her out and right before she goes back in her pen. I would like to give her more attention in the morning but BJ and Myra start going crazy in their condo when I get up, and I get worried they might start scuffling if I left them in for too long (they got feisty on days where I left Bonnie out for longer in the morning).

Current arrangement is fine (until recently I would always put BJ and Myra away overnight anyway), but at this point I am getting more motivated to bond them to help everyone’s social needs.

. . . 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.  

[Wick & Fable]

Great update! As you already know (because you’re the one advising me and helping me with my bonding process, haha), things may fluctuate day to day, but I think the goal is for Myra to generaly be more mellow– to the extent that it’s possible.

Regarding the morning craziness, I ran into that with Wick and Fable. Essentially they’d be 100% OK overnight together, but when they hear me in the morning and they know they get pellets/get to leave, Wick gets suddenly very aggressive at Fable. As a result, they now sleep separately to prevent that morning fight until further notice.

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.

[DanaNM]

I have finally made a plan. Or rather 2 plans… LOL 😀

Option 1 (most likely): My husband and I are going backpacking in about 4 weeks, so most likely I will start trying to bond them after we get home from that. I could start sooner, but don’t want to leave freshly bonded, or half bonded babies alone with a sitter.

OR

Option 2: IF we can get the RHDV2 vaccine within the next 2 weeks (which is possible but might be pushing it), one of the bonders at the rescue (who LOVES Bun Jovi and has bunny-sat for me a bunch) said she can work on bonding them while we are on our trip! This would be awesome, but we probably won’t have everyone vaccinated in time. Or rather, we will have gotten our vaccine, but they likely won’t have full immunity yet.

At least now I can stop obsessing over options. 😉

. . . 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.  

[DanaNM]

Well, we are back from our trip, and all the buns are fully vaccinated (YAY), so I can finally work on bonding these gremlins!

Good thing too, because they are starting to get antsy!

I think my plan is to spend the next week or so doing some introductions with just Myra and Bonnie, since I think they will be the most trouble.

I will introduce BJ to Bonnie separately (just to confirm they will be OK… they seem to love each other through the fence already).

I think if all three bunnies were younger and I had more space at home, I would just work with all three at the same time, but with Bun Jovi being a grandpa, I don’t want him to get caught in a scuffle or make things worse by his confusion (“why isn’t everyone grooming ME?”)!

Thinking once I feel like they have at least some level of comfort with each other, it will be off to my friend’s garage with all three to marathon them there!

. . . 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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