Trio? Introducing New Bun to Bonded Pair

[nojaxk]

Hey everyone!

We’re looking for any tips on bonding a third to our already bonded pair! 

Tiki and Darcy were the most angelic & perfect bond, everyone that was present at their first bonding session (and second) were shocked with how well they got along right from the get go (we adopted from the spca so bonding sessions at their place is necessary before they can go home). 

We’ve fallen for another bun currently unnamed (he’s 6 months, approx. 8-10 months younger than the other two) and we would love to bring him home and possibly have him join the bonded pair for a trio! Unfortunately his past owner had him on pine shavings so he is required to stay at the spca for another 3 weeks before he can get neutered, heal a bit and ultimately have a bonding session with our current pair. 

I was curious to know if having the new bun at home (in a separate space) while healing would be okay and would not hinder on the pre-bonding and eventual bonding with the other two. We don’t want to have to wait too long to bring him home since he already will have to be at the spca for a month before he can be neutered.

 Also would it be more helpful for bonding if they stay in separate spaces next to each other (of course with safe distance between) before initial introductions in neutral territory? Or should we just have him wait at the spca for after healing and then do initial introductions there? 

We’re looking for any tips for introducing a third bun to a bonded pair and any signs of trouble and what to do in those cases. We really don’t want to break the bond our current pair have but feel that they would be receptive to a third bunny. On which note, we are perfectly okay with keeping this third bun as a separate from the pair but want to know more about what bonding a trio would look like. Any advice would be incredibly helpful! 

Thanks so much in advance

[nojaxk]

Additional note bc I believe their personalities might help:

Tiki is extremely laid back (doesn’t care about a single thing ever), even more so since Darcy (top bun in this case) has been introduced
Darcy is fairly laid back but loves to be in charge

We took them to a bunny event last weekend and were both star buns (ate in public, had no problems showing off in front of other buns & people, didn’t react to presence of other buns in close proximity & also spent some side by side time with the new bun who investigated their carrier quite a bit). His personality from what we saw & what we were told is almost like a mix of our two buns in one

[Sofia]

I’m never bonded a trio so don’t take my word for anything I say! But I’m supposing that bonding a trio is pretty similar to bonding any two. There are a couple old threads of people’s bonding journals when they were bonding their trio’s that you can look at. The fact that your buns have been around other buns and have not reacted badly is great. But bunnies can change their personality like that. I was so shocked when my darling Boo started chasing my other rabbit! I always thought that she was quite chill, but she turned aggressive a few times during bonding.
Yes it would be extremely beneficial to have them living near each other before bonding, So they can get used to each other’s scents. The official name for it is “prebonding”. Also having him home won’t affect anything because they never had a bond in the first place if you know what I mean.

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