From a bonded pair to a trio?

I have a pair of (unaltered) bonded females. They have been together since birth. I was told to expect that when they hit puberty we would have to separate them until they were altered and then it would be iffy as to whether they could be reunited as a pair. We kept waiting for the honeymoon to be over and the disagreements to start but we have not had a minute's trouble with the two regarding their behavior towards each other. They are both lovable and laid back and they get along perfectly. They are over 3 years old.

Our 3rd bun is the younger brother of our females. He came along in another surprise litter about a year later. He has been altered.

We would like to bond the 3 and house them together. They currently have side by side cages and have had since the little one was old enough to be separated from mama. They have had limited access to each other for as long as the little one has been around. When the second litter of kits were old enough to start exploring they quickly found the girls. As our boy matured we had to separate them because we did not need any more babies to find homes for. Even separated they have always spent time in one another's company though. Their NIC panel cages are side by side and they lay next to each other touching through the panel openings. During play time we would often have all 3 out at once, separated by a baby gate. They would always end up all three laying next to the gate as close as they could to each other.

The male was altered this summer. He is the same sweet baby he's always been. He no longer sprays now which is a HUGE bonus and we don't have to worry about him making any babies. As I said, the females are unaltered at this point. Would you believe I only recently found someone who will alter a female rabbit in my area? The vets here say it is too difficult a procedure.

Anyway, we have been allowing the three to be outside together (the kids take them out in the yard and supervise their play as they run around inside the fence) as well as loose in the house together. There have been no issues at all. They will all do their own thing for a bit and then end up in a big bunny pile, laying butt to butt. No aggression at all. I have a strong feeling I could put them all in a cage together right now and they would be perfectly fine. I just don't want to rush it.

Any advice??

For the record, these rabbits have been raised in a household with dogs and cats. They run freely with the dogs and cats. The cats get inside the rabbit cage every chance they get. We have never had an issue and its been well over 2 years that they have all been together. The other day when they were all out one of the girl bunnies decided she was going to take the dog's bed. My German Shepherd got up and left her bed so that the rabbit could have it. She went over to the bed my Westie sleeps on. The Westie then went to the bed the rabbit had taken over and laid down with the rabbit. In the midst of all of that the cats were laying in the floor with the other two rabbits. That is all pretty typical around here too.

I wonder if ignorance is bliss in our case. We never knew about the need for bonding or how it could be difficult, etc. All of our animals have just always gotten along so I figured that's the way it just was. Would we be crazy to try to put our three together and just see how it works? I thought we could move them from their respective cages into a sectioned off hallway area (where each of our litters were raised) so that it was neutral territory. Our first rabbit was a rescue and we had no cage for her so we put her in the hallway with a baby gate up and called it good... until she started to jump over the gate and escape. When she had the babies (as each was a surprise each litter was born in mama's litter box) and needed room for a nesting box we moved her back there.

I think that you could but them all together again! I have a unaltered doe with an altered buck and they are fine! They were seperated for a year and when I put them together, they were fine.
My friend had 2 unaltered does sisters together and boy! Did they love each other!
When you are first bonding them you need to do a couple things.
Make sure that you have a large area where the bunnies can hide or run away when they get in a fight. Day 1 you should put them together in a large area for about 10 min twice a day. Then add more and more to the time and so you can put them all together!
Good luck!


~Breeding Quality Holland Lops Since 2012~

Bunnies that will get along fine together in a large area, may behave differently in the confines of a cage. Typically females can be more territorial about their cage, so that could be a potential problem. From you description, though, it sounds like these three have a good shot of being able to be together. If I were you, I would test them out first before confining them in the cage.

Maybe you can create a smaller space in the house to see how they behave when they are confined in a smaller area. If that goes well, then maybe try allowing them in the cage with the door open and see what happens. I just wouldn't feel comfortable locking them in a cage together until I've seen good behavior in other small areas.

Just wanted to update this. After we had our male fixed we waited 12 weeks and then moved them to a single, larger cage. There has never been a moment of issue. They all get along incredibly well. Looking in you often see a pile of rabbits because they all lay together. Our male is so much happier to have the company of his sisters and they took him in without question.