Bunny Groups?

[BellaBunnies]

Hi All,

Just joined the forum!

I have 2 buns at the moment (pics in my 'newbie thread') 1 male 1 female both neutered. Female is very calm and easy going, the male is nervous.

At present I haven't bonded them, they are in a two tier hutch (4ft 6 wide x 3ft deep) (with the floor separating them) and they go out in the run separately. I want to bond them but I would like more advice...

Me and OH are about to make a huge bunny house:

3ft 10 x 6ft shed and their two tier hutch 4ft 6 x 3ft (with a ladder in the hutch between the two floors) The shed and hutch to be joined by a 5ft x 5ft run.

My local shelter is currently over-run with rabbits and I would like to take on one or two more buns (to be bonded as a group in the new quarters with my existing buns)

My questions are as follows:

Should I bond the two I have first then fetch in a new friend or two?

or

Should I wait until I have the whole group (3 or 4) and bond them all together?

Also what ratio of males and females works best?

I do have large dog crates, another run and 2 more large hutches if they cant be bonded for some reason.

I have never had more than two rabbits bonded in the past so any help would be very gratefully received.

Thanks

xx

 

[agnesthelion]

I just saw your buns on the intro thread, so cute

As far as bonding, I do want to first caution you on attempting a trio or more. It is very difficult. It is not impossible, but rarely heard of. Trios and more are also prone to spontaneous fights so even if you would get them what seems like bonded, fights can break out at any time

Even on RO, there is only 1 trio (that I know of) from all our members. She has 3 males and ironically she has had some scuffles so is working on re-bonding. The other member who attempted a trio actually "gave up" (for lack of a better way to say it..she tried SOOOO hard) be ause she couldn't get them all to get along. I'm sure both these members know who I'm talking about so maybe they will weigh in as well , but I just wanted to make you aware of the challenges.

I'm more of a worry wart but me personally, I would not attempt a trio. Again, it's not impossible so I'm not saying it can't happen, but they make me too nervous.

So, for bonding your pair, you will want to introduce them on neutral territory where neither have been before. Keep the first date very short, 5 minutes maybe. Even if things are going good, end it on a positive note. You will want to bunny date in the neutral territory every day, increasing time as you go and as they get acquainted with each other. It took 30 days to bond my two until they were officially able to move into th same cage. You will eventually want to move to non neutral territory dates. Rule of thumb I've heard is you want them to get to a point where they can be together in NONneutral territory for 4-5 hours without one incident before moving them into the same cage.
For their first initial introductions, expect some mounting, maybe ignoring each other (which is an excellent sign) and of course be prepared with gloves should they start to fight which you will want to break up immediately.
Here is my favorite article on bonding, I refer everyone too. It covers alot of scenarios:

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml

Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Lisa is right, it´s not easy to bond a trio and even then they can have scuffles which break the bond and you have to work on getting them back on track again. I have three boys, two who came to me together and bonded naturally from birth and the other who came four months after but bonded with them without any introductions, he just sort of arrived and they took to him. The two brothers have had a couple of break ups, once when when they hit puberty and I had them neutered and after their ops, i had to rebond for a couple of weeks as they fell out and they were OK again. Then, a second time, I was away at Christmas and was leaving them every night and it broke up their routine, they had a spat when I wasn´t there and they´ve had problems since. I have let them out together over the past few weeks and they are putting up with each other which is great progress and I hope that I can get them back to normal quite soon. So, it is possible to have them all getting on but if it doesn´t work out, you have to have room for them to live separately and to be out separately and you have to be vigilant to spot the signs if they´re not getting on, you do get to recognise them quite quickly.

Lisa´s pair are adorable and they´re the typical "married bunny couple". Maybe start with your two and see how that goes and then decide if you want to introduce additional buns although you could end up un-´bonding the two you had bonded. Bunnies are not the easiest of creatures, you have to be prepared to be patient and not rush things. But, they do give so much back to you and when you see the two of them together, it will have all been worth while.

 

[BellaBunnies]

Thank you for your replies :bunny17: