Adding a third bunny while they’re young

Hi all,

I recently got two young bunnies and have been having a blast getting to know them. They’re both boys and they’re cuddly but also extremely playful. They’re only eight weeks but I have their neuter pre-ops booked for next month so my local vet can do them as soon as possible and to minimize fighting, though I do have separate spaces if they happen to start getting territorial before then.

I was planning to get a third bunny later on when I move into my new apartment roughly in September, as my sister who I’m living with has an allergy so my boys have to spend some time in a hutch outside when she’s around (luckily only about 3-4 hours per day, rest of the day they have the run of the house). Planning to, until one of my friends sent me an ad for lionheads about 2 minutes from my house who are the same age as my boys and going for $5 each since the breeder has too many.

Now I’m torn but leaning toward getting one now since they’re so close and an amazing price. For people here who’ve bonded bunnies, did you find it was easier to bond three all together instead of introducing one to an already bonded pair? Also, would you recommend a female or male (either way I’d get it de-sexed)?

Not sure if it matters but my boys are half American Chincilla/half mixed so they’ll definitely be a little bigger.

Any advice would be appreciated!

When it comes to bonding, breed makes no difference.

Pairs are always preferable over trios or groups. Male/male is considered the more difficult of the possible pairings, but not impossible by any means.

If you intend to have more than two rabbits, then there should be no more than 1 male. If you have 2 males, they are far more likely to fight in a group. Also, for groupings, it is usually best (as in more likely to have a positive outcome) to have all rabbits introduced -- for the first time -- at the same time. In other words, they should all be strangers to each other, and all fixed, before meeting.

Trying to add a 3rd rabbit to an existing bonded pair is considerably more difficult and risks the break up of the original bond.

Honestly, though, rabbits do best in pairs. It sounds like these are your first rabbits?? If so, then please know that baby rabbits can be oh-so very, very different than adult rabbits. Babies tend to be docile, handle-able, playful-- while all of that can change once they become adults. Even cuddly babies often become more hands-off when they reach maturity. All this is just to say that having adult rabbits can be a different experience than what you are seeing now. It probably isn't the best time to be going out and getting more rabbits.

I'd suggest holding off on getting more. I would suggest waiting until your boys are fixed and first see if they will truly bond. (Sometimes they will refuse to bond. [baby 'bonds' don't count] This way, if they don't bond, you can then seek out other fixed rabbits to pair up with each of your boys so you would have 2 separate pairs. If they do happen to bond and you still want more rabbits at that time, then you could always find an already bonded pair - again, so you would end up with 2 separate pairs. But you have plenty of time to figure that out.

Thanks for the advice! I’ve had a single adult rabbit before but this is my first time starting with babies and I have no experience with bonding.

If that’s the case, I’ll wait and see how they do because I don’t want to end up having to keep three separated if none of them bond well. And if everything goes well, I wouldn’t mind ending up with four a year or two down the road haha

My main goal is having rabbits that are happy!