3rd bun???

[Torchster]

I currently have a couple of wonderful little bunnies. I was thinking of adding a third. Currenly I have two buns: one boy, one girl; probably some sort of dwarf mix (both around 5 pounds), both altered; and they are adult buns, but i don't think that they are too old. They are my ying and yang. As outgoing as Bert is, Petunia is shy. As loving as Bert is, Petunia is reserved. I guess opposites do attract. I love them both.

Currently Bert and Petunia are bonded and loving pair. Bert is very much the dominate one of the two. Petunia will stand up for herself, but perhaps she is just letting Bert and I think that he is in charge?

Anyway, I gave them my extra bedroom to live in. It has their old cage (I just keep the door always open) and some boxes (among other things) to play with durning the day. It also has a little balcony so they can see out the window. Actually they have about 1/2 the room, the room is divided by a xpen. The other half is bunny storage, hey, toys, pellets and the like.

I am a single person, so they are basiclly locked in their room most of the time durning the week. I let them out at night when I get home from work for supervised roam the house time, from about 8:00 pm until 11:00 pm (after we all get dinner and until bed time). Plus they get out during the weekends, when I am not running errands for them.

Now, like I said, I would like to get a third bun. But I don't want that bun to decrease the quality of life for my other two. I would hate to lock Pert and Petunia in one cage, and build another cage for any new bunny. Besides, if they weren't bonded, I would have to let them out at separate times to keep them from fighting, wouldn't I? Which would make already scarce time with my bunnies - even worse!

From what I understand, Bert was hard to bond (the rescue I got him from did the bonding for me one week while I was out of town). Most of ladies didn't take an instant likeing to him.

My preference would be to get a differnt kind of bun, maybe something like a lop. But I think if I were to just go to a shelter and pic up a lop and plop him/her in the pen - I would be setting myself up for epic failure. Can I go with a slightly larger breed? Would a female increase my odds of success? I've done some reading on bonding, and find it a little intimidating. Plus, I don't think there is any guarantee of success, no matter how hard you try. Plus I don't have loads of time to dovote to it - since I am gone at work for so much of the day.

I guess what I really want to know is; am I biting off more than I can chew with a 3rd rabbit?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[noahneolevi]

Well, actually I could use some advice on this subject, too... however, I am farther along and already have the third bun. So I thought I'd share my experience so far.

I have a bonded pair of males (they've been bonded best buddies for about a year now), and this summer I got a third bunny, another male (super-cute baby bun). Got him neutered in late July, and in late August started trying to introduce him to my existing pair. I am having some success with the new bunny getting along with the subordinate bunny of the existing ones... but I am NOT having success with the new bunny and the existing dominant bunny. I've only put all three of them together a few times, but it has not gone well, with the two existing bunnies ganging up on the new bunny to fight. So after 2 months now I am not any closer to integrating the new bunny, and still have to keep him separate. (I have one of those accordion-folding gates that I use to divide the living room so that they can all get play-time but still be separate.) It's definitely been a difficult dynamic with three bunnies instead of two... I have hope of getting all three to bond someday, but it's definitely going to take some serious time and dedication!

Now, that said, I LOVE my new baby bunny and am SO glad I got him! The hassle of keeping him separate from the bonded pair is no big deal compared to the love and cuddles he gives me! Hehehe! And I hope it'll work out in the long run, since if one of my existing pair ever heads off to the rainbow bridge, then there'll be a friend right there to bond with the remaining one.

 

[Dragonrain]

I have a bonded trio. Originally I had a bonded pair of two males. Then the dominate one passed away and I was left with a very depressed, lonely Barnaby. He came from a neglect situation, and had never really been much of a people bunny. He really comes out of his shell around other rabbits though.

I started looking for another rabbit, because I knew Barnaby would never be truly happy as a single bunny. Instead of finding another one, I found two. A bonded pair of lops that where already fixed, around the same age as Barnaby, and adooorable! Well I got them (from a posting on this forum, actually) with the hopes that they would get along with Barnaby, but knowing that it wasn't guaranteed I was prepared to house them separately.

I worked for 3 months with the three of them until I felt comfortable leaving them all together when I wasn't around to watch them. The dynamics of a trio are definatly more complicated than a pair. Strangely my Barnaby, who had always been very submissive before, and is half the size as the lops are, came out as the dominate bun of the trio. Both boys get along wonderfully with Berry, the female. The two boys get along, but aren't all that close.

If you get a third rabbit you are right, there is no grantee that they will all get along. You will have to keep the new rabbit in it's own cage or area until they are bonded, and it will need separate play time. You have to be careful with bonding, because adding a new rabbit could mess up the bond of the pair you already have.

I hope I didn't make it sound all negative though! I love having a trio. It gives me a little extra bunny cuteness and I like the idea that when one of them passes away, I won't be left with a single depressed rabbit like I was before. I love to watch them all snuggle and play together, and I'd say that all the work to bond them was defiantly worth it.

Now that I've written you a novel here...sorry my reply is so long and I wish you luck in whatever you decide.

 

[JadeIcing]

I had a bonded boy (boy 1)and girl. Everything seemed great. When I had one of my boys(boy 2)neutered I figured I would add him. That didn't work. Than I had another of my boys(boy 3)neutered and that did work. For a year they lived together. A group that just didn't seperate for anything. Always together. Than all of a sudden the female started to pick fights. We thought maybe adding one more would balance it out. Everyone got along with the new guy(boy 4)but the female continue to go after her original bond mate(boy 1). In the end we had to remove her, leaving the three boys together. She was alone for several months before we tried her again with boy 2.

So now boy 1;3;4 are together. Girl is with boy 2.

Also when adding a third it can sometimes immediatly break bond of others. That is what happened to Amy's ( undergunfire ) orginal bonded pair.

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Now dividing time between buns is not as hard as it would seem. You can set up a scheadual. You can make a gate to divide up space. Lots of ways. I have 11 rabbits currently here. Not counting other animals. I manage to give everyone out time and they are all happy healthy animals.

 

[slavetoabunny]

JadeIcing wrote:

Now dividing time between buns is not as hard as it would seem. You can set up a scheadual. You can make a gate to divide up space. Lots of ways. I have 11 rabbits currently here. Not counting other animals. I manage to give everyone out time and they are all happy healthy animals.

You are superwoman! I barely manage with having 5 rabbits with 4 separate playtimes.

 

[JadeIcing]

slavetoabunny wrote:

JadeIcing wrote:

Now dividing time between buns is not as hard as it would seem. You can set up a scheadual. You can make a gate to divide up space. Lots of ways. I have 11 rabbits currently here. Not counting other animals. I manage to give everyone out time and they are all happy healthy animals.

You are superwoman! I barely manage with having 5 rabbits with 4 separate playtimes.

:bunnydance::run: