Bonding Help!??

[EMMIE]

Hiya,
I have been trying to bond my lone male into my already established mixed sex pair, they seem to accept him fine but he just hates my other male. My bonded male grooms him and gets bitten in return, then the fighting begins. They find each other very interesting when one is in the run and the other is outside the run. The only thing the bonded male does that I think could be threatening is chin mark around the others area. The lone male ignores the female and she does the same to him. So anyway my question is, how can i get the two males to like each other at least enough to let them run around the garden together without the lone male chasing and biting the bonded male?
Any advice would be great, i have bonded males before but they have been related, but never has it been as hard as these two.
thanks
p.s they are both neutered and have been for ages

 

[freeman455]

stick both males in a mini ufc cage made out of chicken wire and carboard, and let them fight it out to death

winner get's the missus as first prize

 

[EMMIE]

They actually would kill each other so i don't think i will be doing that, they have already given each other nasty cuts...
Also it wouldn't be a fair fight as one is 3 and the other is almost 8

 

[agnesthelion]

Well, whenever I give bonding advice I'm always on the conservative side of the spectrum.

Rabbits generally don't casually play with other rabbits. So getting them to "at least run around" together might not be possible. Rabbits usually have to be bonded to get along.

Then, that brings up bonding trios. Very difficult. And not very common. Trios do work but I've actually never heard of one that doesn't experience some sort of fighting along the way where rebonding is needed.

I also think the combination of m/m/f might possibly be the most difficult. Just my own personal theory but I believe it brings out competitiveness between the males for the females attention. There is also risk of the current bonded pair to break up.

So, with all that being said if you are up for the challenges then I would start with bunny dates in neutral area first. The fighting will be more prominent in areas they share. There are also theories to stressing them (ie car ride or vacuum) to basically force bunnies to seek comfort from each other. All of this should be done with all 3 however. Splitting up the bonded pair to date the other two even for brief periods of time can put strain on the bonded pair.

Phew. Lots of info but again that's just my 2 cents from a conservative standpoint. Trios intimidate me Although I wish success for sure! I love hearing about bonded buns. There is a trio of males on here, as a matter of fact, that has had some scuffles and she (Chrisdoc) working on getting them back together. Maybe she can chime in with some more advice.

Lastly, this is my favorite bonding article I refer to everyone on here It covers a lot and maybe you can get some tips here too.

Best of luck!

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

 

[JBun]

stick both males in a mini ufc cage made out of chicken wire and carboard, and let them fight it out to death

winner get's the missus as first prize

Are you kidding me?



Emmie, bonding trios is extremely tricky and often impossible, depending on the temperment of the rabbits involved. I have a bonded pair and was hoping that I could add another female, but there is just no way, as my female in the pair, is just too territorial. it may be possible for you, but will require LOTS of patience and making sure that nipping and fighting doesn't occur at date time, or that can create resentment with the rabbits. I would suggest reading holtzchick's blog and lyndym's blog, as they are both going through difficult bonding experiences, and you may be able to pick up some hints and tricks that you can use to have a better chance of success bonding your three. There are very few bonded trio's for a reason, cause it's very hard to do.

 

[Sweetie]

freeman455: I hope that you don't have to bond two male rabbits or any rabbits for that matter. Your suggestion is not the correct way to bond rabbits.

Emmie: put the two males in a neutral area, as they get along move them closer to the non-neutral area, slowly. Bonding two adult rabbits is not easy at all. Just be patient and hopefully they will bond. Good luck with bonding your rabbits.