Can 3 rabbits live together successfully?

[misskitty]

Tonight the mother of my twoneutered 6 month old boys is coming to live with me as her owners canno longer looks after her. I have a few questions though.:



She is nearly a year old and is quiteboisterous…would it be beneficial for her to have her neutered? Willthis calm her down?



She has unfortunately spent most of her life livingalone, except for when she had an accidental litter and she lived withher boyfriend who was neutered straight after the litter (they weretold they were both females), but he unfortunately passed away shortlyafter. What I was also wondering was whether she could eventually movein with my boys? Can 3 rabbits live together successfully? I hate thethought of her being alone, as although I let my rabbits into the housefor a few hours each night and most of the weekend for playing andsocial contact I’m not there during the weeks day and she will be verylonely on her own.

My 2 boys are verysocial and licky as they have been handled daily since they were babiesbut her owners were a bit scared of her so she isn’t used to humans,though so far I’m the only human she’ll let pick her up and strokeher.

 

[Hollie]

Three of my girls, Heather, Thistle and Bracken,lived completely happily as an all-girl threesome, so three bunnies canwork, as long as they are all bonded.

I know that neutering a buck can calm him down, but I'm not sure ifit's the same with a doe - I think it is, but wait until someone whoknows a bit more gives you a better answer

 

[misskitty]

Thanks for the reply.

They all lived together up until the age of about 3 months when theywere seperated and have played togetehr a few time since but she can bea bit boisterous so I'm hoping putting her in with my clamer boys willhelp, but I'm worried that with her being a female and living with 2males, depsite being netured and he being their mother, they may fightover her?

 

[Hollie]

Aah, now that I wouldn't know, because all of my buns are girls

 

[bunsterlove1969]

Hi,

The fact that she is their mother wont make a difference at all. Thetwo boys are likely to fight over her, especially if she is not spayed.I have 4 bunnies, two are sisters and have been together since birth,when they were around 4 months and their hormones kicked in theystarted mounting eachother - luckily i got them spayed in time and nofighting occurred. The other two are mother and daughter, and the mumoccasionally mounts her daughter (11 weeks!!) the mother is due to bespayed soon.

You would need to get her spayed first, then you could try bonding all3. I believe it is more difficult to bond 2 boys and girl rather than 2girls and a boy - but its worth trying!

 

[Haley]

I think its definitely possible. It just depends so much on their individual personalities. You wont really know until you try.

I think spaying her first is a good idea. Also, make sure you read upon bonding before you try (check out our resource center for loads ofinfo!). You cant just put mom in their cage, as they will most likelyfight. You need to introduce them on neutral ground so no bun feelsterritorial.

Anyway, good luck and let us know how it works out! If you cant bondher with your two boys, you could always think about getting her a mate(who's neutered, of course)

Good Luck!

 

[misskitty]

What I was thinking of doing first was puttingher hutch into the boys run, they have a huge hutch & runcomplex, so that they can see/smell each other but can't get to eachother. I was also going to put some of their toys in withherand vice versa so they get used to each others smells and keeping itlike that for a while as the boys have only been neutered 3 weeks andso as I understand it will still be quite hormonal and could still gether pregnant.

I've tried this method with rats before and it worked well, thoughrabbits are entirely diffrent I'm hoping that then when I am eventuallyable to thry them all together it might go more smoothly if they ahevenem used to each others smells, sight for a few weeks.

She's copming to me tonight and we have a vets appointment on Sat forher vaccinations, her previous owners didn't bother, and for a generalcheck up. I'm going to discuss whether neutering her would be best asthey said to me las night when I called up for a chat that if she isnot agressive it would not make that much difference.

Any tips with the bonding?

 

[misskitty]

i thought i'd post some pictures of them all:

here is mum, the new rabbit. She's being netured just after xmas: Ihave been told by her previous owners she is a tri coloured angora
[flash=320,256]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0018-1.jpg[/flash]
[flash=320,256]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0013-1.jpg[/flash]
[flash=320,256]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0083.jpg[/flash]

Here is her boyfrind, my buns dad, who has now sadly passed away.
[flash=320,256]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0080.jpg[/flash]

The litter they had:
[flash=320,256]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0011-1.jpg[/flash]

And here two of the litter who I kept:
as babies:
[flash=320,256]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0031.jpg[/flash]
and now:
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/little_miss_kitty_uk/Animals/PICT0150.jpg

 

[cmh9023]

Ohmy gosh...they are SO, SO cute!!!That is my favorite kind of coloring. I'm thinking of trying to form athreesome as well, but I have a new boy that I would introduce to amale and female couple. Don't know if that will work. Do youknow if you should introduce the new guy to one of them at a time orboth at the same time? My avatar picture is the new guy,Buster.

 

[SOOOSKA]

WOW, what beautiful babies you have.

I look forward to more pictures of all of them.

Susan:snowflake:

 

[misskitty]

Hi everyone,

Its been a while since I posted on here! The 3 buns are now living veryhappily together..but this weekend I cought home a resue baby!! She'sonly 2 months old and so not neutured. I'm wondering what everyonethinks the sucess rate would be of trying to bond her with my 3 alreadybonded & netured buns (1 female and 2 males).

I had them all out on the bed together the other day, 1 at a time withher and they seemed okay..sniffing and licking her and they even leddown next to each other and groomed themselves, thinking they weregetting on okay I out them all out in the garden together to see whathappened...they each had a go at chasing/humping her so it is back tothe method i used to bond the other 3 of her living in a hutch at thebottom of their run so they can see/smell each other and letting the 3and her out in sucession into the run so their smells etc will mix!

here's a pic of the two boys nearly 1 yr old now: