help with advice! RABBIT TRIO BONDING

[Aspen’sbuns]

Hey guys!

so my two female mini lops got spayed yesterday, which means we can start the bonding process properly in a few weeks. I need some advice with one particular area.
My boy bunny lives in a huge hutch and run, which is where we are planing on having them all live once bonded. We have a ‘deck’ of sorts at the top of our property, that we are gonna place two hutches on (they are only small two story ones, but it will only be temporary)

We plan on moving our boy bun out of his hutch, and into a smaller one next to the girls. We then plan to clean the original large hutch with vinegar to neutralise it.

We then plan on doing short bonding sessions that gradually increase over the space of a few weeks, until they are completely fine with each other and can stay together overnight

Is this method likely to work?? (House wise) I feel terribly mean moving my boy from his huge mansion into a smaller hutch, but can’t see any other option that will work best. If anyone has any advice about bonding a trio or anything about the housing please say!!

I also should mention, that all three buns have been living next to each other since about March/April. They have also spent complete days together in neutral territory before hand. They havent however been in the same area since about early-mid May as the girls began to get funny towards my boy bun

hopefully this is enough information for someone to be able to help me!

 

[Abi :)]

Hey guys!

so my two female mini lops got spayed yesterday, which means we can start the bonding process properly in a few weeks. I need some advice with one particular area.
My boy bunny lives in a huge hutch and run, which is where we are planing on having them all live once bonded. We have a ‘deck’ of sorts at the top of our property, that we are gonna place two hutches on (they are only small two story ones, but it will only be temporary)

We plan on moving our boy bun out of his hutch, and into a smaller one next to the girls. We then plan to clean the original large hutch with vinegar to neutralise it.

We then plan on doing short bonding sessions that gradually increase over the space of a few weeks, until they are completely fine with each other and can stay together overnight

Is this method likely to work?? (House wise) I feel terribly mean moving my boy from his huge mansion into a smaller hutch, but can’t see any other option that will work best. If anyone has any advice about bonding a trio or anything about the housing please say!!

I also should mention, that all three buns have been living next to each other since about March/April. They have also spent complete days together in neutral territory before hand. They havent however been in the same area since about early-mid May as the girls began to get funny towards my boy bun

hopefully this is enough information for someone to be able to help me!

Hi! Your method sounds okay to me, although if you are moving your male into a smaller hutch try offering him more toys and things to do so he doesn't get frustrated being in a smaller area, if you'd like you could even offer him longer free time so he can hop around for longer


There's a video below that may help

 

[Eve84]

Hi,
My suggestion would be a total different one.

As they need to clarify who is gonna be the boss, you need to let them do that.

As that is really stressful for them, I would not separate them in between and start again the next day etc. let them be together and leave them - it will only take a few hours up to 3 days mostly until they have clarified it and the stress is over and done.

If you clean it with vinegar it won’t help much, best is to get a neutral place, place them all together all at the same time! And let them clarify it until they eat and cuddle together. Plan to leave them there for three days.

Try to keep an close eye on them as much as possible, if there will be hunting and light fights that is normal, it looks horrible for us but for the rabbits that’s the way how their rules are to clarify who the boss is.

If the fights turn really bad, bloody wounds, one rabbit just sitting and the other is going around in circles ️ and biting - go in between but never with bare hands!

Try to distract them as much as possible with food but also let them have their own time to get it sorted soon.

Never separate them in between that can cause a not successful bonding for ever. And never place them next to each other that they can smell each other because that can increase aggression over days because they can smell each other but can’t get to each other but want to clarify who’s going to be the boss it just leads to aggressions.

That is my opinion but I know it’s very different.
Good luck
Eve

 

[Aspen’sbuns]

Hi,
My suggestion would be a total different one.

As they need to clarify who is gonna be the boss, you need to let them do that.

As that is really stressful for them, I would not separate them in between and start again the next day etc. let them be together and leave them - it will only take a few hours up to 3 days mostly until they have clarified it and the stress is over and done.

If you clean it with vinegar it won’t help much, best is to get a neutral place, place them all together all at the same time! And let them clarify it until they eat and cuddle together. Plan to leave them there for three days.

Try to keep an close eye on them as much as possible, if there will be hunting and light fights that is normal, it looks horrible for us but for the rabbits that’s the way how their rules are to clarify who the boss is.

If the fights turn really bad, bloody wounds, one rabbit just sitting and the other is going around in circles and biting - go in between but never with bare hands!

Try to distract them as much as possible with food but also let them have their own time to get it sorted soon.

Never separate them in between that can cause a not successful bonding for ever. And never place them next to each other that they can smell each other because that can increase aggression over days because they can smell each other but can’t get to each other but want to clarify who’s going to be the boss it just leads to aggressions.

That is my opinion but I know it’s very different.
Good luck
Eve

Hi, thanks for your reply!!!

I plan to gradually increase the time they are together over about the space of a week, until they are spending whole days together. They are outside bunnies, so there’s not really a place I can have them permanently for three or so days that is neutral that they can sort it out in. They will need to be supervised almost the whole time

With their hutch, (the larger one) it won’t be possible for me to get a new one, so it will have to be that one that they all live in (once bonded). Is there anything else you’d recommend we could use to neutralise it?? We planned to get a bunny from a rescue way back in December (which is when we got the shed and run) ; bond our male and the new bunny, and then have them move into the neutral hutch straight away. However, in our area we had the bushfires come through, so all rescues closed, and animals were sent to the larger city rescues, not returning until well into March, (by then, a few weeks later our rescues closed for aWe decided then, after returning from evacuating multiple times, that our Male bunny would just move in, and at that time a local breeder had these two mini lop girls, of which we took.

Obviously, our plan has not worked out exactly as we had hoped, but we are just going to have to deal with how it plays out I suppose.

I will watch the videos attached
I am hoping that the buns will go together easier, as they have been together many times before.
I will keep updating this thread as to how it is going!

 

[Eve84]

Hi, thanks for your reply!!!

I plan to gradually increase the time they are together over about the space of a week, until they are spending whole days together. They are outside bunnies, so there’s not really a place I can have them permanently for three or so days that is neutral that they can sort it out in. They will need to be supervised almost the whole time

With their hutch, (the larger one) it won’t be possible for me to get a new one, so it will have to be that one that they all live in (once bonded). Is there anything else you’d recommend we could use to neutralise it?? We planned to get a bunny from a rescue way back in December (which is when we got the shed and run) ; bond our male and the new bunny, and then have them move into the neutral hutch straight away. However, in our area we had the bushfires come through, so all rescues closed, and animals were sent to the larger city rescues, not returning until well into March, (by then, a few weeks later our rescues closed for aWe decided then, after returning from evacuating multiple times, that our Male bunny would just move in, and at that time a local breeder had these two mini lop girls, of which we took.

Obviously, our plan has not worked out exactly as we had hoped, but we are just going to have to deal with how it plays out I suppose.

I will watch the videos attached
I am hoping that the buns will go together easier, as they have been together many times before.
I will keep updating this thread as to how it is going!

Do you have a flexible play pen for your garden? You could use that as a neutral place and start very early in the morning so they have a good 12 hours in there all together and mostly it is already sorted in this 12 hours and you can bring them back to your main place.

I used the shed temporarily for my four as it was raining that day
Good luck eve