The future to come...

[BunnyBunch]

Ok, so we only recently succeeded in bonding our three bunnies Lily, Annabelle, and Travis. And they are so very very happy, but the road along the way was not an easy one.... Adopted Lily first (a 3mo. old lop). Went to find her a buddy without her, and ended up adopting and bringing home a bonded pair (M&F adult mixed breeds). During the whole time that all three were in our home (until bonded as a trio) the pair were kept together in a condo, and Lily was kept in a seperate condo next to the pair. So they could see and smell each other, and even reach each other with their paws, but couldn't hurt each other. And i'd swap their condos every few days. The idea here being that they learn they NEED to live in each other's scent. In attempts to have them all in same space (before spay): Lily would attack both of the pair indescriminately. The male and Lily were both territorial and aggressive with each other, whereas the other female would hide and try to avoid confrentation. We tried multiple times to bond them, but only bites resulted (and a poo filled apartment as they were having a battle of the markers). As per some expert advice we put bonding on hold until Lily was spayed and had recovered. Then we tried again. Now the girls got along fine. Lily also mellowed out and so was friendly toward the male, but he was still being territorial and aggressive. Then almost a week ago (a month and a half after Lily's spay) it seemed as though he just threw in the towel because he tried to groom Lily through the gate, and when I let all three together they were fine... and have been since.

But nowbegins a new chapter in our lives- Lenny. Lenny is a young male neutered bunny that we have committed to rescuing from death row. We are still waiting on news as to when some volunteers will be pulling him from the shelter he's at and start the transport from there to here (to us). We are very excited to have him as part of the family, and so its been torture to wait for any news. In the meantime we are trying to stay distracted by getting everything ready for him. Now that the bunnies have bonded together, I am unsure as to how they will take a fourth bunny. I've heard the more bunnies you have the easier it is to introduce a new one, and don't understand how someone can make a statement like that since each bunny has an individual personality. Nonetheless, if there are bunny moms or dads or groups out there that have had experience with this please pass on your knowledge and experiences to me.

 

[fuzz16]

i think there is a site about someone who bonded 7...i think thats the most ive heard of though. i tried finding the article but couldnt...maybe someone else knows where it is.

i would definately recommend blogging this adventure!! ive heard trios can be difficult enough but 4somes are a whole nother thing

 

[Torchster]

I wish you the best of luck. I am thinking really hard about going to three. I have done a lot of research (at least I'd like to think that I have) and it is kind of a mixed bag. The biggest I have heard of is 11. Wow, that is a lot o buns!

Anyway, there are 2 schools of thought on this. Some people say you can bond any buns together. I don't believe that, but some people say that. Granted sometimes it will be much harder than others, but some people swear that any buns can be bonded together if you work at it hard enough.

I am of the school of thought that it really up to the buns. If you get two alpha buns, two buns that HAVE to be the leader, it won't work. They will fight and fight and you will have spend all yer time watching them. You can try and force the issue, but I don't think that is healthy. Just my opinion.

You won't find much information out there going beyond a trio. All I have heard, and this is second hand from people I barely know, is that it seems easier the more that there are.

The problem is that so few people go beyond a pair - and fewer yet go beyond that, the data becomes difficult to come by. Most people on here, that I know of, that have more than a couple of buns, keep them in separate cages.

Here are some links (I hope that these work)

The best info I know of once you get beyond 3…
http://www.mybunnies.com/bonding.htm

This is a good place to start here at RO…
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12072&forum_id=17

I don’t know who put this together, but I spend a lot of time here…
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#bond

Some other places of interest…
http://www.ontariorabbits.org/diet/behavinfo2.2.html

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-8/rabbits-in-the-plural.html

I hope that this helps.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Mouse_chalk has some experience with a 4some, I believe... you may want to PM her

 

[BunnyBunch]

the link mybunnies.com is actually the final method that I used to bond the three we have now and it worked. I plan on trying it again with the new guy. I hadn't bookmarked it before though so thanks for that. It's bookmarked now : )

 

[BunnyBunch]

I PMed mouse_chalk so maybe he/she will drop by and give some advice too....