A friend of mine has a male-male bonded pair and was fostering a number of rescued rabbits as well. Two of which she wanted to bond to her pair and had them neutered. Her existing pair's dominant rabbit, Roger, began attacking his bonded buddy at the scent or sight of the new rabbits from across their barrier.  We agreed to try bonding the quartett at my house to start off fresh on neutral grounds.

I will post a concise summary so far as the process is still ongoing.  I just finished my own mixed trio bonding process coverage not long ago, but many members have wondered about neutered male multiples, so here it is .

Here are the 'subjects'

Roger, dominant, humpy bunny. Not abusive, though. Just likes to be the top bunny.

Bugs, Himalayan, tiny little bunny, probably the sweetest bun I have ever met. He seems to bond instantly to any creature including rabbits.

He is Roger's long-time bonded friend.

Valmore. A 5-month-old, medium sized agouti rabbit with a cottontail look. He is originally out of a rescued feral litter. He is shy, having had little handling. Very powerful hindlegs... truthfully, my favorite bunny ever.

Clifford, 2 year-old (like Roger and Bugs), gentle, friendly, three-and-a-half pound rabbit, life-of-the-party personality. He humps everything, including cats. Easy to handle, curious, loves people, dogs, but very humpy with other rabbits.

I started with Roger and Valmore as I figured Bugs would make for a quick bond (I tested with my own rabbit Mops who is non-aggressive).

I didn't capture the first bath tub intro on tape because it was very beligerent and I needed my hands free. They fought and I separated them using fine mist from my shower head. This is why they look damp in this video.

I repeated bath tub sessions every night for five days, sometimes with the tap running as a stressor. They didn't fight again but Valmore seemed scared/guarded and Roger didn't want to risk getting in a quarrel so nobunny really made any advances.

I transferred them into a small section of my patio corner (my own rabbits were in the basement, nowhere near these guys) and started sessions with Roger and Valmore providing them with two neutral litter boxes, and treats. I had a long-handled broom ready in case of a scuffle.

They relaxed as they explored and I felt  that stress-bonding was not indicated for these two at that point.

I repeated these sessions for about two hours on five consecutive days.

...to be continued.

(is 5 photo attachments the limit per post?)

Then, as the novelty of Roger and Valmore had worn off between them which didn't take a week even, I added Bugs, caged, into their space to check for signs of aggression in Roger (this was my friend's concern, that Roger's bond to Bugs would disintegrate ).

Everybunny was calm. The next day, I put the three together on top of my running dryer inside this tiny cage that Bugs is shown inside of here.

From the moment I brought in Bugs it was a matter of instant-trio bond. (who knew such a thing existed??)

Then, I took it a step further, not wanting to let the trio cement their triangle permanently, knowing they are meant to become a quartett.

I presented Clifford to them in their space but caged.

But my streak ended when I did a bath tub intro between Valmore and Clifford. Valmore, once more scared and tense, but Clifford more determined to hump than Roger. Valmore bit at Clifford.  I settled them down with running water noise from the tap, petted them calm and separated them. I tried Clifford with Bugs the next day and it was another intant bond as seems to be the magic of Bugs... magical enough I was able to add Roger to them in the small cage but petting them lots all the while. Roger will sit as long as I keep stroking his head.  I continue working on Valmore and Clifford separately. My plan is to keep doing tri-bun sessions between Clifford, Bugs and Roger until I get Valmore and Clifford beginning to act friendly and curious about one another in the bathroom.

I did, however,  allow the new trio be together 24/7 from here on in.

(Bugs is love: he tolerates and gives.  If the world was more like this little Himalayan rabbit, there would be peace and friendship as a matter of course!)

""From the moment I brought in Bugs it was a matter of instant-trio bond. (who knew such a thing existed??)""

I couldn't even imagine!  There's always two that have to have some little issue! The three look so good together though! They are all sooooo adorable!

Petzy! If you pull this off, you're a bloody legend!

Are you going to become a professional bonder?

To sort everybody for name reference, here is the new trio, from left to right:

Valmore (uppy-eared, agouti bun), little Bugs (Himalayan), and Roger (lop).

and here is the problem. Clifford. A.k.a. 'Superhump',  an icon of masculinity.

Clifford has a stuffed toy to love but it doesn't interest him as much as the real thing.

*Clifford has bald spots on his ears and above his nose from mosquito bites. He came to us like that. He has been treated and it has healed but the hairs are still growing back.

I did a bath tub session between Valmore and Clifford today.

you can see here it started out rough.

I ran the water and my dog barked at the commotion which halted the combat.

Valmore looking for a way out...

Then they settled down and I ended on a reasonably calm note.

I also did a session between Clifford and Roger, in a small sink. Roger is not nearly as nervous and jumpy  when meeting Clifford as is Valmore. Roger tolerated Clifford.

I then transferred all 4 rabbits into a neutral cage, where Clifford humped Bugs while Roger ate noms. Valmore was the only rabbit upset by this situation. I had them together for a matter of 5 minutes before I separated Valmore and Clifford out and into a basket. I carried the two around in this basket for about ten mnutes, causing jerky motion and then sat  with them to pet them for 15 minutes. Clifford didn't try anything, his strength was running low from the different scenarios. Valmore not too happy, but a lot of it is me; he's scared of people still.

to be continued.

I wanted to add that even though it seems stressful, the new trio's bond has been unaffected by the intro sessions to Clifford.

Posted By jerseygirl on 07/30/2009 05:16 PM

Are you going to become a professional bonder?

Jersey, funny. I'll add it to my resume, why not?! Then, all I have to do in a job interview, is explain what is wrong with me...

Thanks, Sir Thumpsey. -- In my neck of the woods there is a very limited need for this sort of service.    I do think, however, it is easier to bond rabbits away from their home for obvious reasons. When this bunch arrived, they were very confused from having been displaced from their home and routines. It gave me an advantage.

Here are some photos showing  Valmore with his three sisters, he was the only boy. Excuse the crate, it's not the best set-up, I had them in it only for night times when they were kits. Valmore is the only one of the 4 boys to bond now who had been at my house before but he was little then, and only in the basement (these kits were noisy).

The curious one in front  is Valmore's sister.  Her coat's ticking is more pronounced.

That's Valmore again  behind his two black sisters.

The Agouti sister is bigger than Valmore now. (Valmore turning his back here)

As they were from a feral mother (she was caught pregnant), I notice that the agoutis seem to have a heavier coat on them than other domestic rabbits I have had. I'd say it's my imagination but especially their white underside's section of coat is very dense upon examination.  Is this an agouti trait?

Progress today. My plan was to basket Clifford first with Bugs, then with Roger and last with Valmore. I was thinking of pairing him up for a time with each of the three consecutively, from easy to harder bonds. But Clifford surprised me when he didn't jump on Bugs this time like a deprived buck. He was calm. He did begin to 'hang on' to Bugs and there was some mounting but nothing seriously annoying.

I then quickly changed my mind and joined Roger.

the video is explicit but really I thought it went well.

I dared bring in Valmore. He froze, but didn't freak out until muc later, and only mildly.

After Valmore got upset, I petted him hard until he calmed down, then I rocked them on the basket's straps. I left them sitting like this for twenty-five minutes. Note in this photo, Valmore is touching with Clifford but keeping himself together.

i will repeat this tomorrow, and see if they are ready for a less confined space.

wow- that is amazing.  And I love seeing the "tub o' bunnies".

Today I left out Bugs. My reasoning was that watching back my clips I felt that he was like a magnet to Clifford and keeping him from attempting interactions with the other two.

Well, Valmore was nippy at first toward Clifford, so I let Roger join in for reassurance (Roger and valmore, even though newly bonded are really hitting it off). Still, Valmore wanted to chase Clifford out of the basket. I shook them up a bit, gently, to freeze up Valmore because he kept aggressing towrad Clifford. It worked. I thought it might be a good time to try the 'bonding in suspense' i had read about.

This is the set-up.

I rocked them, and ended on a good note.

this is how it was:

I like this approach for Valmore because he responds little to my attempts of calming him as he is just scared of people touching him.

I spent about 25 minutes all in all including transfers.

This was taken last night . Watch Roger in this video.  They had been in a pile for about a half hour and it was crowded, Clifford humping the other three a little. When I took Clifford out to call it a session, I waited a little to see if the other three would stir at all, what they would do. Clifford slipped into a trance and Roger reminded Valmore and Bugs that without Clifford, he's second to none. ...

This morning I tried the 4 in a neutral cage together and it was chaos: circling, chasing, nipping, attempted mounting lots of fur plucking, between Valmore and Clifford and between Clifford and Roger. No real biting, though, just fur plucking, posturing and causing a big fuss.

After that I did a paired session with just Valmore and Clifford without any struggles, just quiet sitting.

I will focus on Roger and Clifford tonight, as a pair, possibly in a different area. Roger is the dominant bun in the trio (meaning Roger, Bugs and Valmore). Valmore acts out of defense toward Clifford. Bugs is still fine with Clifford.

What a lucky find! A shopping cart would be great too! I wish I could find one of the little ones that you see in some stores that are for the kids to push around!

Like this, but it's expensive!!!: http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs...paignId=WP

You can actually find more shopping carts than I thought on ebay! hmmm... 

Clifford's trance is so funny! 

...an old stroller (the pram kind) might work, too! Apparently, you can get strollers now for ferrets.

We are having the finest weather, not too hot, but sunny and gentle breeze. I let my trio on the patio, and Lint *knew* something was up on the other side of the board behind him (the new trio). He was on edge.

They couldn't care less, they knew, however, that Lint was in a bad mood....

Lint and the two proceeded to move to the far south corner of the patio, the farthest spot away from the new trio. Notice, Lint 'hiding' behind them.