New addition to family?

[Knittybun]

Hello! I’m new to this board, but not to bunny ownership. For five yeats I have been the proud bunny mommy of two, a dwarf hybrid named Evee and a lop named Ash. First came Evee, who is a real little diva. She demand attention on her terms (which means almost constently), and would pout terribly when she didn’t get it. This lead to getting Ash, so she would have a third being to lavish attention and grooming on her . He is very easy going, and their bonding was basically immediate, and they are completely inseparable. We can only estimate their ages as they were both resuces, but we believe they are both turning six this spring.

Now I am leaning toward getting a third bundle of joy, this time a baby I could rasie from the start, and I thinking of a Flemish Giant! I love the idea of a huge snuggly bunny-puppy! Our buns already have a good size enclosure (3′ x 4′ plus balcony) and I plan to enlarge it if I get another, but I have a lot of questions.

Should I keep the new bun totally seporate from the others until he has been “snipped” (which would be as soon as he’s old enough)? I’ve heard the trip to the vet can change how buns interact. Our apartment only has the one large living space, so he would be in the same space but seporate enclosure.

I don”t want to disrupt Evee and Ash’s relationship, and would like this guy to bond more to me, but I don’t know how much control I have over that.

Evee and Ash basically just litter box trained auromatically, so there are all those usual concern. Evee, the diva already has a tendency to go outside the box, as if saying, “I can go in the box, if I feel like it.” so I don’t know what an extra set of scents will do with that.

Plus a couple dozen other things I can’t think of off hand, but will likely come up later. Looking forward to you thoughts.

Thanks!

[Elrohwen]

Bonding trios tends to be much harder than bonding pairs and just having a third bun in the house can break up an existing pair. If you do decide to get a flemmie, I’d keep him totally separate from the other two at least until after he is neutered. At that point you can try introductions, but keep in mind that they might not go well. If you’re prepared to have a single bunny plus a pair, then I think it could work. If you really want him to bond to the other two, it might be a ton of work. Litter habits of all three buns will probably go out the window too (“poop wars” are common when new bunnies are introduced).

 

I’m not trying to talk you out of it, just laying out what issues could come up. If you’re really ready for a third, you’ll work through the issues.

[Knittybun]

I kind of pictured it being more of a pair and a single kind of situation, but didn’t know how to approach that. Neither of my current buns are too interested in hangin out with the humans, and from what I’ve read about the breed, flemmies are more confident around people. Also, both of my babies are rescues, and did not have the kind of hands on early interaction they needed, which is another reason I think they like being with each other better then people. I know Ash lived with a dog at his second home (complex story) and is just very relaxed, so I don’t worry too much about him. Evee generally likes anyone that pets her head (or grooms her, in bunny terms) but she can have a lot of attitude (she makes a lot of squeeky, growly sounds, and lunges at Ash sometimes – but he is nearly twice her size so he doesn’t put up with it for long, starts chasin her, then she squeals and takes off for a hiddy spot) and that worries me a bit.

And while they do have a large pen, they get frequent free run time, though they don’t tend to spend much time out even when the gate is open.

[Elrohwen]

I responded in your bonding thread, so take a look. Bunnies can’t live together casually, so any new bun would have to have his own space and play time with no interaction with the other two (unless you want to bond them). Bunnies are very territorial, so it’s likely that Evee would be upset just having another bun in the same house.

Also, in my experience, much of bun personality is genetic. Getting a baby doesn’t guarantee that they will be friendly when they grow up. My boy came from a good breeder at 8 weeks and I handled him extensively – he’s aloof and very grumpy and doesn’t like pets. My girl was from a petstore (her previous owner got her sometime in her youth, but didn’t know the exact age). She’s extremely human oriented and cuddly (on the floor, hates to be picked up). Socialization does play some role, of course, but a well socialized baby bun won’t necessarily grow into a friendly human oriented bunny. I guess I’m just trying to say that getting a third as a baby won’t guarantee you a super friendly bun and you might just end up with a big headache living with three buns.

[Knittybun]

That’s why I came to this board, to get some advice and other perspectives. I don’t know how they would respond to a new friend. I’m not opposed to bonding them, and would much rather have one big happy family. I hadn’t realized that everyone needed to “bond” to cohabitate; I thought I had heard of two seporate pairs living in the same space, but not refered to as a foursome. I’ve read lots of experiences, both good and bad about bonding a third in. I know we don’t have a seporate room for any of them to live completely apart from the others; even in seporate enclosures ( which they, of course, would be for the first couple months til the new arrival could be neutered), they would be in the same room. Evee is definitely dominate. When we were bonding her and Ash I realized her aggression, charging and growling at the gate, was actually aimed at the divider itself, not Ash. As soon as we got rid of the divider she was fine with him. Part of me believes she would happly accept anyone willing to groom her (again, Diva!), but of course, one never knows what will happen. If I do get another bunny, I want everyone to be happy about it.

[Elrohwen]

Yeah, that’s the tricky part with a baby – you don’t know what they’ll be like as a group until the baby is mature and speutered. Maybe check out buns in shelters who are already mature? You can take your pair to meet the new bun and get an idea of how a trio would work out with that particular bun. There are definitely flemmies and other big buns in shelters who love nothing more than hanging out with people.

Bunnies can live in separate enclosures in the same room and we have some members here who do this, so maybe they’ll weigh in. Since Evee was aggressive to a barrier before she might be again, but then she might get used to another bun hopping around right outside her pen. It’s likely that there will be poop wars though and nobunny’s litter habits will be great if they’re sharing the same basic territory and trying to remark everything as their own.

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