Bonding a Trio: Is This Good or Bad?

[Antha]

I have 3 rabbits. Cutie and Maya are 1 year old females, a bonded pair. Stan has been living above their cage for about 8 months. They are all in my bedroom together, so they certainly smell each other. All have been altered and healed a while ago. I actually had to re-bond Cutie and Maya together after their spay.

I want to bond Stan to the girls. He seems lonely and frustrated. Here’s how the bonding has gone so far:

1) Put them all in an x-pen together. Cutie immediately attacked Stan. She is the dominant between the girls. Maya backs up Cutie if she thinks she needs the help, but mostly she stays out of it. Fur flew.

2) Put them on the tile hallway enclosed by a baby gate on each side. Gave them maybe 2 feet of space. I put one of my sister’s dogs on one baby gate and the other on the other one. They barked at the rabbits. Stan is always mellow and loud noises don’t freak him out, but Cutie and Maya got real close to him and went to him for comfort. Cutie even groomed Stan.

3) Several bonding sessions in the hallway. Stan tries to stay away from the girls. Cutie tries to “invite” Stan into their group under the condition that she is the dominant. She has groomed him several times, she comes over to him and hangs out near him. She tries to eat food with him. However, he once humped Maya and that got Cutie mad and so she chased him off. When it comes to Maya, that is the only time Cutie seems remotely aggressive toward Stan now. She nips gently and chases him away. She clearly does NOT want to hurt him, but she doesn’t want him to be the boss.

4) Cutie and Stan alone in the bath tub. No fights. Cutie was scared and went to Stan but he mostly just wanted to get out of the tub. He doesn’t slip around the same way she does, as he has a lower center of gravity and has never had a problem with slippery surfaces.

Side note: I’ve played coyote and wolf sounds off YouTube and my tablet with the girls and Stan in a small area. Girls get nervous and huddle near Stan. I’ve also run the vacuum cleaner. Same thing. Girls nervous and scared and run to Stan. Stan couldn’t care less and is mellow.

 Here are the dynamics:

 Maya/Stan: She’s cool with him. Hasn’t been affectionate but goes right near him. Is indifferent. Only time she gets her hackles up about him is if Cutie needs “help” and gangs up on him. She’s very comfortable near him, as she just doesn’t seem to care.

Cutie/Stan: Major power struggle. Cutie really wants Stan to be a part of their group. She hops over to him and tries to encourage him to play with them. She grooms him sometimes. He refuses to groom her. He puts his head down for grooming, she will often lift her head high in refusal. You stress her a little and she runs right to him. When she has the option to be by herself, she doesn’t take it. She sits very near Stan. However, if he should try to mount her (he only tried 1-2 times) she nips and runs off.

Cutie also marks her territory. Something Maya and Stan are not doing.

Lately, Stan just goes elsewhere if Maya or Cutie come near him, like he just wants to avoid the “drama”. As though if he doesn’t get to be boss, he is “going to take his ball and go home”. Cutie makes every effort to be friendly, with her condition that she be boss, but now Stan is just nervous of them and runs away whenever they come near him.

There is no aggression since that first encounter. It’s more “warning nips” if Stan tries to overreach his authority and try to hump Maya or be dominant and some “chasing away” if he’s hanging out with Maya without Cutie.

Also, the other night, it seemed like Cutie was trying to get both Maya and Stan to “play chase”. Stan hid from her and Maya just seemed uninterested. Do rabbits play-chase? Is it bad that Stan now hides from them? Or that he seems to prefer to play and hang out with me even more so since he feels “rejected” by the girls? Now that Stan is refusing interaction with the girls, is there any way they will all ever be bonded together? Will he ever stop trying to get away from wherever they are?

 

[Beka27]

This is not my area of expertise as I’ve never bonded more than a pair, but just based on your description, I would say it does sound hopeful!

We have several members with 3+ bonding experience. I’m sure they’ll be along soon to help you out! 🙂

[Zombie-Sue]

I don’t think that she’s trying to play any games by hiding? Your description of the situation confused me a little bit.

No, that’s not a bad thing. As long as they’re not fighting, you are making progress.

[Antha]

Unfortunately, I’ll have to try more bonding at a later time. I’m giving Stan and the girls a break. I have separated them. Cutie and Stan keep getting into their fur flying fights now, ever since they had a “disagreement” about who’s treat it was. He’s still not hiding, but he’s defending himself and that’s been causing some rolling around and mid air fights. It’s just so…disappointing. However, I cannot let them get hurt. I don’t know why it was progressing well and I nearly even thought they were fully bonded (all three of them were laying cuddled together) and the next day, a spat about who’s treat it causes them to revert completely back to the beginning. Is this a common thing? I know it can be “2 steps forward and 1 step back” but this seems more like “5 steps forward, 5 steps back”. I was 90% sure they were going to be fully “in sync” in another day or two because it had been going so well.

Maya already seems to miss Stan. The girls can see and smell him (I gave him the bottom level of their 3 level condo but sealed the upper two levels off) but Stan nor the girls can get at each other. It’s zip tied and blocked off securely with storage cube grids.

After so many fights, is there any hope? Should I try to bond him and Cutie alone since he and Maya are already “cool with each other”?

[Antha]

Would it be better to get a female for Stan to bond with and later try bonding the 4 together into a quartet? I’m going to take a 1-2 week break so that Cutie and Stan can forget about their fight and then try stress bonding them. If it doesn’t work out, would it be better to have Stan be alone or have him go on “bunny dates” to find that special bunny girl? Thoughts?

[calipa_st]

I don’t know if I’d personally add a fourth. But, I have three unbonded and I am stressed about it!! lol, so the thought of a fourth sounds overwhelming. I’d probably keep at doing them as pairs, with stan/maya and stan/cutie then after they are all good, I’d just put all three in the tub or maybe a laundry basket? something smaller and force them to be close.

[Author]

Messages