Bonding Journal

[Alex&Clary]

Hello All!

This is going to be my bonding adventure, so first I will introduce my rabbits!

Clary, a female spayed mini rex, white with blue eyes, and full of energy and sass. A little over 1 year old

Ruby, a female spayed flemish giant, white, and very lazy, but protective of her cage and stuff.  About 3 years old

Baby Bun (no name yet), male soon to be neutered unknown breed, still getting to know him. About 10 weeks old

Clary and Ruby have been living next to each other for almost a year now, and will cuddle through the bars, and touch noses. This has never lead to biting, so I am not worried about biting between them. However every time they are put together no matter where, even in the bathtub it leads to humping, grunting, spinning, and kicking. They have been making progress though because they will ignore each other for about 10 minutes at a time, then they are seperated before the fur starts to fly. 

At this point I am wondering if it would be best to let the girls figure out dominance in the bathtub, and then move them to a larger area after they have calmed down, since I think that if I give them time to figure out who is in charge there will be less fighting in the long run. 

So my plan for now is to put both girls in the bathtub and stand guard and separate them if it gets too intense, but let the somewhat petty stuff happen. 

My end goal is to have a trio, I will be starting with the girls bonded then adding him after he is neutered and such. 

Does this sound like an ok idea?

I would love some critiques since this will be my first time bonding rabbits. 

[sarahthegemini]

Just so you know, adding in the third bun could break up the duo you’re bonding now. You’ll need to be prepared for that. 

Humping is fine,  it’s part of them establishing who’s top bun but if it leads to full on fighting it’s possible that the two are not compatible.  If both want to be top and neither is willing to back down, it’s not gunna end well. Try to break up any fighting before it starts.

[Mikey]

With our male still being intact/not neutered, your females will smell his hormones when be becomes hormonal and many fights are likely to break out. You shouldnt attempt any bonding with him until a month or two after he is neutered to avoid injury or death between your bunnies. I say this even though you already mentioned it, because it is easier to bond 3 nonbonded bunnies together than it is to bond a new bunny into an already bonded pair. You are better off having three single bunnies until your male is neutered and healed

[Alex&Clary]

Okay, I will keep it just singles for a while and then after my boy is neutered I will try a trio, does anyone have any tips on bonding a trio instead of a pair?

[Author]

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