What are people’s thoughts on group living

[Claire&Phil]

Is it advisable to keep more than two rabbits living in a group? We had four together but found the natural pecking order was causing to much stress for one or two members of the group. We decided to split the group up to prevent any possible health or behavioural issues. What are people’s thoughts on this?

[Jack's-Jane]

Personally I dont like keeping my Buns in anything but pairs. In a domestic setting I dont think its possible for me to adequately monitor the physical and psychological well-being of Buns kept in large groups.
Maybe if the Buns are kept in a 'natural' environment ie in a massive outdoor enclosure with burrows and logs and various foliage etc then group living may work. Although again I would not feel I were able to keep a good enough check on everyBun.

I dont like hearing of attempts at group bonding that results in numerous Buns being stressed and injured :cry:

Janex :)

[elve]

I think they're happiest in pairs too - My 4 girls are very settled as a group, but there is a pecking order which is more obvious than in a pair, and Victoria is always challenging it as she's been bottom of the heap for 2yrs - and of course the top bunny has to constantly assert herself as top bunny and woe betide anyone who refuses to groom her.

Main evidence of pecking order is when I appear, as top bunny (Primrose) is convinced I have food and proceeds to chase and mount Zinniea incase she steals the food :roll: She'd never dare challenge her sister and almost equal (or maybe bunny in command?) Petunia, and Victoria just runs away as she's STILL terrified of me :shock:

However, while it hangs together and they are loved up most of the time, share food nicely once it's in front of them, and don't fight for any other reason, I'm happy to leave them as a group.

[Vanessa.B]

This makes interesting reading as there is a pecking order with our three.

Rosie (the biggest and most timid) is definately at the bottom and I do fret that she is being left out. Holly (her tiny sister) has decided to show preference for our cool dude Herbie and doesn't always want Rosie around. :(

Herbie loves being top bun but he is not an agressive soul so there is no fighting just the occasional reminder that he is the main man. I do find them snuggled together and they all eat together with no probs so on the whole the group works BUT I do know it works less for Rosie and have pangs of concern for her.

They will be moving outside when the weather picks up so this may alter things and as the girlies are not yet spayed this may also alter the group dynamic too. Thinking about it as the girlies are not spayed they do get on remarkably well :D

[elve]

This makes interesting reading as there is a pecking order with our three.

Rosie (the biggest and most timid) is definately at the bottom and I do fret that she is being left out. Holly (her tiny sister) has decided to show preference for our cool dude Herbie and doesn't always want Rosie around. :(

Herbie loves being top bun but he is not an agressive soul so there is no fighting just the occasional reminder that he is the main man. I do find them snuggled together and they all eat together with no probs so on the whole the group works BUT I do know it works less for Rosie and have pangs of concern for her.

They will be moving outside when the weather picks up so this may alter things and as the girlies are not yet spayed this may also alter the group dynamic too. Thinking about it as the girlies are not spayed they do get on remarkably well :D

yeah I think 3 is a very awkward number for a group as one is usually left out of grooming sessions - my group of 4 tends to be Petunia/Victoria and Primrose/Zinniea - that's how I'd split them if I had to. None of them are spayed either.

[Gem]

There was no pecking order in our group of five:?

No one ever fought, the all played & ate together nicely, probably an exception rather than a rule though :)

[Tamsin]

If you look at wild rabbits there are two pecking orders, the male heirachy and the female one. When you have a neutered male-female pair there often isn't a particularly obvious competition/heirachy.

When you start introducing multiple rabbits of different sexes you've got two heirachy's on the go - the males and the females , and then how those two sets interact with each other. You've also introduced something to compete about (bunnies of the opposite sex).

It can work but it's much more complicated. I think you also probably need a bigger space for a group than you would for a pair, over and above the proportionally larger space for the extra bodies.

A lot depends on the rabbits to, if you've got rabbits that want to be at the top of the group it's going to be chaos but a group of submissive rabbits would work.

Tam

[Claire&Phil]

If you look at wild rabbits there are two pecking orders, the male heirachy and the female one. When you have a neutered male-female pair there often isn't a particularly obvious competition/heirachy.

When you start introducing multiple rabbits of different sexes you've got two heirachy's on the go - the males and the females , and then how those two sets interact with each other. You've also introduced something to compete about (bunnies of the opposite sex).

It can work but it's much more complicated. I think you also probably need a bigger space for a group than you would for a pair, over and above the proportionally larger space for the extra bodies.

A lot depends on the rabbits to, if you've got rabbits that want to be at the top of the group it's going to be chaos but a group of submissive rabbits would work.

Tam

I would also add that a group of wild rabbits live in colonies, with sub-groups of up to 8 and these would be related. Perhaps bounding unrelated males and females is a less natural process leading to greater chances of poorer results.

[Jack's-Jane]

Perhaps bounding unrelated males and females is a less natural process leading to greater chances of poorer results.

I certainly think that is true

Janex

[AlisonA]

When we moved house in July I bonded my two existing pairs into a group of four, largely because it was neutral territory and they would have more space all the time if they were together.

It did work quite well for a time - bizarrely, Santa, my weeny nethie, was the boss, and she totally changed allegiances and became best buddies with both Harry and Heather. Three really wasn't a crowd and the three of them used to sit cuddled together all the time. Dudley however was definitely bottom of the pecking order and although not actively bullied, was often sitting alone and clearly not altogether happy much of the time.

I persisted for a while because I know these things can take time to settle, but eventually I separated them back into their pairs. Santa's health took a turn for the worse (not related to the bonding, but to those darn tooth roots!) so the bigger ones started bullying her a bit. At that point I put them back in their pairs.

If there is a good amount of space, I do think it can work if you have the 'right' buns, but if you have buns happy in their existing bondings and arrangements which work, personally I would stick with the status quo and leave them to it.

[maxxev]

"If there is a good amount of space, I do think it can work if you have the 'right' buns, but if you have buns happy in their existing bondings and arrangements which work, personally I would stick with the status quo and leave them to it"


i agree. a lot depends on the personality of the rabbits themselves. i've kept rabbits in trios which has worked well.

[lisabunnie]

The largest group i had living together was 13 but it was in a very large avairy.

I had no problems at all with bonding ( done gradually). all these rabbits lived together very nicely no fights or scuffling.

I now have four living together and they all get along


It can work well under the right conditions but i have also been to a collector (for the charity) to rescue a large collection of bunnies that lived together and i was shocked by the amount of wounds old and new that the bunnies had. it was manly wounds to the eyes but because the rabbits weren't checked properly nearly all of them had abcesses. He would allow them to fight and when adding a new one just put it in with the others and left them to "sort it out ":evil:

[Tamsin]

In the wild a group would be formed by trial and error so that it ended up balanced. A rabbit that wasn't settled in wouldn't stay. I think that's the issue with a domestic setting. Not so much the group part but the fact we're pre-selecting a group and it's very hard to pick correctly.

Tam

[Jack's-Jane]

In the wild a group would be formed by trial and error so that it ended up balanced. A rabbit that wasn't settled in wouldn't stay. I think that's the issue with a domestic setting. Not so much the group part but the fact we're pre-selecting a group and it's very hard to pick correctly.

Tam

Totally agree with that

Janex

[Willow_Warren]

This is quite and interesting forum, I've always "fancied" the idea of a group of rabbits (when I say fancied that's what I meant, the same way I fancy Brad Pitt - it's not going to go anywhere!).

But I have thought that they would probable need a exponentially larger space, e.g. if a rabbit quires "x" square feet, 6 rabbits would need something like 12x, rather than 6x etc... well kind of anyhow, not sure of the specifics and I've not based it on any fact... just my mindless thoughts!

Good point about us picking the "groups"... think of a friend arranging me a marriage and shudders!!!

Hannah

[Lea-Anne]

I find having a group twice as good as keeping them in pairs.

Mine were in 3 male/female bonded pairs. All lived next door to each other and were always side by side in runs which is partly why I feel the bonding went so well. I had had them like this for 2 years so they weren't strangers.
Bonding took 2 days. They was a tiny amount of chasing but nothing else. None of them have ever humped each other let alone anything else! Fraggle was instantly boss and everyone else just fell into line. They have made new bonds now and get on great. Dex and Monty in particularly are extremely close. I feel they are a lot more active and content now than they were before. I watch them for hours interacting ! It is fasinating stuff. They have completely changed their behaviour.
Naturally I feel it boils down to making sure there is enough space and resources and of course temperament of the animals.

[Claire&Phil]

I guess i have started a interesting thread after having seen all your responses.

Having split the four up, it would appear that the two bigger buns (French Lops) who where at the brunt of the others behaviour, are a lot more relaxed and calmer.

The other day I put the runs of the now two groups together and upon seeing each other there were lots of snifing one another followed by bitting. This confirms that we will not attempt to reunite the group together agian.

Phil