Bonding four question

:wave:
We're on day 3 of bonding our new boy Malone in with our existing trio of 2 females and one male.
It's not going too bad, but it's not great either. In our previous bonding experiences, there was the usual start of nipping and hair pulling which then calmed down and by the end of the first day they were all happy and starting to cuddle together.
However this time, it just doesn't seem to be happening :?
Malone seems to sit at one end, with the other three at the other, or he just sits in the toilet tray alone. He has started to go over to them slowly, but then backs away when they notice him :lol: but then the other three don't seem to be making any effort either.
At the moment they're in an area about 8 ft by 4 ft. Should we make this smaller to try and encourage them to be closer together - or just leave it and hope that it will happen with time?

I think maybe we have been lucky with our previous bonds, but obviously we haven't got anything really to compare this bond to.

Any advice appreciated!! :thumb:

Have you considered putting them all in the carrier together and going for a car ride, so that Malone has to be near the others?

TBH I would be reducing the space so that they have to lie closer together - the last couple of fours I've bonded have had 2m x 1m ... but I always close it down to 1m square at "quiet time" when they're all chilling and snoozing - usually afternoon.

It's sounding reasonably promising if your existing boy (and girls) haven't taken issue with him being there.

Will they eat together? x

They don't seem to do anything together!! - The other three just seem to not mind him being there, but that's about all - I guess that's better than constant fighting though :lol:

Will try reducing the size, see how they cope :thumb:

Well, we reduced the size yesterday and things are still the same. Watching them for a bit, the main problem is Daisy - She is very close to our other female, Gizmo and while Giz and Marley aren't too fussed about Malone - Daisy will grunt and chase him away if Malone goes anywhere near the group.

I think Daisy is at the bottom of the tier in the trio and I wonder if she's being so mean to try and put Malone in at the bottom, but it's quite sad to see. Malone is always sitting on his own in one corner

Should we be thinking about removing Daisy from the bonded trio - getting Malone bonded in and then re-introducing Daisy? - Sounds like it could go all wrong, but she seems to be ruining/preventing the whole bonding process :roll:

Thanks