Bonding going wrong...long

So I bonded Dinky in with my trio about 3 weeks ago. All was going fine, had them in a dog crate in my front room and there was no chasing, Dinky was grooming all the buns, especially Gus all seemed fine. Last weekend I put them in a different cage in the bunny room and started letting them out for a run during the day.

I was woke the other night by Poppy chasing Sweetpea so I swapped cages to the one they were bonded in and kept them in it over night. Thursday I let them out during the day and came home to find loads of fur everywhere, Gus and Dinky's..yesterday I had to separate them to avoid full on fight and now Dinky keeps chasing Gus...to make it worse Poppy keeps chasing Sweetpea :roll: :roll:

Today I am going to take them for a drive and put them back in the front room after..

I am just wondering if this will ever work, it seemed to be going perfectly so I got my hope up that all would be ok I am trying to work out if keeping two pairs is a possibility but don't want to give up yet as all the signs at the beginning were so positive.

Any ideas?

Bummocks Lou You can bring them for a drive over here for a while if you want? We're going out around 2pm but are about before that.

If it wasn't going to work I'd have thought it would have 'failed' before now. You may have to restrict their cage size again for a while though - maybe get some NIC cubes and increase their size in the room slowly?

Santa said:

Bummocks Lou You can bring them for a drive over here for a while if you want? We're going out around 2pm but are about before that.

If it wasn't going to work I'd have thought it would have 'failed' before now. You may have to restrict their cage size again for a while though - maybe get some NIC cubes and increase their size in the room slowly?

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Oh I might pop round for a cup of tea and buy some NIC cubes on the way back :roll:

OK, just turn up if you decide to come over, Keith is going out for a cycle and I'm meeting him at his sisters at 2 so he'll be going out soon and I'll be around until about 1.45

How are they all now, Lou?

Took them for a drive earlier and they are now in the cage in the front room. Dinky had been grooming Gus and no problems so far :? Sweetpea and Poppy are sitting in the litter tray together..

Oh good - sounds positive. Hopefully just something random that set them off, I guess with a new bond it might only need to be something as simple as the noise of the wind freaking them out or some kind of smell that's not detectable to you or something :?

Fingers crossed they all settle down well again and there aren't any repeats!

Hope so! Think I will keep them in the cage a while, then get something to divide the room so they don't have too much space at once :roll:

Poppy hates been cooped up though :roll: and I have to take Gussy to the vets tuesday to have his front teeth cut again

Oh dear, I hope they will be ok with each other. It's a good idea not to give them too much space. I can't let my trio go onto the lawn. Luna gets attacked really badly. I would love to give them more space sometimes, but it just doesn't work. Good luck with your gang.

take heart. it took 1 month for mine to be able to go back in to non neutral space and they still chase a bit from time to time, usually when given mre space to run around in. We started off in a large cage for the first 3 days and then added on an extension about 6ft by 6ft. They then spent increasing amounts of time in the run until they were happy to be left in it. This took about 2 weeks. You could probably start off with a smaller bit of a run and leave them to bob about in it unsupervised if they are ok in it...mine used to take it as an invitation though to gain speed for an attack :shock::roll: so for the fist week I had to be there broom in hand, although they were fine in the cage.

ecudc said:

take heart. it took 1 month for mine to be able to go back in to non neutral space and they still chase a bit from time to time, usually when given mre space to run around in. We started off in a large cage for the first 3 days and then added on an extension about 6ft by 6ft. They then spent increasing amounts of time in the run until they were happy to be left in it. This took about 2 weeks. You could probably start off with a smaller bit of a run and leave them to bob about in it unsupervised if they are ok in it...mine used to take it as an invitation though to gain speed for an attack :shock::roll: so for the fist week I had to be there broom in hand, although they were fine in the cage.

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Thanks..gives me hope that all is not lost! There was a scuffle yesterday evening but they were quite overnight, Poppy seems to be putting Dinky in his place a bit more (She is the only one he doesn't chase and is definitely the boss out of my three)