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Bonding right now...need advice asap!

louise.storrar

Warren Scout
I have a bonded pair male/female and a single buck and we are bonding them in the bath right now. We have had a few hairy moments between the two males but now both members of the bonded pair have licked the new male. The new male has licked the female but not the male and they are now all lying quite happily together. The new male keeps trying to hump the others much to my females dismay but I'm not sure what to do now. Do we put them back in their separate hutches? Will they eventually accept the newbie into their hutch? Or will they suddenly attack him for coming into their domain?

First time bonding!! Any advice greatly appreciated. What should I do now?
 
They should ideally stay in neutral territory for a little time yet. The idea is usually to increase the space they have little by little. Each time they get more space they'll need to ensure the boundaries between them are re-established.

If they are OK in the bath, try to see how they act/react in the whole bathroom?

Gradually give them more room until you're happy that there don't appear to be any problems. Even after this, there will probably be a reaction when you put them all together in the original home that you'll need to be prepared for.

Hope this helps.
 
Yes that does help!

How long should we keep them together?

Do you think we should separate them again tonight and then try again in neutral territory tomorrow and keep going each night?

The bonded pair have a big hutch with attached run. I could always put the other male in a separate cage INSIDE their hutch as it would fit...is that recommended do you think? Or would he feel intimidated by that?

Sorry all these questions, I just wanna do the best for my little babies!

I'm so nervous, this is quite stressful! lol
 
Hiya
I've found the smaller the space, the easier the bonding is to do, and make sure its in a neutral space, or your own rabbits are of course going to get a bit finicky about this bunny all of a sudden being in THIER home!
Personally i'll only seperate when a serious fight is occuring/occured (and these are generally alot worse than ur general humping and grumping about)
Top bunny needs to be established so some humping and a bit of argy bargy will go on, just try not to loose your nerve, which is sooo easy to do :lol:
Good luck!! x
 
If they are outdoor buns do you have any way of setting up an indoor pen near to where you sleep? If you're happy that it's going well I'd try to keep them together, but if you're near them you'd hopefully hear any serious scuffles if they broke out.
 
Hey! Since my last post world war 3 has broken, he 2 boys won't stop fighting. It's ever since the new male started this humping business! They are locking together, fur pulling and the female is now jumping about and getting bitten by the others. I have had to take the male out. Now my female/male pair are back to licking and the boy is in another room...alone. I'm so disappointed when it was going so well the first hour! Have I lost my nerve too quickly? We tried putting him back in 3 times but each time the same locking fights. The male of the bonded pair even started attacking her. I hope it's all ok when we put them back together!
 
If they were locking on to each other then I think you did right by taking the single male out.
One of my boys did this with many different rabbits and i've now decided he will just have to be a single bun
 
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