Started Bonding Max With Timmy And Mimi u/d new plan of action!

Its going 'ok' so far i think. I expected timmy and max to fight but they havent so far and we're an hour in. There has however been relentless humping between the 2 of them in a battle for dominance. Max is abit viscious with it and pulls fur out when he humps. Im allowing it to happen but stopping it when it gets out of hand. Sometimes they end up circling which i stop.
Mimi as expected is very scared and opting to climb on us rather than be with them. She is particularly averse to being humped as before she was rescued she was with a boy who humped her all the time and pulled all the fur from the back of her neck We're letting her sit with us (on the floor with them) until the hump fest calms down.
They have all groomed eachother (god bless the bamana on the head trick) but i am worried about the humping. I hope the boys resolve the dominance issue soon.
As we speak max is flopped, timmys grooming him and Mimi is on oh's lap
Please RU we need ur vibes here! And any advise pleeeease xxxxxxxx

Sending lots of vibes humping is good and even fur pulling isn't a bad sign in the first 48 hours. My trio humped each other pretty relentlessly during the first 12-24 hours

The fact there there is no full on fighting suggests that this is going to be ok. I would think if they were going to have major issues these would have been apparent from the get go. It sounds good to me.

Good luck and lots of vibes

Sending all i can for you

I'll be requesting my own at the weekend

Thanks guys :wave:
its so nerve wracking and so horrible to see fur flying o think its gonna be a long haul dominance wise. I dont think its going too badly though, although exhausting for all involved esp Mimi.
Eeeeeeeeeeek! Fingers crossed everyone xxxxx

Any updates? :wave:

Tons of bonding vibes coming! xxxxxxxxxx

Well its still going pretry much the same. We're still in hump city but theres grooming and flopping aswell.
Im most worried about Mimi as shes staying well out of it and running away from them when theu approach her, even Timmy. Max needs to hump her before he will calm down i think:?

Come on bunnehs, and hopefully mimi will get some more confidence

She will. She's scared now but soon she'll get off with all the testosterone and jump in the middle and sort the pair of them out :lol:

Gemmapookie said:

Well its still going pretry much the same. We're still in hump city but theres grooming and flopping aswell.
Im most worried about Mimi as shes staying well out of it and running away from them when theu approach her, even Timmy. Max needs to hump her before he will calm down i think:?

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Daphne was very much like this when we first started bonding the trio, and for a while even after the bond she seemed left out. She gets plenty of snuggles and grooming now though. I think you're right, when Max starts humping her he will calm down a bit. Daphne just seemed to take a while to get settled which probably made the others nervous.

NicolaTervit said:

Daphne was very much like this when we first started bonding the trio, and for a while even after the bond she seemed left out. She gets plenty of snuggles and grooming now though. I think you're right, when Max starts humping her he will calm down a bit. Daphne just seemed to take a while to get settled which probably made the others nervous.

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Yeh i think this is whats happening, she panics and runs away and it sets the boys off. Im so sirprised with timmy and max, theyre humping loads but snuggling lots too
Man this is hard going!

Gemmapookie said:

Yeh i think this is whats happening, she panics and runs away and it sets the boys off. Im so sirprised with timmy and max, theyre humping loads but snuggling lots too
Man this is hard going!

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Aww that sounds really good It is scarily tense isn't it :lol:

Well after a good start yesterday it all went abit wrong. At bedtime we (stupidly) decided to expand their space as it was going ok and we wanted them to be more comfy over night. BIG mistake, timmy and max got into 2 proper fights. I got bitten trying to seperate them We were all exhausted, mimi had spent the whole day petrified and the boys were in fight mode so we decided to seperate them for the night to give us all a break. Put them on their neutral territory again this morning and instantly a fight broke out between the boys
SO the plan of action now is to give them a day off to hopefully get over their anger. Then tommorrow put them in the back of our van ( with me) and take them on a drive and keep them in the back of the van for a couple of hours. Our hope is that they will be scared enough to snuggle. Then try them again in the bathroom when we feel confident.
What do you think??
Im so bummed out now

sorry it worked out like that

I think you expanded space too early, i was told at least 48 hours in the small neutral space before even thinking about expanding.

Sorry you got hurt and the buns got into a fight, i hope it hasn't damaged the bonding chances

Gemmapookie said:

Well after a good start yesterday it all went abit wrong. At bedtime we (stupidly) decided to expand their space as it was going ok and we wanted them to be more comfy over night. BIG mistake, timmy and max got into 2 proper fights. I got bitten trying to seperate them We were all exhausted, mimi had spent the whole day petrified and the boys were in fight mode so we decided to seperate them for the night to give us all a break. Put them on their neutral territory again this morning and instantly a fight broke out between the boys
SO the plan of action now is to give them a day off to hopefully get over their anger. Then tommorrow put them in the back of our van ( with me) and take them on a drive and keep them in the back of the van for a couple of hours. Our hope is that they will be scared enough to snuggle. Then try them again in the bathroom when we feel confident.
What do you think??
Im so bummed out now

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Thanks Gray, yeh thats exactly what happened its totally our fault which makes it even worse

Gemmapookie said:

Thanks Gray, yeh thats exactly what happened its totally our fault which makes it even worse

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How is your hand?

How are the buns this morning, do they appear to have calmed down?

I'm really sorry, i've just read my post and it sounds really patronising, i really didn't mean it to come out like that, i'm sorry

No you didnt sound patronising atall Gray, please dont think that :wave:
I knew to keep them in a small space for longer but it seemed to be going so well that we thought it would be ok. STUPID STUPID STUPID :evil:
My hands fine it was just a small bite, just keeping it clean. Bloody hurt though!
Buns are ok, mimis very happy to be on her turf and atleast her and timmy are still ok
Im just so dispondant this morning. Yesterday went so well and now i feel like its a whole day sitting in the bathroom wasted

Gemmapookie said:

Thanks Gray, yeh thats exactly what happened its totally our fault which makes it even worse

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Don't blame yourself!! These things happen.

Next time I'd leave them in the very small space for at least 4 full days. Then expand a small area for another 4. Then give them a good sized area.

I've just done a trio and although they got very bored over that time I decided that the slower the better. They started off in a 3ft crate. (and I didn't leave their side....I also slept next to them). Then went to the bathroom (I added two litter trays at this point.) The bathroom is very small, and the litter trays took up a lot of the space.

Now, just over a week later they are in the bathroom/kitchen, and are hopping about together, happy for the extra space. They'll stay in there for a week, and then I'll start letting them have the whole house.

I know it's ridiculously slow, but for a lifetime together it's not that long. Don't take it too quickly.

Something I noticed was that when the boys would do a bit of circling Ruby would stay well out of it, putting her head very close to the ground, in the corner of the corner of the crate.

If possible I'd leave Mimi when the boys hump. If she stays well out of it then the boys should just leave her alone, as they'll be preoccupied with each other. Try to interfere as little as possible.

Maybe leave them a week or two to calm down and then try again. I'm so sorry it didn't work first time.

I think your new plan is a good idea. I generally do car journeys before starting a bond, especially if a fight has happened.

Bonding is a learning curve. Yes, you made the space bigger too early, but all you can do is learn from it, which I bet you already have, so try not to focus on that and juts move forward, focusing on the bunnies. We all make mistakes, its part of being human. Don't worry too much about it.