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Opinions, please? Bunny bondings question.

casu consulto

Mama Doe
Not really sure what sort of answer or conclusion I'm looking for here...

I have six rabbits. Three girls, three boys. Five live outdoors. One lives indoors. The indoor bunny is likely to remain a single rabbit for the forseeable future. He doesn't suffer for this - he lives in my room, and to all intents and purposes, he seems to see me as his wifeybun. :roll: He's quite obsessed. He HATED going out in the garden in summer to see the other rabbits (I was going to try and bond him with one of them) and has reacted with fear when introduced to any of them. So Jack is... out of the equation.

I have a male/female pairing who are just fine. My other pair is two females, Hazel and Bella. They're mother and daughter. Then I had Edgar, who is a single male bunny. These three are my sort of problem at the moment. When I put them outdoors in their runs, Edgar's run is as close to the girls' as it can be, and they've never reacted with any aggression to him or each other. They all flop nearest each other, but especially Bella. She and Edgar are so funny to watch - they mimic each other. I'd love to bond them as a trio, but I don't have the accomodation for a trio. The girls live in a two-tiered hutch, and so does Edgar.

Hazel has always occasionally bullied Bella. She's very dominant and bossy (my own mum is scared of her, too!) and the two of them don't have a snuggly-cuddly mutual grooming relationship. Hazel has never hurt Bella. She just likes to always make sure Bella knows who is boss. I've been keeping an eye on this. Over the past couple of weeks - and I know it sounds crazy - Bella has started to look more subdued and... sad? She's a very dippy, silly, but uncomplicated bunny. Seeing her sitting in a corner with her ears down (she's a lop, but pretends not to be a lop) is bothering me.

I've always said that if Hazel ever really went for Bella, or Bella started to seem unhappy, I'd try and bond one of them with Edgar. I don't think it would be very hard to do. But it would leave Hazel on her own. And I can't adopt another rabbit right now - six is quite enough. :? And if Edgar and Bella did not get along, or if Hazel became miserable on her own, then it'd be so hard to put things right again...

I don't know what to do for the best. :(


... sorry for the essay. :oops:
 
Hmm.

Big thinker,

My first thought was whether it would be possible to have a trio with Hazek and Bella and Edgar, and maybe find a way to join their two tier hutches? Say with a small wooden tunnel on the bottom level?
 
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