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those of you with trios...

nessar

Warren Veteran
Does one get left out? Do they work okay? How easy would it be to add a baby male (once neutered) to a male and female pair? They bonded extremely easily but arent that close and by the time of bonding the potential trio my current pair would only have been bonded maybe 4 months.

Any other thoughts/experiences. Just trying to work out possibilities...
 
i have a trio which are only quite recently bonded, my girls are sisters and i added a male. cant really give you advice as i was really lucky bonding mine and mine is 2does and a buck. but the left out thing - mine dont really leave one out it seems a different bunny is often alone throughout the day but they all cuddle up on a night. :)
 
I have had two trios made up with a male and two females. Both bonds had a bit of chasing to start with however it works brilliantly. They all sit snuggled together, at the moment it it Starfish in the middle. :love::love:

I also found when one pf the females needed pts the other two seemed to cope extremely well. When I have had one bun left out a pair they seemed a lot more depressed.

I have been lucky with my bonds however I'd highly recommend giving it a go":wave:
 
Thank you both for replying, more experiences needed though!

My issue is he's a baby, from a litter a friend's family have had and I'm worried they'll go to bad homes (as most pet owners are misled by pet shops to think the usual way of keeping a rabbit is adequate), so I'd like to save at least one bun. But if they didnt bond I couldnt have 2 separate pairs....

Basically I do NOT want to end up with a quad or 2 pairs. A trio is stretching my budget, I'm really limited to £100 a month for care costs, not including vets costs as I have insurance.

But if it worked out I could save a bunny and perhaps a trio would work better than my pair at the moment (they like each other but spend a lot of their time apart, no grooming etc). I know eventually I will end up with a trio or quad but I was hoping to put it off till I am a qualified teacher and so have a bit more money to take on a hard-to-home pair. But I could potentially save this boy now, perhaps it was fate that the very day I went round this friends house the mum and babies had just been moved there....

On a separate note the breeder sold them a pregnant mum, didnt tell them any of the issues rexes have and didnt tell them about hay either. If I hadnt mentioned it, they wouldnt even have known to separate the boys and girls so early. If I were them that breeder would be getting an earful :censored:
 
I have difficulties with trio's. But thats because one of my buns can't cope in a trio and always picks on the other.

I only wanted a trio but ended up in a 5 with a trio and a pair then bonded tem all together and worked well.
Sadly one passed away and then I recently lost another so I'm in a dodgy trio who aren't happy so haveing to add another.

Although have seen trio's work really well, just one of my buns doesnt work well. So it really depends on the trio I think.
 
i have a trio.

buddy was in a bonded pair but lost his mate last july. i got 2 young females and all was great until they got to about 5 months and one started attacking the other to the extent where i had to seperate the girls giving them both time with buddy as he was still ok with both.

as soon as they were old enough to be spayed i got them done and i gave it 12 weeks then brought them in to re bond and it went really well.

the girls still have a bit of a love hate relationship, i see the odd chase but half an hour later they are sat grooming together.
i used to think blousy was closer to buddy and was worried lula was getting left out but when i am home more on weekends i see her sat snuggling with him just as much.

i am just glad they all seem healthy and happy together now, i hated seperating them but luckily for me it did work out.
i would just say make sure you have a back up plan if your bond doesn't work out and be prepared as it could cause problems in your already bonded pair.

let us know what you decide and how you go on.. with pictures of course! :D
 
I have three trios, and have had two more previously.

The worry with bonding any trio is that all may divorce each other, so you end up with three singles, or that the pair that are bonded is diffferent, and you end up with a different single- I've known this happen.

All mine were fine though, but I looked at each trio on it's own merits and what was best for the bunnies involved; for me it was not about me adding another bunny, but how to make my bunnies happier. That worked for all mine.

I have two pairs that I would never try and expand because that would be asking for toruble and fights. I think it comes down to knowing your bunnies and what would be best for them, as opposed to you trying to save another bunny because those in your care have to be your priority (sorry if that sounds harsh, I know you know that, I just couldn't think of a way to word it). If your girl is unspayed (can't remember whether she is or not) then that is something else you have to factor in too, and I personally would not risk it due to the already current tisk of fighting. I would not consider doing anything until she is spayed and recovered.
 
I have 2 trios at the moment and they work very well, but as Sky-o said you have to be careful with the bonding as there is a risk that the original bond breaks down or changes to the point that one gets bullied.

I was lucky with my trios as they just slotted together without much hassle at all (In fact with the German Lops I had mutual grooming within 5 mins)
 
hmm lots to think about! Yes my girl is spayed, so no worries there.

I think them divorcing each other, or simply being less happy in a trio is the reason I am not sure about this. Okay my pair arent that close, and eventually I will bond them with one or two other bunnies in an attempt to give both of them a close bond, but they seem to be fairly content at the moment.

See if the new boy wouldnt bond with mine, thats not so much of an issue, I would reluctantly rehome him, knowing that at least he is vaccinated and neutered and that I will homecheck, so he is still in a much better position than before and I have done some good.

But if either Annabella or Barney were rejected by the bond, I couldn't rehome them. I made a commitment to Barney, and then to Annabella when they bonded, to keep them and meet their needs. I couldnt rehome them just because I brought in an outsider and upset their bond, because that would be MY doing, not THEIRS. As in they wanted to be together till I interfered. So I would end up either attempting a long bonding process, or trying a quad. I just dont have the space for two pairs without compromising the amount of free-range time.

I guess its just a never-ending circle. And there are reasons for and against. I guess the reason I am so tempted is that Barney and Annabella's bonding was pretty much instant if not strong, they just didnt care much if each other was there and there was no aggression and only a small amount of humping from Barney which was nearly always escaped as hes so slow and clumsy.

A question for you all - if I tried bonding them (once neutered etc) and he was either aggressive or Barney and Annabella showed signs of not being happy with each other, say it was early in the bond (first 2 or 3 days), could I then remove the new boy and rebond my two? Or is it a case of once broken the bond cannot be remade?

Of course the morals of that situation is another dilemma altogether... although he would get another friend eventually with his new home.
 
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i have a trio of females. originally it was a 4 but sadly one died. the trio seems to work well, no real probs and they all cuddle up to each other. they've been a trio for 2 years now
 
Apologies for not reading the whole thread. I've had a trio, Mischa, Mini and Nutmeg. They got on ok but it did seem that Nutmeg was getting a bit left out. I wish now though that I'd realised that true bonds take a lot longer and left them together, I think the bonds would've strengthened with time.
 
I have a trio consisting of two males and one female. The only time there is any bother is when its feeding time and the female chases one of the males to get him out of the way. The rest of the time they all get on well (the boys get on great together) and all sit together or take it in turns to sit as a pair or on their own :)
 
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