Trio bond *Update* Bond aborted :-(

Well I started bonding Winter (m), Summer (f) and Zara (f) yesterday. They're in neutral territory in the kitchen and so far so good!

At the moment Winter is in his element that he is able to now hump two bunnies. I think he has accepted Zara and she will have to get used to being humped at every opportunity he has. :roll: He has been humping Summer too (who he was originally bonded to) but that's not out of the ordinary.

Grooming - Winter is grooming both girls and both girls are grooming Winter (tho only seen Zara do it once on Winters back). The girls will not groom eachother at all and spend quite a bit of time apart from eachother... This worries me a little. They haven't fought though Summer does nip Zara and mainly when Winter is humping Summer!!

Zara is kind of keeping herself to herself...sometimes looks a bit scared. She's very timid and wouldn't hump or nip. The bonded pair spend more time together and she looks a bit left out....is this normal for trios? Winter does sit with her every so often. I'm a little concerned she is just living in fear by being with these much more dominant bunnies that could impact on her health (though they're all eating/drinking and no sign of stress induced stasis...)

Plan is to keep them in the kitchen for the week then move then out to Zara's hutch/run next weekend.

Am I to expect any changes? I will add some pics however my photobucket isn't working so will need to sort that first.

Any advice welcome!

Ok pics


This is when I put them in yday morning. Lots of food to distract but were happy enough



Summer humping Winter and Zara trying to stay out of it



Bit later on in the day and the 2 girls sitting up close together eating.



This morning! I got fed up of cleaning the wee up so decided to put a large litter tray in which they're all fine i (a bit of humping but nothing major). They're all sun bathing now out of the tray...

Summer just groomed Zara - whoop! I am surprised! I did think it would be the other way round!

Well done! They look very happy.

They do look happy together!

This sounds and looks good.


Wonderful news.:thumb::thumb:

Thanks for the reply guys. Still going well...they've been in the kitchen for almost a week now...going to move the small run their in at the
mo into the aviary tomorrow and see how they get on...hoping the bond is strong enough to stand a move into new territory. Fingers crossed!!

Trio are going outside today! Eeek! I've vinegared all of the aviary and the hutch this morning...I plan to put the run they're in now in the aviary and hope it works out. Here's a pic of them this morning..

Awww hope all goes well!

Good luck...but I found when I moved mine it really unsettled them and I had to go back to a smaller space and gradually extend it over months. Even now, a year after bonding I still have the occasional spats.

edited to add that my bond was complicated by the fact that I bonded two pairs (m-f) and the main disputes were between the two bucks, and occasionaly between the two girls, especially when I let them have garden time ( they have been living in my dining room for a year now)

Thanks. Yes went a little pear shaped and haveobed them back into small restricted space. Seems to be Winter whose the problem...trying to claim all the territory therefore terrifying Zara and causing spats with Summer humph! Will see how it goes and will probs keep them in restricted space for a week and see how it goes...fingers crossed.

I found it was one step forward two steps back, so I took my bonding very slowly. Even now, a year on, I wouldn't say my quad are completely bonded..my main issues were over food with Bugsy being very territorial , even though there was plenty of food, he would still grunt and chase pebbles away. This still happens occasionally. Also spring fever also upsets the applecart, which was when the girls started spatting...completely unexpected as both my girls are so placid generally.

Just wondering if you have neutralised Zara's hutch? If you do that, could you move the hutch into the kitchen so they can then all put their scent on it at the same time, before moving it back outside? If you move them to the hutch and run directly, the scent of just one bun would probably trigger territorial issues.

Are you bonding a single with an established pair? Sorry if I haven't followed previous posts. How long has the single one been alone?

I've aborted the bond. One of the others bit Zara which I couldn't really allow to happen again (she's ok it was more of a scrape but all the same). Throughout the bond zara was v nervous bordering terrified and although relaxed at times, once Winter decided to try and claim territory again she'd cower. Once I split them the pair were back to their old selves and Zara is much happier.

Unfortunately I don't have an entire winter at my disposal to keep them in the kitchen bonding. If I kept them in for longer I wouldn't be able to put them out again until spring and I will be moving before then (see previous post about my predicament).

I thought I would give it a go and I have. What I've discovered is that domestic bunnies generally aren't happy in more than couples. I think I would live a life of nervous existence if they were kept together. Zara has been on her own for a year now (again see prev post for reason why) but I will get her a husbun of her own now. She is so sweet and timid she doesn't deserve to live in fear of more boisterous bunnies and I will be looking for an equally timid boy.

To answer question yes I neutralised the hutch and run with copious amounts of vinegar before I put them out there. They were in the pen they were in in the kitchen and it worked for a while and then they settled and it went pear shaped. Poor Zara is almost bald on her bottom when you pull her fur back and I couldn't put her through that anymore.

Thanks for all your help...2 couples it is!

I think that perhaps you moved things on too quickly and that they should have been kept in their small area for longer before moving the pen out into the aviary.

Babsie said:

I think that perhaps you moved things on too quickly and that they should have been kept in their small area for longer before moving the pen out into the aviary.

Click to expand...

Maybe so. I guess I underestimated how long it took however as I said I couldn't keep them where they were long term.