male/male/female bond?

I know I've asked this before so I'm sorry to ask again, but has anyone here actually successfully bonded a spayed female with two already bonded neutered males?

Again and again I see these poor gumtree bunnies and again today I've seen this lovely little female, a lion head.... she's been kept in a tiny cage and fed on iceberg lettuce and museli...I actually emailed the owner to express interest and also tell her not to feed her it any more, she actually was very polite and said it was the pet shop who told her to do this...:shock:

I keep on thinking I'd love to add a third bunny into the group in the enclosure, there's plenty of room and I just keep thinking if I can save another bun, why wouldn't I? I'm just not sure how to go about picking the ''right'' rabbit...

I'm a bit torn atm! This young girl would have to wait a few months before being spayed anyway, shes only 2 months old....

I have - but it is always a matter of their individual characters.

Tbh I find the female male male combination the most stable - but others may say different and it all depends on your bunnies.

parsnipbun said:

I have - but it is always a matter of their individual characters.

Tbh I find the female male male combination the most stable - but others may say different and it all depends on your bunnies.

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My two are very settled atm, Milo is definitely the most dominant and Finn doesn't dispute his dominance at all. Did it take you long to bond them and how did you do it? Just the bunny dates way? Did you run into any issues?

Sorry to pick your brains

I have - but it is always a matter of their individual characters.

Tbh I find the female male male combination the most stable - but others may say different and it all depends on your bunnies.

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This exactly.

I have 2 trios that are male/male/female.

Amy104 said:

This exactly.

I have 2 trios that are male/male/female.

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Would you mind giving me a bit of detail? like maybe answer the questions I've asked parsnipbun above? I could do with a bit of info from someone whos actually ''been there done that'' xx

Did you by any chance add a female to two existing males in your trios? xx

well I am afraid that our groups are really rather fluid due to having so many buns and what with the inevitable losses and additions over time (OK so additions are not inevitable . . . but we did go through a phase of being a target for local people who no longer wanted their buns . . . )

We tend to use the 'put them together somewhere they are not used to and watch them like a hawk' method - whilst giving tons of food so no food fights. We have added females to male male couples who have lost a female or never had one, added males to female male couples, or just created new trios or added female male couples to females who have two males already . . . however I do always feel most concerned about adding females into groups that already have a female or trying to get two females in with two males (though this tends to work best if they each have links with their own male already).

Of all the 9 sets of rabbits we currently have we have:

male/male

male/male/female

male/male/female

male/male/female

male/female/male/female (that one has the odd problem - but its because one male is very food aggressive)

male/male/male/female/female (that one was shaky at first as the two females were grumpy until they sorted who has dominant - we added a male/female couple to existing male/male/female so were expecting it))

and a very unusual female/female/female/female/male . . . but they are mother and four adult babies so to speak

male/female (was male/female/female but the females gradually fell out . . )

and we are currently slowly slowly adding a very very meek and mild female to a rather odd female/male/male indoor group where one of the males just wanders randomly round making friends with whichever bun is in the house at the time - so at present he is visiting the other female a lot and then just being accepted back into the existing trio taking her smell with him - it works for him but I would never do it this way normally. he often takes time out from the trio and then drops in again as if nothing had happened. they are surprisingly very loved up as a trio and hopefully will be as a foursome as the other male spent a day with her yesterday - we just found him in the kitchen with her. .

Not sure this will help at all . . . other than to convince people I should never be allowed to have charge of rabbits . . .

I don't have any experience of this, but I'm interested in the responses too. My three youngest rabbits are female and I have it at the back of my head that in about 10 years time I'll be needing to bond a trio of females :shock: I personally am not a fan of trios as I had a trio when one of my quad died in April and then they fell out and I had to separate one so I had a pair & a single for a bit.

My situation is pretty similar in that I've added buns onto previous pairs as a result of loses in my bunny family or the addition of a new bun so my buns are pretty used to the coming and going and bonds are usually pretty straightforward. But even from my first bonds I've never done the dating method, I just put them somewhere neutral and observe. I don't separate unless really necessary. One trio was a male only pair I added a female to, the other was a male female pair I added a male to.

Amy104 said:

My situation is pretty similar in that I've added buns onto previous pairs as a result of loses in my bunny family or the addition of a new bun so my buns are pretty used to the coming and going and bonds are usually pretty straightforward. But even from my first bonds I've never done the dating method, I just put them somewhere neutral and observe. I don't separate unless really necessary. One trio was a male only pair I added a female to, the other was a male female pair I added a male to.

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Did you have any issues adding the female to the two males? x

No. Nore when I added a 4th female a few months later, who sadly is no longer with us.

It really is up to the character of the bun - its like people - just because three people might get along together doesnt mean that any three people will get along together.

We are sharing our experiences but that cant tell you what will happen when you try it.


I think you need to decide whether to go for it or not on the basis of what you know about your boys.

parsnipbun said:

It really is up to the character of the bun - its like people - just because three people might get along together doesnt mean that any three people will get along together.

We are sharing our experiences but that cant tell you what will happen when you try it.


I think you need to decide whether to go for it or not on the basis of what you know about your boys.

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This. Up until a few weeks ago I had 7 bunnies (now 6 ) who were all totally different, and bonding depends solely on the character of the bunnies involved.

Tbh I'd steer well clear of the free ads. If you really would like to add a girl, I'd go through a rescue. They'd help with personality matching, bonding, and you'd have backup if it went wrong. With the free ads you have none of that... If it failed you'd have to obtain a partner for the bunny left alone, or you might even end up with three singles.... Who would then all require a friend or even possibly rehoming. I'd be questioning whether it was worth it unless I had rescue backup tbh, but that's only my personal opinion and I know how free ad bunnies tug at the heart strings.

chloemurray said:

This. Up until a few weeks ago I had 7 bunnies (now 6 ) who were all totally different, and bonding depends solely on the character of the bunnies involved.

Tbh I'd steer well clear of the free ads. If you really would like to add a girl, I'd go through a rescue. They'd help with personality matching, bonding, and you'd have backup if it went wrong. With the free ads you have none of that... If it failed you'd have to obtain a partner for the bunny left alone, or you might even end up with three singles.... Who would then all require a friend or even possibly rehoming. I'd be questioning whether it was worth it unless I had rescue backup tbh, but that's only my personal opinion and I know how free ad bunnies tug at the heart strings.

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I wasn't entirely sure if a rescue would allow you to try a single rabbit with a pair? But I guess I can only see if I can find a rescue and ask? I figured they might not allow a female into a mail pairing as its more risky than a female joining a single male? x

Sarah1991 said:

I wasn't entirely sure if a rescue would allow you to try a single rabbit with a pair? But I guess I can only see if I can find a rescue and ask? I figured they might not allow a female into a mail pairing as its more risky than a female joining a single male? x

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Plenty of rescues would give it a go as long as they thought the personalities of the bunnies were well-matched The Duchess for example currently has a group of ten, that she quite regularly adds to when she takes in a bunny that can't be rehomed x

chloemurray said:

Plenty of rescues would give it a go as long as they thought the personalities of the bunnies were well-matched The Duchess for example currently has a group of ten, that she quite regularly adds to when she takes in a bunny that can't be rehomed x

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Well I guess that's something I can try then! I'll have a look around and see if there are any females in my area. I can always get into contact with rescues and ask the questions! :thumb: x

but then you will still see the rabbit on freeads that started it all off!!! and you will feel even sorrier for her . . . and then you might end up with four . . .

I bonded a male to another male and female... easiest bond I have ever done........ BUT, 2 months of living happily together the newest of the bond ripped part of Peggys chin off to the point it was hanging by a thred, and ripped her lip so that half of it was hanging downwards and ripped in 2. Never again x

I had a female, male, male group that were very close. After I lost the female, the boys lived alone for a bit and I than added another female with no problems. However, the boys are very soft and both the females were the dominant ones. You have to be prepared for the possibility of the initial bond breaking though.