Bonding a trio of boys...

Hi guys!

We got a pair of 3 month old, unneutered boys from the P@H adoption center in Feb. We named them Hiro and Sylar They had always been kept together so we made the decision not to separate them and got them neutered as soon as we could. We have had no problems whatsoever apart from a little bit of humping/fur pulling in the 2 weeks proceeding their ops, since then all has been fine! They sit around cuddling and grooming each other and I think that they are very much in love

Yesterday I nipped into Pets at Home and saw a beautiful male Rabbit that looked just like Sylar, my black boy. It broke my heart. He's been 'available' to adopt for over a month and I fell in love with him. He's got a huge chunk of fur missing out of his side and the back of his left ear is completely bald and he just looked SO sad. I cried all the way home and I just can't get him off of my mind.

I know that I can't save them all but this one really got to me. How hard would it be to introduce a new Rabbit at this stage? We did a lot of research into bonding the two that we already have but to be honest, we didn't really need it. They have always loved each other and the bond was already there when we got them.

I know that it's possible to bond trio's but is it advisable in this situation? Is bonding 3 boys even possible? I'm guessing that it's too risky but thought that i'd ask the question anyway, just so I can be sure

Personally, I wouldn't advise it. Not that it CAN'T be done but there's a high risk that your current boys will either not accept the new one or it will break their bond and you'll have 3 singles. If you have the space to hoyse 3 singles then give it a go but I'd stick your current pair. Could you take the lonely boy and find him a new friend of his own?

I like having trios. I always find boys easier to bond than girls - I know others will have other opinions, though. As always, get number 3 neutered, wait a couple of months and give it a go at bonding on neutral territory. If it doesn't work, have a backup plan (eg 2 pairs). It looks like the P@H bunny has had a rough time, and he is black - so may be overlooked for some time.

Mackers said:

Personally, I wouldn't advise it. Not that it CAN'T be done but there's a high risk that your current boys will either not accept the new one or it will break their bond and you'll have 3 singles. If you have the space to hoyse 3 singles then give it a go but I'd stick your current pair. Could you take the lonely boy and find him a new friend of his own?

Click to expand...

That's what I thought
I can't really have another pair, I live in a Terraced house and my two have already claimed the spare bedroom and the whole of upstairs as their playground :lol: They are pretty spoilt really and if I had another pair i'd want them all to have the same amount of space and love

The thing is, I also agree with Shimmer. IF you have a back up plan then you could give it a go. But you just need to be aware of the risks and possible outcomes before diving in.

I guess that I've just got to be sensible then. I really don't think that I have room to keep another pair if it all goes wrong He is such a lovely looking boy though and I can't stop thinking about him

Been there just recently that I wanted to get another rabbit I couldn't have bonded, so I know how hard it is to be sensible, but it's sometimes for the best. I know Rescue centres often take them back if they cant bond them, do PAH do the same? not ideal, but if he could end up bonding with your boys it would be awesome, but if not then maybe some other family could love him. I know not ideal, but on the chance of him having a lovely life with you it may be worth a chance, though not an expert here of course.

Pets At Home do take the Adoption animals back if it doesn't work out so we could do that at an absolute push but I don't think that is an option for me really. If I made the decision to bring him home with me then he would be mine and I don't think that I could ever give him up! I've either got to make room for two or give up on the idea so we have decided to enquire at Pets At Home to see if they know anything further about his situation. All it says on the information sheet is 'Abandoned by owner' so we don't really know much about him, why he is there or why he has a bald left ear and a giant chunk of fur missing from his side! Once we have done that we are going to have a good think about the housing situation and see if we can figure something out... maybe we can move some stuff around and make more room!
I hate the thought of leaving him there and I wish that I could go and get him right now BUT I've got to use my brain! I need to be sure that its the right decision. I don't think he will be going anywhere anytime soon unfortunately so I think that i'll have plenty of time to think

yeah I hear you with it all, it's not great having to give a bun back. I had to do that only last weekend, it was heart-breaking, but got on the phone first thing on Monday trying to sort out someone to clear our garden and make it more bunny friendly. we had a massive few hundred year old oak tree in our back garden that fell over during one of the high winds, wasn't anything we could have done, was super scary, anyhow, garden now is a complete tip, they removed the tree, but will need everything redoing. so hopefully we'll get this done fast enough so we can have the little boy back, so I totally get the hard part of not letting them go again. so may be worth looking at your options and see if something could maybe be rearranged. have you spoken to some rescue places for tips, as they are usually really good with bonding advice. or rwaf, they have given me some great advice as well. well worth checking with them and other rescue places just to see what they feel is your best option. of course I realised every bun is so different, and even how they are in different scenarios, outdoors vs indoors for example, so there may be some tips you could get from those places too.

Just got back from P@H and unfortunately I don't think that it will work out
He wasn't 'abandoned by his owner' like his notes said, he was actually off the shop floor. Apparently he was very vicious towards the other Rabbits in the pen and they retaliated and attacked him. They found him in the morning with blood everywhere and the vet had to patch him up, hence the bald patches everywhere! I tend not to take advice off the staff from P@H but they wouldn't recommend rehoming him with other Rabbits and that sets off alarm bells because mine are so soft and haven't had a scrap in their lives!
I just hope that someone more experienced with bonding comes along and fancies the task of bonding him with another Bun. He is only around 4 months old and he is unneutered so hopefully after he is neutered he will be able to find a friend but I don't think that trying to bond him into a trio is the answer

Sounds like a very sensible decision. If he is still there, maybe you could suggest that they get him neutered before being rehomed so that he stands a much better chance of a happy life, preferably with another bunny.

I said exactly the same thing on the way home! They offer free neutering for the Adoption Rabbits anyway so I don't understand why they wouldn't just do it beforehand to give him a better chance
I'm going back tomorrow to check on one of the other adoption center Rabbits, we noticed that his nails were REALLY long and he looked so uncomfortable I told the staff and they said they would get him checked by the vet in the morning. He wasn't there yesterday so I'm guessing that he is new but even so... I'm going to make sure that they get him sorted out! So I might suggested that they neuter the Black boy whilst i'm there!