Bonding 3 female rabbits - feel like giving up!

[Kittyb07]

Hi everyone!

I am in a bit of a dilema. In August I rescued 2 female rabbits, Margot and Tessa. They are 2 and a half years old now and I got them neutered approx 4 months ago. They are sisters and have had nearly 5 homes before they came to me and they weren't particularly good with humans however they lived with several other rabbits when they were with the rescue centre.

A few months ago I adopted Bella, a Netherland dwarf, with the intention of bonding her with the other 2 bunnies. She is almost a year old now and has recently been neutered. When she arrived at our house it was clear the other 2 were not happy having her around (this was with a secure baby gate between them, I didn't chuck her in with them just to clarify!). I split them up and the 2 older girls went outside where they were quite content.

I brought them in a few weeks ago as the weather got colder, with the intention of very slowly introducing them. I swapped them around rooms in the house to get them used to their smells and had the baby gate in between so they could see and smell each other. There was and still is an awful lot of fighting between them with the baby gate and a huge amount of territorial poo from all rabbits. Because of this I have not even attempted to put them in the same room together.

Then it gets worse - a week ago Margot and Tessa unexpectedly started fighting with each other. They have had their occasional arguments but nothing more. I came back from a late shift to find fur and blood around the living room and Margot had literally been skinned by her sister near her leg. She was stitched up by the vet and since then she has mostly been on cage rest in our bedroom away from her sister.

So I now have 3 rabbits in 3 separate areas of the house and it is not easy at all. My partner is getting more agitated with having to hoover up poo and move the baby gates every time he needs to get somewhere and I am slowly starting to despair more and more and wonder what I have done. How on earth can I rebond these rabbits?! Please help!

Apologies for the long post - but any info/help is very much appreciated!

 

[Sarah1991]

Hmm, neutral territory is the way to go usually.

Some people bond in places like bathrooms and other unfamiliar rooms, girls are quite highly strung I think. I hear of many bonds between females breaking or just never happening at all, but that doesn't mean it can never happen.

How long have all of your buns been neutered for?

 

[Kim_perkins]

Oh no! Agree with Sarah, females are very highly strung. I think you'll perhaps need to strip right back to basics. Remove scents from a particular room and try and bond that way, females are always hard to bond neutered or Not. I attempted a trio bond and it failed. In the end an original bond broke and never came
Back but the newbie bonded with her well. I ended up leaving those two together and bringing one indoors to live amongst the family in our home. Obviously yours are already indoors which is harder. Bonding
Can take a long time in some cases.


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[Lady Logamorph]

From past experience if your bunnies have had a big fight which has involved stitches they will not forget this and the chances of them fighting in the future will be much more likely. I would personally see if the rescue can re home two of your females singly and take a suitable male for one of your bunnies. I was in the same situation with one of my bunnies a couple of years ago with a male, male bond breakdown. They got on well for a long time then fell out, I re bonded and they were fine for a few months then fell out again. I kept going like this for about a year but eventually took the decision to re home one of the males and bond my male with my other pair. I was very reluctant as I've never re homed any of my pets but having 3 spaces, 2 singles and 1 pair meant they were all limited on space.

 

[joey&boo]

Welcome to RU. Whereas I'm normally one to persevere with bonding this situation sounds gloomy to me. Personally I'd not try them again after such a nasty fight. Girls can be rotters to bond, my trio of 2 does & 1 buck took forever. There was never any fighting though. Rabbits meeting through bars often results in injuries, that in itself could be just frustration at not being able to resolve their issues face to face. Its highly possible that the upset of the third bunny caused your original 2 sisters to experience referred aggression. I'm sorry you're going through all this

 

[Kittyb07]

Thanks for your replies.

The elder rabbits were neutered in September, and Bella was neutered about a month ago now.

I really am in a bit of a dilema. Rehoming is something I am extremely reluctant to do as they have all been rehomed before and I would feel a bit of a failure for giving up on them. I will try neutral territory but there's not many places they haven't been in the house now! I have heard of people taking the rabbits for a car ride as it can be stressful and they will look to each other for comfort, but I'll save that for another day! I really just want my 2 elder bunnies to rebond as then they can go outside and the remaining rabbit can live with us indoors with us and the cats.

 

[daphnephoebe]

Thanks for your replies.

The elder rabbits were neutered in September, and Bella was neutered about a month ago now.

I really am in a bit of a dilema. Rehoming is something I am extremely reluctant to do as they have all been rehomed before and I would feel a bit of a failure for giving up on them. I will try neutral territory but there's not many places they haven't been in the house now! I have heard of people taking the rabbits for a car ride as it can be stressful and they will look to each other for comfort, but I'll save that for another day! I really just want my 2 elder bunnies to rebond as then they can go outside and the remaining rabbit can live with us indoors with us and the cats.

We had to resort to stress bonding our two females. We took them for a short car trip (in individual cages) and then put them into a large dog crate in the bedroom that they hardly ever accessed and left them in there for almost a week. For the first two nights I had no sleep as I had to control any chasing, but it worked a lot better than trying to bond them slowly.

It took us three months to bond our two but in your situation I think it's going to take a lot longer & I don't think your three will bond & one may need to live alone in the house with human company. (Maybe if you have the space she could have a husbun?)

Hopefully someone else will be along with further input =]

 

[WillowAndBiscuit]

I'm so sorry that this has happened I must say, if the two sisters have already been rehomed 5 times then it's not really fair to put them through that again. I would just focus on trying to bond them together again by lots of stress bonding (if they are in the car in the same crate then make sure someone is with them in case they do still fight) and then keep your other bunny separate in the house. Good luck!

 

[joey&boo]

I'm a little worried, I hope you don't mind my saying so. You describe Margot as being skinned - that sounds really severe. I don't like stress bonding myself & the jury is out about whether it works. I think the time it would take to separate bunnies in a crate / carrier would be too long / risky. if this method is going to be used its more for ambivalent couples than rabbits that have shown true aggression. Its not unheard of that rabbits die during bonding fights.

 

[tonibun]

I agree with Joey and Boo. i doubt you will get the 3 to live harmoniously together (although I am a bit of a pessimist), the stress could easily bring on sickness so this is something which must be considered. So, to reunite the 2 sisters you will need to put them in an area where they haven't been and hopefully keep them there for a few days until they have settled down with one another again. Perhaps they could go back outside as it isn't very cold where I am.

 

[Zoobec]

I would focus on trying to rebond the 2 sisters, but you will need to wait until the injured one is healed, and you will need to do it in neutral territory and watch them like a hawk. There's every possibility they won't rebond I'm afraid. it's really amazing that they lived together to that age without being spayed. I think the arrival of the new bunny has caused referred aggression between your pair.

If I was in your situation I would keep the new arrival well away from them and get a neutered male rabbit to bond with her. The situation may have been worse as the new rabbit had only recently been spayed and would still be hormonal.

I hope things work out for you all.

 

[Kittyb07]

Thanks for all the replies

An update - Margot has been healing really well and yesterday we decided to start the bonding process in neutral territory - the bathroom which they never go in because of the lino flooring. It started off very well, no fighting, just sniffing, laying down next to each other and a bit of grooming. We kept them in the bathroom for no longer than 2 hours (we needed to supervise them) and then they went back to their respective areas.

Today we have done the same and was all going well. I left the bathroom and got my partner to supervise them whilst I got on with things down stairs. Have come back 15 minutes later to them having a fight - no injuries but a lot of hair pulled out. My partner said that he tried to stop them fighting but they were ignoring him and carrying on. Now have 2 traumatised bunnies! Help! Any idea what I should do next?