Much needed advise please

[GrunBunMum]

Afer my previous thread im still in need of some much needed advise

We had a already bonded pair house rabbits, they have a cage what they are locked up in during the day and overnight, they are let out for an hour in the morning and from 4.30 till 11 at night, they are 2 year old and male and female

We have rescued another house rabbit from a pet shop, he s 10 month old unsure yet if neutered. at the moment he is in a cage with a pen round in the same room as my others with 1 meter of fencing separating them but can see sniff each other.

Now my initial idea was to bond them but an incident what happened last night has put me off, my female of the pair keeps going up to fencing to see they newbie, now my male of the pair is nipping her and chasing her away, I do not want my pair to fall out and now concerned this is going to happen if I try bond or even keep them in the same room.

I have couple of options

Try and bond them, I have not do this before and previous advise is not to do a trio if you haven't, does anyone know anywhere in Lancashire that do bonding for you

Keep them as they are now, them with the pair having 2/3 of the room to run around and the single with the rest of the room to run around in but still able to see each other and hope my pair don't fall out

They get let out for 6 hours at night, would it be possible to keep them both cages in same room and let them out separately say 3 hours each or would that be too confusing with the others scent in the room

Put the single in the front room with us, my pair rarely go in there anyways and totally block him off from the other 2 and keep him on his own but we would be with him most of the time, this option does not go down well with my boyfriend and my pairs cage is next to the door therefore they would be able to smell each other

Other than any of these im afraid were going to have to rehome, which I really don't want to do as he is adorable

Donz x

 

[Stator]

I think the best idea is to keep him away from the bonded pair for now. It sounds like seeing him is upsetting their bond because they want to sort out who is the boss of all of them. Keeping him in another room would be ideal.

Once he is neutered and recovered fully then you can try a proper bonding. You'll need to find somewhere neutral and introduce them all in a fairly small place and then keep a very close eye on them for a couple days.

Good luck

 

[GrunBunMum]

Thank you for your reply, its stressfull knowing what best to suit all of them.

Walter is in for a health check today at the vets so fingers crossed everythings ok with him.

I kept them in the same set up last, him in his pen and the pair free range in the room, the pair seemed fine, both going over to walter sniffing and scenting his bars and leaving him little presents, as long as its not upsetting my pair I can leave it like this untill we decide to try bond.

One thing tho, when either of my pair are investigating Walter, sniffing or scenting, he seems to be trying to have a nibble at them, he got hold of my females ear but not in a nasty way its more like i said a nibble, is this normal ??the pair dont seem to bother, just jump a little shocked and carry on sniffing.

Donz