Re- bonding semi wild buns with their domesticated mother after 12 months +

Hi everyone, we adopted 3 semi- wild buns 14 months ago (my adorable little monsters ) .Yesterday we collected their domesticated mum and remaining brother (they were originally adopted separately but got returned to the rescue ).........any chance of them re-bonding .........They will live in separate sheds if necessary but first contact ( through a fence ) didn't look promising.......I have the room to keep them happily separated but would love them to be together if possibly......I have past success in bonding domestic rabbits but remember the siblings are semi wild and display lots of wild behaviour.....
Thanks in advance.
Jane

If they are all neutered and have been for at least 6 weeks then yes there is no real reason for them to not bond any more than complete strangers. Do you have a large enough set up for such a large group if it works?

Have a read though the bonding threads and advice section on here, the main tips I would give wuld be to keep space small and neutral and not expand it too quickly

Thanks Weeble for reply, If they were 2 groups of domestic rabbits I would have no hesitation in bonding as I have previously done but my little " wildies " are free spirits and I'm lucky if I can stroke them let alone catch them without causing them distress........I will continue to think about which is the best way to tackle it......if they were all like their mum It would be so much easier.......they are little monsters but I wouldn't change a single thing about them.
Hope you finger mends soon.
Jane

Chorley bun said:

Thanks Weeble for reply, If they were 2 groups of domestic rabbits I would have no hesitation in bonding as I have previously done but my little " wildies " are free spirits and I'm lucky if I can stroke them let alone catch them without causing them distress........I will continue to think about which is the best way to tackle it......if they were all like their mum It would be so much easier.......they are little monsters but I wouldn't change a single thing about them.
Hope you finger mends soon.
Jane

Click to expand...

Aww they sound lovely do you have any pics? Maybe try them side by side to start and see how you/ they get on

I think it's very possible, well no reason why not. I use various methods when adding to a group depending on the buns involved. I don't think bringing the widies into a neutral space would work if they are highly strung. Maybe clean out the shed and shut them all and yourself in and see how they get on?

I would guess that their territorial behaviour would be a little more intense than your average bunny even when neutered so their reactions to seeing new bunnies near their boundary might be quite hyper but that may not mean they'd react the same to meetings in totally neutral space.

I'd try it, but I think you probably need a second pair of hands on hand with that many bunnies and how fast and agile I know wildies can be.

my little wildies......

Thanks Tamsin....your comments are very welcome, I will have a good think before I tackle bonding, the two little groups are still happy, they have more than enough room in the own sheds / outside so if they never bond it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Jane