Trio bonding advice

I am currently trying to bond a trio. I have two Lionhead crosses, a female, Luna, and a male, Arnold. They are already bonded. I am trying to add in Ludo, a Dutch. I did try to bond them before Christmas, but Ludo and Arnold kept circling and having little scuffles. It was started by Ludo, so I decided to halt the bond in case he needed a bit longer after being neutered. I wanted to stop it before anything major kicked off, so it wouldn't ruin the potential for a bond later on. They have been living next to each other, separated by mesh since August so they are used to each others smell etc.

I started to bond again on Sunday. I put them in a Trugg washing basket so they weren't squished up but had limited space. It went really well, they were all relatively happy and there was no trouble. Ludo was doing a lot of chin rubbing of the other two, but they weren't fussed so I was advised to just leave him. I separated them at night. Yesterday, I increased the space so they were in a dog crate but I halved it. It all went really well, they were happy enough to eat hay, groom themselves and flop. Ludo continued to chin rub, but the others weren't too bothered... a few times Luna moved away from him, but that was the extent of it. After about 4 hours, I increased the space again and gave them the full dog crate. They continued to be happy so I left them together overnight. I wasn't feeling well last night, so I was up a few times and the rabbits were all happy. Then at 3am, I was awoken to Ludo chasing Luna around the crate. She was 'squealing'. Then Ludo would run at Arnold, but Arnold would just face him and they would be nose to nose briefly, then Ludo would run off to chase Luna again. I stepped in, and Ludo stopped but as soon as I let him go, he would start all over again.

Luna has done this squealing noise on previous bonds (and did so during the bonding with Arnold) but I really hate it. I don't know how much to let happen... I ended up separating them last night, as I really wasn't feeling well and after jumping out of bed to remove Ludo, I was sick... so called it a day. So, I am now going to decrease the space again and see how we go... but my main questions are how much do you allow to happen? And what needs to happen for Ludo to stop it? I obviously don't know what happened to lead up to it, but Luna and Arnold are both very sweet and have been fabulous during the bond. When Arnold chased Luna during their bond, it was very short lived so I just left them, but Ludo seems excessive...

Sunday...


Yesterday...


And from the first bonding attempt...

I reakon that once you feel well enough you could start them all off in the crate. I bonded a quad and there was a bit of chasing and fur pulling but generally ok.

You know your rabbits best so go with your intuition.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...now-a-quad-More-pics!&highlight=bonding+begun

Your bunnies are absolutely adorable! My trio took forever to bond (10 months or so til I was really happy) - but yours definitely sound to be off to a better start than mine.

I guess what needs to happen is for them to establish their pecking order. I think the best advice is to separate them if things look like they are goIng to turn nasty. I agree with Tulsi that intuition should play a big part in bonding (on the other hand I remember feeling lonely bonding mine & full of self doubt ...)

I hope you feel better soon

joey&boo said:

Your bunnies are absolutely adorable! My trio took forever to bond (10 months or so til I was really happy) - but yours definitely sound to be off to a better start than mine.

I guess what needs to happen is for them to establish their pecking order. I think the best advice is to separate them if things look like they are goIng to turn nasty. I agree with Tulsi that intuition should play a big part in bonding (on the other hand I remember feeling lonely bonding mine & full of self doubt ...)

I hope you feel better soon

Click to expand...

I always thought you were amazing for your bonding of three - including two females :wave:

I think your photos are amazing Lozzibear, and I would go with J&B and Tulsi advice