Bonding - litter training and hormones question!

Squishies said:

Hi all,

As some of you know, I've been researching and waiting to meet the right bun or bunnies to bond with my pair of mini-lops (boy & girl, both spayed/neutered)...

I met some lovely rescue bunnies at the weekend, including a lovely little chap who I think could be the right temperament to join the group.
...I want to get the timing right for a smooth attempt, and have 2 questions for those wiser than me at all things bonding, please!:

1. how long after neutering is it good to wait for his hormones to settle down?
2. he isn't yet litter trained, whereas my pair have been litter trained from kits and are very good; should I bring him home and keep him totally separately first (just with playdates), so I can litter train him before the full bonding?

Thanks as ever, everyone - all ideas and advice is welcome and much appreciated!

Marie
x x

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Squishies said:

Hey MightyMax, and thank you for the advice!

Yes, the Rescue will have him back/try another bun/refund if it turns out that the personalities don't fit. Some of the rescues I have chatted to have suggested to bring my pair with me for a brief introduction before settling on a bun... and in terms of 'playdates', some of the bonding advice I've read has suggested short periods together or in sight of each other, to get the rabbits slowly used to each other before moving them to the neutral space for 'official' bonding -- as ever, there are lots of different ideas it seems!

Very helpful re: hormones settling, again, that's longer than any of the rescues have suggested, but makes complete sense to me.
...oh gosh, territorial pooping, nooooo! (but again, makes sense) ...just so long as I can retrain them! Please tell me they will still pee in their trays (new trays of course)?!

I am most worried about bonding with my girl bunny, she is chief of the household and mega chin-rubbing/chewing-y territorial, whereas boy bunny is less fussed/does his own thing. Time will tell I guess - I am nervous but excited.

Thanks again,

Marie

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Squishies said:

Ha! Well, hopefully we'll avoid any peeing dramas...

So you're a fan of putting them together in a neutral space straight away (rather than building up sessions)?
...I can see why that at least gets it done in one very long session over several days!

One of the biggest sources of conflicting advice seems to be around ideal gender mixes -- some say go for boys if you're adding to a pair (rationale: less likely to have territorial disputes than with adding a doe), while others say go for adding girls (rationale: boys will fight over the doe in the group) -- any views?

...my doe is super territorial and chews or chin rubs everything in sight(!), so my plan so far has been to seek a docile buck (which was what we had in the trio previously). Other option could be to get another 'couple' I suppose, but the thought of trying to keep an eye on 4 bunnies sorting out a hierarchy in one go while bonding is quite daunting!

Thanks again MightyMax : )

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MightyMax said:

You're really welcome Marie

My bonding sessions don't normally last several days. My last two bonds took one and a half hours each But the longest one (where the female was exceptionally stroppy ad aggressive) took almost 48 hours .....

You'll get lots of views on what to add to a pair to make a threesome. You'll also get advice saying 'don't do it' as it may ruin the bond between your existing buns. If you're dead set on it, and can take him/her back (which you can) then use your intuition and everything you can find out.

And lots of luck x

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