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Marathon Trio Bond

PatchMagic

Young Bun
:wave:

I've posted in this forum already about my trio. I have a bonded pair, Pumpkin (male, neutered) and Molly (female, spayed) who I'm attempting to bond with Bloo (female, spayed). Bloo has recently lost her husbun and has been desperate for bun company since he left us so she's very keen to bond and is putting up with an awful lot from the bonded pair.

Pumpkin and Bloo have lived in the same house for over a year and have been able to see each other through a fence. They're house buns but each had a partner and never bothered with each other. Molly is a fairly new addition as Pumpkin lost his partner earlier this year too. He bonded straight away with Molly.

I've had them sleeping side by side with a fence separating them for a few evenings and have done a few play dates. They've also had car journeys and bath time.

Pumpkin is the aggressor, he will charge and grunt at Bloo which then seems to make Molly follow and she'll try to slap Bloo. Bloo doesn't retaliate and mostly runs away but then I step in and stop them chasing her. She has given a few warning slaps and jumps over Molly, though.

Today we're trying a marathon bond. We've been at it in neutral space since 10am. They firstly went for a car journey then moved to a small neural space (the porch). Pumpkin was much the same but they started to eat together.

We then moved to a larger neutral area and he carried on with his charging & grunting but he's also cleaned Bloo's eyes a few times. She completely submits herself to him but he seems to test by nipping whilst cleaning her eyes so she backs off.

So far Bloo has settled and even bubbled in her sleep and the pair settle near her but not too close.

They don't let her use the toilet and the charging is odd and unpredictable. Molly and Bloo enjoyed a joint head scritch earlier but once it had finished Molly charged Bloo.

Not sure how long we'll be in here for but would appreciate some support and of course advice is very much welcomed! :)
 
Bloo appears to have no head on those photos, I promise you she does though :lol:


Black rabbits are hard to photograph :)

How would you say they have progressed since this morning? I guess having two females is going to make the going a little harder ... Or at least that's been my observation :)
 
I think it's encouraging that they don't seem very aggressive. They just need time to get used to living as a trio and I am fairly sure the two girls will learn to share Pumpkin and settle down together.
 
In terms of progression, just all settling in an area with nothing separating them is a huge difference.
Eating together, sharing treats and a blanket is all new too.
The charging and grunts are fewer and further in between (although there mostly seems no sense to them still).
Pumpkin cleaning Bloo's eyes and Bloo snuggling her head with Molly for a scritch are probably the hugest signs of progression.
It no longer feels like they could erupt into a battle at any moment which I couldn't have said this morning but everyone is still very wary.

I think sometimes they forget Bloo is here as she's so quiet and blends into the rug :lol:

I don't think I've ever known a rabbit as patient as Bloo. We've had a lot of rabbits as we used to foster for a local charity but we've never bonded a trio and have only ever bonded pairs if they have shown willing, we've never forced a bond.

I am concerned that Bloo is just stuck in a corner, she does settle nicely there but if she leaves they'll charge at her.

How do you stop the charging? We intervene by either just stroking the charger or putting our hand firmly on their heads to stop them.
 
In terms of progression, just all settling in an area with nothing separating them is a huge difference.
Eating together, sharing treats and a blanket is all new too.
The charging and grunts are fewer and further in between (although there mostly seems no sense to them still).
Pumpkin cleaning Bloo's eyes and Bloo snuggling her head with Molly for a scritch are probably the hugest signs of progression.
It no longer feels like they could erupt into a battle at any moment which I couldn't have said this morning but everyone is still very wary.

I think sometimes they forget Bloo is here as she's so quiet and blends into the rug :lol:

I don't think I've ever known a rabbit as patient as Bloo. We've had a lot of rabbits as we used to foster for a local charity but we've never bonded a trio and have only ever bonded pairs if they have shown willing, we've never forced a bond.

I am concerned that Bloo is just stuck in a corner, she does settle nicely there but if she leaves they'll charge at her.

How do you stop the charging? We intervene by either just stroking the charger or putting our hand firmly on their heads to stop them.


I looked up a few articles for you to read whilst watching them:

http://www.rabbitresidence.org.uk/bonding-groups.html

http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/
(scroll to the bottom)

http://rabbit.org/introducing-rabbits-in-a-group-situation/

At the end of the day, the rabbits have to sort themselves out.

One interesting idea I read was to put them all together on your knee and stroke them. I would find that difficult as they would leap off!
 
Thank you so much for that, that's so kind of you. I could definitely do with something to read, as beautiful as my babies are I've been staring at them now for 9 hours :shock:

If I attempted to put them on my knee I think Molly would climb all the way up onto my head, Pumpkin would jump off and Bloo would kick me, repeatedly :lol: I suppose the idea is keeping them together, snuggled, off the ground and calm by stroking them so I could maybe put them in their tray together and lift them then stroke them. Could be a good idea for the next time a charge happens, thank you for that!
 
Thank you so much for that, that's so kind of you. I could definitely do with something to read, as beautiful as my babies are I've been staring at them now for 9 hours :shock:

If I attempted to put them on my knee I think Molly would climb all the way up onto my head, Pumpkin would jump off and Bloo would kick me, repeatedly :lol: I suppose the idea is keeping them together, snuggled, off the ground and calm by stroking them so I could maybe put them in their tray together and lift them then stroke them. Could be a good idea for the next time a charge happens, thank you for that!


Well when you put it like that .... I may have a foursome to bond soon :shock: If I got a high enough sided box, I could do that, and stroke them too. There's something to be said for them having each other's scent on them. But when they come out of the box I bet they would groom themselves for a long time to get my scent off them :lol:
 
Gosh a foursome :shock: I don't envy that task but I'm sure it would be absolutely worth the effort!

:lol: It's always lovely to leave a bun greasy from strokes and needing a groom, at least that would distract them from each other. Walking around with them in a box would certainly be much less hassle than taking them for a drive every few hours. Our neighbours must think we're mad, we appear covered in hay and sawdust rushing a bundle of buns into the car then circle the block and rush back in :roll:

The articles you shared were very interesting, the second one made me question whether it was worth putting them through this though. Whilst they probably will come to accept each other it doesn't mean that they'll have a bond :(

Poor Bloo has been stuck in a corner for 12 hours now (eating and going to the toilet but not active) so I think we're going to take her back to her room and bring the other two in with a fence between them. This is basically how we've had it set up for a few evenings and they all seem happy enough with it. Bloo in particular seems to enjoy the company with the added safety of a fence.

Tomorrow we can go straight back to the bonding arena.
 
Gosh a foursome :shock: I don't envy that task but I'm sure it would be absolutely worth the effort!

:lol: It's always lovely to leave a bun greasy from strokes and needing a groom, at least that would distract them from each other. Walking around with them in a box would certainly be much less hassle than taking them for a drive every few hours. Our neighbours must think we're mad, we appear covered in hay and sawdust rushing a bundle of buns into the car then circle the block and rush back in :roll:

The articles you shared were very interesting, the second one made me question whether it was worth putting them through this though. Whilst they probably will come to accept each other it doesn't mean that they'll have a bond :(

Poor Bloo has been stuck in a corner for 12 hours now (eating and going to the toilet but not active) so I think we're going to take her back to her room and bring the other two in with a fence between them. This is basically how we've had it set up for a few evenings and they all seem happy enough with it. Bloo in particular seems to enjoy the company with the added safety of a fence.

Tomorrow we can go straight back to the bonding arena.


I'm glad you feel you got something out of them - I found them interesting too!

I think a rabbit having company of it's own kind is a good thing, whether they are all lovey dovey or not. To be able to speak rabbit to one another is a privilege denied to so many rabbits, so don't ever question whether you're doing the right thing :)

And after all, love can grow :love:

Good luck for tomorrow and I hope you manage to get a good night's rest x
 
I hope you managed to get some sleep and that everybun is getting on ok. Personally I think that this method is better than bunny dates, and will work better in your case, but everybody and everybunny is different!
 
That's very true, MadMax, she seems to be very happy to be in their company and hopefully the love can grow between them. We give as much loves as possible to her and she has a fluffy bunny hot water bottle for overnight to snuggle into but it's easy to see she's craving bun attention.

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement :D We all appreciate it!

We've all managed to get a good nights rest, thank you Zoobec. We all needed it and all buns demolished their breakfasts this morning so that's hopefully set us up for a good day.

This morning there has been immense progress between the girls. No aggression at all and Bloo is sticking to Molly for protection from Pumpkin.

Yesterday Molly wouldn't let Bloo use the toilet and today she's fine with it, even sits by her cleaning whilst she's in the toilet. Can't quite believe how good Molly is being today and there's absolutely no logic to it :roll:

Pumpkin has been challenging Bloo by charging her and he's has pulled her fur a few times. Bloo runs away still and has stopped hiding in the corner but Pumpkin does seem more unpredictable today.
 
I am glad the 2 girls are getting more friendly Pumpkin has his work cut out now but I think you are "getting there". Spending a night together helps them to start trusting one another. By the way, who is this MadMax? :D We're all mad here.
 
I'm afraid I don't have any experience in bonding trios but I just wanted to pop on and send you some more bonding vibes. I'm glad Molly is being nicer to Bloo today (who looks a lot like my bridge bun Scrappy so I'm really rooting for her! :love:). Hopefully Molly's good example will rub off on Pumpkin. Not sure why he's charging so much. Maybe he heard that old joke that having two wives means you get an extra mother-in-law. Someone should tell him it doesn't apply to buns. :lol:
 
:lol: oh my gosh where did mad max come from :lol: I'm afraid that may have been a Freudian slip as I was losing my patience stopping Pumpkin from charging in the middle of typing that post! I meant Mighty Max, so sorry!

Yes I think we may do an overnight stint tonight as Bloo seems much more comfortable.

I'm glad Bloo has someone rooting for her :D she's absolutely marvellous! So sorry to hear of your loss, binky free Scrappy! Your bunnies are beautiful.

:lol: Maybe that is the case with Pumpkin, he knows he'll have his work cut out trying to keep the two ladies happy!
 
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