To bond or not to bond (yet!)?

Hi again everyone, and meet 'Piglet':
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The plan has always been, and still is, to bond him with my pair of mini lops (they were originally a trio, and they are very much missing the docile boy in the group who we lost).
Piglet is a gorgeous little fella I rescued via Gumtree. He was living in a cage really only suitable for a hamster, and his nails were so overgrown that jumping must've been a tad uncomfortable (no one had ever seen him jump).

...wind forward 12 weeks and he has had a pedicure (plus vaccines and neuter), binky-ed is little socks off, taken over my lounge, and become one of the most 'human friendly' bunnies I have ever known. It almost seems a shame to now bond him with the mischievous mini lops and for him to be out in the aviary being more 'rabbit-y'!
(don't worry, I know it will be better for him, but I will miss my evening grooming from him sat on my shoulder!)

So, anyway, I will get to the point!
...he is now 8 weeks post-neuter, and the plan was to take next week off work, take all the bunnies over to my parents [it doesn't have to be my folks'; anywhere with 'truly neutral' territory is all I need, as the mini lops are very territorial and have scented everything in sight - thankfully Piglet doesn't do this, but I still have to get them to accept him!], bond them, and then settle them together across a few days/a week before bringing them back to a well cleaned, deodorised and rearranged aviary.

I have two concerns:
1. something tells me that Piglet will be very submissive and delighted to meet other bunnies/make friends, but I suspect the mini lops are going to be quite 'grumpy' about it all and may well kick off when we get back home (if we even get to that stage), despite me rearranging everything
2. the bigger concern related to this - I am going away in the second week of September, so if I bond them next week as per the original plan, they will only be 'four weeks bonded' and potentially(?) still in a very fragile point of relationship-forming -- not really a point where I want to leave them unsupervised for long periods, and not really fair on whoever is looking after them to have to work out whether they need an intervention.

What do you all think? Any bright ideas on this one?

With love from all 3 furries,

Mx

No ideas I'm afraid (I have a similar dilemma myself!) but best wishes for the bond. He's a beautiful bunny!

Thank you, Faithful Servant to Monty! What's your situation (number of bunnies/bonding plan)? - best of luck to you also!
...He's gorgeous, and with such a lovely temperament, I really want to give it the best chance of working out.

I guess my options are:
a) risk doing it next week and hope that they are all settled before my hols (<-- I don't like this one/seems daft to take such a risk!)
b) wait until I'm back from hols (<-- feels a long way off, and there are no guarantees even then)
c) (not sure if this is even an option?!) find someone and/or a rescue that would be willing to help me with the bonding; potentially starting the bond with me there, a few days before I go away, such that I am on hand and present, and then leaving the bunnies there in the neutral territory to settle and cement the bond while I am away.
(<-- I like this one, and would be super willing to give a v.v. generous donation to the rescue or charity in return for the help, but I don't know if there is anyone out there able to help in this way, especially given that although he is rescue, he is not going to be directly from their rescue? --- anyone know of any folks or rescues offering anything like this?)

As ever, all ideas welcome, there may well be other options I haven't thought of!

Mx

I'd probably go for option C) tbh. I did that with my three (even though it didn't work in the end) and it was a lot less stressful. Plus it also gave me time to neutralise everything before they came home.

Thanks so much HouseOfRabbit - I am also leaning that way, I just need to find someone experienced in bonding or a rescue willing to help me in return for a donation I guess!

May I ask who you used, please and whether anyone knows of anyone/any rescues that help with this?

Mx

I used Windwhistle Warren near me but that's going to be to far to travel to. Afraid I can't help with suggestions for the London area either.

Ah, yes... in Gloucs (what a lovely rescue, I have just looked it up!) -- that'd be about a 2.5 hr drive from here. I'm happy to travel, but there must be places closer to London methinks!