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Trio Bonding Failure

We bonded our house bunny Layla with a beautiful boy bunny Bruno in January. It was true love but devastatingly, Bruno got a blockage and died post op in June.
Layla has been so lonely so we contacted the local Rabbit Rescue where we got Bruno from.
Last weekend they bonded Layla with an already bonded couple Sansa (female) and Tyrion (male).
Things seemed to be going well but on Tuesday my hubby let them free roam together in the house for several hours and then Sansa started chasing Layla a lot. I put them all back together in the pen to reduce the area and force them to be near each other but the chasing got quite aggressive and I was really worried about Layla getting stressed as she’s prone to Gut Stasis.
We ended up removing Layla from the pen so she’s free roaming and the couple are together in the pen.
We’ve let them all free roam together as didn’t want to keep the new ones closed up but basically they live separately to Layla so she’s constantly alone.
Tyrion seems so stressed, he lunges when I try to stroke him. They were house bunnies prior to me but I’m not sure they were free roaming.
They just hide behind our cuddle chair (it was Layla’s & Bruno’s fav spot too) which is fine but I have to coax them out to make sure they eat something!
I’m waiting for the rescue to get back to me about rebonding but I’m just so down about the whole situation.
Layla is all alone and the new bunnies hate me and their new environment.
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Hi, I'm sorrry your thread got missed yesterday. I'm also sorry that you are having bonding problems. Bonding rabbits, as you are probably aware, comes with no guarantees that it's going to work. However, the rescue must have been confident to have let you continue the process at home. I hope you have heard back from them now with their suggestions.

There could be several reasons for this relationship to have broken down and it's not easy to speculate what has happened. However, from just reading the information on your post, it would appear that the trio were not sufficiently happy together before they were let out to free roam. Putting them back in the smaller pen is usually the advice for this and basically starting from the beginning again, although that of course doesn't always work.

You are probably also aware that trios are sometimes more difficult to bond that a pair of opposite sex rabbits.

I hope that the rescue can help the situation. Let us know how you get on :)
 
I’m sorry that you lost Bruno :cry: I agree with everything Omi said. I hope that things work out for you all.
 
We bonded our house bunny Layla with a beautiful boy bunny Bruno in January. It was true love but devastatingly, Bruno got a blockage and died post op in June.
Layla has been so lonely so we contacted the local Rabbit Rescue where we got Bruno from.
Last weekend they bonded Layla with an already bonded couple Sansa (female) and Tyrion (male).
Things seemed to be going well but on Tuesday my hubby let them free roam together in the house for several hours and then Sansa started chasing Layla a lot. I put them all back together in the pen to reduce the area and force them to be near each other but the chasing got quite aggressive and I was really worried about Layla getting stressed as she’s prone to Gut Stasis.
We ended up removing Layla from the pen so she’s free roaming and the couple are together in the pen.
We’ve let them all free roam together as didn’t want to keep the new ones closed up but basically they live separately to Layla so she’s constantly alone.
Tyrion seems so stressed, he lunges when I try to stroke him. They were house bunnies prior to me but I’m not sure they were free roaming.
They just hide behind our cuddle chair (it was Layla’s & Bruno’s fav spot too) which is fine but I have to coax them out to make sure they eat something!
I’m waiting for the rescue to get back to me about rebonding but I’m just so down about the whole situation.
Layla is all alone and the new bunnies hate me and their new environment.
f4654be5c4d1ca60a31cec22a1920756.jpg
170fce23636444a0f297037cab71c59d.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Welcome to the Forum :wave:

I'm sorry to hear you lost Bruno :(

There's always a conundrum when bonding an already established pair with a single, especially when there are two females in the mix. If this doesn't work out, I should get back to the Rescue and suggest they give you either one, or possibly two (if you're keen on a trio) of rabbits. It is also very dependent on personality and how much patience you have for bonding. Sometimes it can take months to get a settled pair.

A female rabbit will often wish to exert dominance over another, and they can be territorial, so it's possible that's what was happening in your case.

Would it help to look at some info and get some tips from there? There are loads of theories, and not every one will work for each case:

http://rabbit.org/the-most-important-word-in-bonding-is-patience/

http://actionforrabbits.co.uk/bonding.html

http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/information/bonding-bunnies/ (good for pair bonding)

http://www.fatfluffs.com/info/bonding/

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...How-I-do-rabbit-bonding&p=6934868#post6934868


Book in RWAF shop:

https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/bonding-rabbits-by-fiona-campbell/


Mischief and Tinker’s Mum
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?462466-How-I-bonded-my-trios-videos!

Also, Mairwen Guard has put some brilliant bonding videos on YouTube which are well worth watching - do search for them as there are quite a few.
 
Thank you all for the advice. Still waiting to hear back from the rescue at the moment.
I didn’t mind whether i had a duo/trio/quad, I just wanted Layla to be happy.
A grieving bunny is such a devastating sight to see.
I did say to them about a rabbit similar in age to Layla (5 years) and they only had the bonded couple Tyrion & Sansa so I said I’d give it a go.
They took Layla last Friday night and by Saturday said they were bonded. Which they probably were, but the pair had their vaccinations on the Friday and I’m thinking they weren’t feeling 100% and having another bunny to cuddle up to made them feel better.
Now they’re back to normal, they don’t need her.
I wouldn’t normally want to give up on the situation but my mums poorly and I was hoping to find Layla Love again so I didn’t have to worry about her so much but now I’m worrying about 3 bunnies.
I keep comparing the situation to Bruno which I know I shouldn’t but I still miss him so much and he really adored Layla so it’s hard to watch Sansa chasing and nipping and pulling fur out of her.


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Thank you all for the advice. Still waiting to hear back from the rescue at the moment.
I didn’t mind whether i had a duo/trio/quad, I just wanted Layla to be happy.
A grieving bunny is such a devastating sight to see.
I did say to them about a rabbit similar in age to Layla (5 years) and they only had the bonded couple Tyrion & Sansa so I said I’d give it a go.
They took Layla last Friday night and by Saturday said they were bonded. Which they probably were, but the pair had their vaccinations on the Friday and I’m thinking they weren’t feeling 100% and having another bunny to cuddle up to made them feel better.
Now they’re back to normal, they don’t need her.
I wouldn’t normally want to give up on the situation but my mums poorly and I was hoping to find Layla Love again so I didn’t have to worry about her so much but now I’m worrying about 3 bunnies.
I keep comparing the situation to Bruno which I know I shouldn’t but I still miss him so much and he really adored Layla so it’s hard to watch Sansa chasing and nipping and pulling fur out of her.


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Personally, I think that is quite optimistic of the rescue to consider that they were bonded so quickly.

Perhaps it would be worth considering trying just a single male with Layla, if not from your local rescue, from another rescue not too far from you.

Bonding rabbits can be so very stressful and I'm sorry that your Mum is also poorly.
 
Thank you all for the advice. Still waiting to hear back from the rescue at the moment.
I didn’t mind whether i had a duo/trio/quad, I just wanted Layla to be happy.
A grieving bunny is such a devastating sight to see.
I did say to them about a rabbit similar in age to Layla (5 years) and they only had the bonded couple Tyrion & Sansa so I said I’d give it a go.
They took Layla last Friday night and by Saturday said they were bonded. Which they probably were, but the pair had their vaccinations on the Friday and I’m thinking they weren’t feeling 100% and having another bunny to cuddle up to made them feel better.
Now they’re back to normal, they don’t need her.
I wouldn’t normally want to give up on the situation but my mums poorly and I was hoping to find Layla Love again so I didn’t have to worry about her so much but now I’m worrying about 3 bunnies.
I keep comparing the situation to Bruno which I know I shouldn’t but I still miss him so much and he really adored Layla so it’s hard to watch Sansa chasing and nipping and pulling fur out of her.


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You're really welcome.

I am sorry to hear that your Mum is poorly. The last thing you want is extra stress.

Bonding rabbits can be a very quick thing, and certainly has been in my experience. I have known rabbits get on (and never fight) within hours, so it's not impossible.

However, I have to say I am surprised that bonding took place immediately after vaccinations, as that can make a rabbit feel 'off colour'. I would have left it a couple of weeks after that, until all the possible side effects were over.

Please don't worry about the three rabbits. This isn't meant to be stressful, and least of all for Layla.

Pair bonding is by far the easiest and most assured. I bonded three, and subsequently added in another rabbit, because one of my four lost the love of his life and was bereft, and I didn't want to have any bun in that position again. With three friends, each bun has a mate whatever happens.
 
I think the after effect of the vaccinations hasn’t helped this situation. The rescue were really apologetic as when we dropped Layla off, T&Ss fosterer hadn’t got the health check & vaccinations done prior to the drop off so she had to get it done that night. But I’ve just realised the next jabs are due next week so I’ve potentially got another 3 weeks before they’ll feel properly well enough for rebonding.
I checked but there are no other rescues close enough to me to try another bunny from somewhere else.
Still waiting to hear back from the rescue. Hopefully someone will be in touch soon and I can devise a plan of action.


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