Hi everyone,
I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to bonding, it has been a while. Since we lost our lovely Jellybean yesterday, we're going to have to start thinking about introducing Hamilton to Lily and Maple. Hammy boy does not do well on his own, when Beatrice passed away he got very depressed and got stasis. So we are wanting to try bonding them asap.
My only concern is that Lily and Maple are very nervous bunnies, particularly Lily. Hamilton doesn't have a nasty bone in his body, but he does get very excited around other rabbits, and at this time of year he gets more humpy than usual. When we first adopted the girls a couple of years ago, he did break into their side of the shed one time overnight, and in the morning they were all chilling together, as if they had bonded themselves! So I'm not hugely concerned that it won't work. I actually think Hamilton will be great for their self confidence.
I'm just wondering if there's anything that I can do to make it less stressful for the girls, and if Hamilton is very humpy/chasing a lot, how long do I let that behaviour play out before it should be deemed as 'too much'. We did attempt bonding them as a quad in the past, but Jellybean and Maple hated each other (too much personality in one room!) the dynamic will be different now. Old pic below of the first time we tried bonding them. Hamilton was more submissive because Jellybean was very much the matriarch.
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I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to bonding, it has been a while. Since we lost our lovely Jellybean yesterday, we're going to have to start thinking about introducing Hamilton to Lily and Maple. Hammy boy does not do well on his own, when Beatrice passed away he got very depressed and got stasis. So we are wanting to try bonding them asap.
My only concern is that Lily and Maple are very nervous bunnies, particularly Lily. Hamilton doesn't have a nasty bone in his body, but he does get very excited around other rabbits, and at this time of year he gets more humpy than usual. When we first adopted the girls a couple of years ago, he did break into their side of the shed one time overnight, and in the morning they were all chilling together, as if they had bonded themselves! So I'm not hugely concerned that it won't work. I actually think Hamilton will be great for their self confidence.
I'm just wondering if there's anything that I can do to make it less stressful for the girls, and if Hamilton is very humpy/chasing a lot, how long do I let that behaviour play out before it should be deemed as 'too much'. We did attempt bonding them as a quad in the past, but Jellybean and Maple hated each other (too much personality in one room!) the dynamic will be different now. Old pic below of the first time we tried bonding them. Hamilton was more submissive because Jellybean was very much the matriarch.
1-1