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Bonding Nine - now a Quintet and maybe a Quad?

tlcwrites

Mama Doe
UPDATE: as of page 10, 'only' 7. Persephone and Morpheus were not settling and being bullied. They have been moved out of the group, with their bond still intact.

UPDATE 2: as of page 11, now a quintet. Selene has been seriously hurt by Meadow and is under veterinary care. Once healed, I'm hoping to try bonding Helios and Selene to Persephone and Morpheus.

..yes, 9. Because I have gone mad. Because I want all my outdoor rabbits to share all of their space instead of smaller (but still bigger than RWAF minimum) set ups.

Day One

The initial bonding crate. An XL dog crate, with a 3 sided run of puppy panels. Indoors, in the lounge.

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The suspects:

Athena - chinchilla otter lionhead cross
Erasmus Chipper (Mus) - tricolour dwarf lop
Helios - broken castor otter rex
Meadowbloom Ursula (Meadow) - steel dutch
Morpheus Seahorse (Morph) - harlequin lionhead
Neonara Drifter (Neo) - mismarked black dutch (overweight)
Persephone - chocolate point mini rex
Rivergrace (River) - opal grey crossbreed
Selene - black rex

Previously grouped as a trio and 3 pairs:
Athena, Rivergrace, and Erasmus
Helios and Selene
Persephone and Morpheus
Meadowbloom and Neonara

What's happening so far:
Meadowbloom and Neonara (Meadow and Neo) arrived from Honeybunnies yesterday courtesy of Jill (honeybunny) and keletkezes. Very grateful to you both! Meadow and Neo, of course are both neutered and fully vaccinated. We gave them a day to settle in a small crate as we didn't want to disturb the neutral setting in the lounge.

This morning, Nyssacat was meant to go to the vets (again) for yearly vaccs, but managed to elude us by hiding behind the bookcase. :shock: All rabbits had breakfast, we went out, grabbed some shopping. Once back, we loaded the trio (River, Athena, Erasmus) into the smallest puppy pen (used for vet appointments). Persephone and Morpheus into our regular cat carrier. Helios and Selene brought in in arms. Helios and Selene were first in the bonding area, followed by Persephone and Morph. Trio went in next, and finally the dutches.

There's been a lot of humping and some fur has flown, mostly from the humping sessions. Almost everyone has had a go, but the worst subjects have been Mus and especially Neo. I'm fairly certain Neo will most likely end up being the dominant rabbit. Selene and Meadow have both been quiet and submissive. River and Persephone have been the most stressy. Persephone continues to snort then thump. She did this when she was first bonded with Morph - it tends to be her first reaction to everything. For a while, River offered an echoing thump to Persephone's. Any "fighting" there's been has mostly been rabbits throwing someone else off their back to stop the humping. Nothing has been untowardly concerning regarding the group thus far.

They've been together approximately an hour now. Right now, most of them are all sitting or laying down. Athena and Morph are grooming. Helios is eating hay. Persephone is staring into the corner of the crate, snorting and thumping. For the most part nobody is sitting necessarily with their original bond mates. Neo is flopped behind Selene.

And now I'm finishing up this Persephone and River are back to their echoing thumps. Will update again shortly.
 
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Wow! :shock: That's amazing! You must really have a gift with rabbit bonding:D

Though in some ways it seems kinda easier to bond a large group than to bond a pair.
 
Wow, how brave are you :shock:

Sending loads of good wishes and lots of calm bonding vibes.
 
OMG - you must be fearless -9!!! But if anyone can, you can.
I shall be watching your thread with interest. Loads of luck
 
Oh wow! You are indeed fearless but I agree if anyone can do it, you can. I love the idea of big groups of bunnies so I'll be avidly following this thread. I wonder how long it'll take to bond 9?


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Thank you for the support everyone. I really hope this works. I just love the idea of having 2 big groups, one in the house and one outside. I certainly DON'T want to try a group any bigger than this one!

As I've said in bonding threads before, I don't think I have a gift at all regarding rabbit bonding. I AM fearless without it though and don't panic easily at chasing/humping/a little bit of fur flying. So long as there's no major fights, I don't separate prospective bonds. After all, it is the rabbits themselves that have to do the hard work, not me.

Day One - 1.30pm

Still lots of occasional scuffles if one moves, but it's literally just them changing position in the set up. Lasts 30 seconds tops. Generally, it's quieter now. No major humping sessions. Athena has done a couple of her typical show off dead bunny flops. Erasmus stole some food out of Selene's mouth. Persephone is sulking in her corner.

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I second (or is third?) the fearless comments - what an amazing thing if you can do it. I’ve seen neutered groups of rabbits on the internet and always wondered how they did it - I believe I’ve seen 12 living together, wondering if I can find it again for some added encouragement! They look wonderful together and it sounds like it’s going according to plan so far? Xx
 
Oh how exciting. I loved bonding my quad. Tried six originally but Mottle and Peaches (an already established pair) were having none of it. That became apparant almost immediately.

I will be following this with interest. Wishing you and the rabbits the very best of luck.

Looks like your lot are doing fine. I am fascinated by the interplay between groups of animals. I recently bonded my guinea pigs (a trio, a pair and two singles) into a group of 7. It was utterly seamless.
 
Day One - 3.45pm

The rabbits tend to get chasey/more irritated with one another when food supplies run low. Obviously with the sheer quantity of rabbits and such a small space, I cannot supply them with a full day's worth of hay in one go. I'm topping up with forage and hay at the same time each time it gets a bit low, so they are not getting one "meal" of fresh food a day at the moment. Like guinea pigs, I feel like food can calm down rabbits in bonding.

Morph is tending to quite often be the one who goes on a mad dash and riles everyone up right now. The rest of the time he just keeps out of everyone's way. And of course, the same can be said for Persephone if she dares to venture out of her corner. But, despite being a bonded pair coming into this, neither of them is taking much solace in the other.

Helios seems to quite like Athena now, I keep seeing those 2 cuddled up. Erasmus has done a couple of dead bunny flops, but every time I so much as move to take a picture, he thinks something more exciting than having his photo taken might happen. Neo seems to like Selene and Athena, but the only buns I've seen groom one another are Neo grooming Meadow and (very briefly) Helios grooming Athena. Selene was sitting quietly next to a stompy, grunty Persephone. However, Persephone humped her, Selene hid behind Mus, who then went to hump her. The only 2 rabbits chilling together as I type are Neo and Athena. Everyone else is more or less eating, with Persephone grunting and stomping and eating. Morph, Meadow and Selene are now in a corner, the two girls milling about, Morph in a loaf. -and Meadow is grooming Morph!!!

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Oh how exciting. I loved bonding my quad. Tried six originally but Mottle and Peaches (an already established pair) were having none of it. That became apparant almost immediately.

I will be following this with interest. Wishing you and the rabbits the very best of luck.

Looks like your lot are doing fine. I am fascinated by the interplay between groups of animals. I recently bonded my guinea pigs (a trio, a pair and two singles) into a group of 7. It was utterly seamless.

I do think, generally, when bonding rabbits you know more-or-less immediately if it's not going to work. After that point you just have to wait out the stomping/humping/diva behaviour (looking at you Persephone!) until everyone finds their place, especially so in big groups. That at least has been my experience. Only had 2 bond break-ups, both doe/doe pair - Athena and Elphie (who I bonded, and fell out over a satsuma), and River and Morning (who I didn't bond, and never really liked each other from the offset!)

That is a lovely size herd of piggies, I bet you're pleased with how that's gone down. :love:
 
This is so interesting. I'm loving all the photos and reading what everyone is up to :). I'm impressed you have all this set up in your living room.

We've often said, imagine if our buns were all a group and could go from shed to playhouse to run etc around the garden. I don't think I'm brave enough though :lol:

Good luck :) x
 
I’d love to bond my 6, but don’t think I dare. They’re in 2 trios but one is only just formed and still in reduced space. I’ll be watching your thread with interest!! Good luck! Lovely to have a big group, it’s like bunny heaven!! Xx
 
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?470432-Introducing-Meadowbloom-and-Neonara I've introduced Meadow and Neo here for anyone who wants to get a proper look at them.

My head is throbbing, so for now I've passed bonding duties over to Mum. Persephone is still a diva and ends up in her sulking corner. Mus has done another DBF. Selene, Meadow, and Morpheus seem to chill in a corner together, with Helios nearby (eating, like every good rex does!) Mum has panicked when Persephone has started everyone off again, but by the time I get downstairs it's invariably quiet. Persephone just really needs someone to put her in place. Every time Athena tries to, she runs off and sulks. More-or-less everyone else is 'over it' in terms of kicking up a stink aside from her. I think it's just a case of being very patient right now. We've got a long road ahead - and a LOT of space to re-neutralise outside!
 
In my view it's all going very well :D It does sound as though the niggles are ones, which will calm down with time.

Sending lots more vibes and, like others, I'm finding it very interesting.

At one of the rescues I visited recently a lady adopted a family of 6 and bonded them with her existing group to make a group of 20+ :shock:
 
I found that my quad were calmed down by very gentle hands on contact, something that they normally !oathe. That and food, as you said. I bonded them in my bedroom and if I heard chasing at night I would put the light on and hand out piles of food!
 
Day 2 - 1am

Diva Persephone escaped the set-up, Mus has gone on a chase fest, but otherwise everything is okay. The drama wasn't contained to the bonding group.

Delta piggie screamed, OH woke (on bonding duty), fetched me, she died in my arms.

Arce got stuck in the pipe. I got her to butt-shuffle out.

Nyssa cat has stolen my pillow.

Bah, please let the day get better.
 
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