Can I bond a bonded pair to a third rabbit?

[Lucy123]

Last year I decided to end the bonding sessions between my rabbits Lucy (dwarf) and Trig (Agouti) because Trig was very aggressive towards her.

THEN I realized you can bond more then two rabbits together. I also have Petey (lop) and Belle (Mini Rex) my bonded pair. Would it be possible to bond Trig (male) to my bonded pair Petey and Belle? That would be two males and one female.

Would that cause more aggression in Trig because there is another male, or less?

Could it make Belle and Petey aggressive towards eachother if I start bonding all three? Or once a pair is bonded, they are always bonded?

If you think it could work I think it's worth attempting it!



Any help would be really appreciated! : )

 

[missyscove]

I know people have trios, but I'm not sure how they did that.

Once a pair is bonded they are not always bonded. My two got in a big fight after a few months of being bonded and we haven't been able to bond them back since.

 

[Lucy123]

Hmm ok, I wonder if Trig might trigger a fight between Pete and Belle then. I wouldn't want to risk ruining Pete and Belle's relationship because they are a great pair. Well thanks for your info!

 

[elrohwen]

You can certainly try to bond a trio. Just keep in mind that sometimes the stress of introducing a new rabbit can make the existing pair fight. It could break their bond to the point where you need to rebond them. I don't know many people who have trios, so I don't really know how likely this is to happen. Typically it seems to be the girl of the pair who becomes territorial and picks fights, but of course that's not always the case.

One method of trio bonding is bonding your third bunny to each member of the pair individually. Once bunny #3 gets along with bunnies #1 and #2 separately, you can try putting them all together and see how they do. This way you're only working with 2 bunnies at a time at first, and you're minimizing the chance that the original bonded pair will start fighting.