Can you bond 2 boys and 1 girl rabbit?

[MyBoyHarper]

What's the odds? I have Harper and I'm bonding him with Haley. So far so good. I'm in the middle of trying to adopt a female mini rex. But, I am also have a male lionhead rescue being thrown at me, because he is having substantial problems. Just treated for E. Cuniculi (sp?), curved femurs, along with some "hand shy" problems from being beaten. He has an INCREDIBLE personality, he is so sweet.

What are the odds of bonding two males when you have one female thrown in the mix? Does anyone here have two bonded males along with a female? I want this baby because I can't see turning him down. But I need to try to have the chance of bonding them though.

Also, is E. Cuniculi (however you spell it!) contagious to other rabbits once it has been fully treated?

 

[Haley]

Hey there!

I have the two bonded rabbits, Basil and Max, and I briefly tried to introduce them to my friends rabbit, Fiona. It seemed promising. I just let her meet Basil first and things went well. Max seemed to be okay with it too. I think if I had really tried (I knew I was only living with the friend for one year, so there was no real point in getting them all cozy together) I think I would have been successful.

In your case things are a little different. It might be hard to bring another boy into the mix once Harper and Haley are bonded. Harper might be jealous. I think what I would do is make sure this new boy is neutered first, and then try to bond him with Harper before Haley. From what Ive read, people say to bond the new one with the top bun, which, I'm assuming, is Harper.

Another option, if you do end up with all four, would be to bond the new boy and girl. Maybe once they were bonded, they could meet Harper and Haley. Or you could just have two bonded couples, kept separately. I think Naturestee has this setup with two bonded pairs.

I'm unsure about the EC...maybe someone else has more knowledge. This other minirex you are trying to rescue, is that the one on this site? Bc I think she has EC as well. You could just keep the lionhead and her together, but separate from H & H, if it is contagious.

Hope this helps a bit!

-Haley

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

You could try it, but you should bond one rabbit at a time, not both of them with the new male.

I'd still be very worried about Haley, if you do manage to bond the 2 boys and Haley and then she gets older and decides to challenge for dominance, she could be severely hurt. That could also throw the whole hierarchy off if she hits the teen years.

 

[MyBoyHarper]

First, I want to make a correction, the lionhead was treated for coiccidia (sp?), not E.C.! Ugh, too much going through my mind this morning.

Secondly, the minirex is not the one from this website, it's from somewhere else.

The lionhead is neutered, he was just neutered actually.

I'm thinking maybe I will continue to bond Harper and Haley, and then just not bond the lionhead. They say he is extremely personable, and is more of a "bond with a human" type rabbit.

Pipp, isn't one your rabbits bonded to you?

 

[jordiwes]

Stephanie had two boys and a girl, her story here:

too started off with a bonded pair, Chompers (buck) and Abby (doe). It was love at first sight with them. When we introduced Valuran (buck), it was actually Abby who didn't take to him. Chompers could have cared less!

I'll be frank that it wasn't easy to bond them. Abby was pretty vicious in her attacks on Valuran, fur flew we'll just say. Lots of it. However, after a lot of work and patience, I now have three very happily bonded rabbits who all share a cage. Here is what I did.

First, make sureyou do the sessions in a neutral territory. I used my bathroom. Basically any smallish area/room where none of the rabbits ever are, therefore there is no scent or territory established. I made sure to have some water and food on hand for them, plus a water bottle (the kind you use tomist plants). Then I just sat there and did nothing and let them do their thing.

At the fist sign of aggression (ears laid flat back against the head), I would spray Abby and tell her NO in a loud, firm voice. I did this every time she was about to attack Valuran. Eventually she began to ignore him, which is what you want. Finally, she went up to him and groomed him, which means it's a done deal. Once you have grooming, their bonded.

This took me two full weeks to do. I would do these sessions two to three times a day, from twenty to thirty minutes at a time. The first two days I would take them in the same carrier on a short car ride, but stopped on day three. It was very frustrating and I very nearly lost all hope of success.

Just have a lot of patience and you can do it. It does take a lot of time. Hopefully it'll be a love at first sight situation and you won't need to do this.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

Wow, you're going from one rabbit to four in no time. You sound like me!

I guess you decided to stay home and go to school there this fall, huh?

 

[MyBoyHarper]

Laura, yeah I am going to make the commute to college while still living at home. I couldn't see getting rid of any of my animals that are my house pets (rescues that aren't up for adoption), all of them are rescues besides Haley. It's a calling, I tell you, andI'm very passionate about it. Anyways, I've got Wendy over at the rabbitrescuewanting to hand me over 3 guinea pigs that were abandoned, and a vet clinic is wanting to hand me another 2 male guinea pigs that were dropped off at their doorstep. I can't take in 5 guinea pigs at once. I've done it, but I've already got a house full of rescues, and I don't have 5 spare cages for them. Wendy is taking in the 3 for now, I told the vet clinic to call me back if they didn't find homes for their 2 GP's.

Anyways, I may just continue bonding Harper and Haley, and try to bond the lionhead in the future. If he doesn't bond, who cares! He's still a cutie.

Stephanie answered one of my main questions; how do you know when they are bonded. She said when they start grooming each other. Great! Well, Harper and Haley haven't groomed yet, but they are at the point of bunny flops and binkies with each other, so I'm sure we're close.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Yup, I waited until both of my rabbits were grooming each other until I moved them on to the next step. Mocha was grooming Zoey the very first bonding session while Zoey didn't groom Mocha until the 3rd session. But I waited until I could leave themtogether for a number of hours before moving on to the next step as well, I was not willing to puch my luck and rush the bonding.

 

[MyBoyHarper]

I fully agree MBB. Haley is only 7 weeks, and she will not be permanently with Harper until after she is spayed. Until then, we will continue the bunny play dates and bonding sessions.