Plus Pudd (quad bonding journal)

[zombiesue]

Some of you may have heard of the incident at the shelter where I had to adopt a forth rabbit to get the 10% discount on a new carrier. I spent $50 on a bun (+ a voluntary donation of $25) and saved $3.60 on the carrier. I'd say I came out ahead. So. enter Pudd.

This is a trio + newcomer bonding diary. I'll try to lay off the detail for this one. Last time I was super detailed which I think made it boring for other people but it was really helpful for me LOL.

Rabbit guide:
Tank: All black, 7 - 8 pounds. Male, 7~8 years old
Scully: All black, 6.5 pounds. Female. 1.5 years
Mulder: All black, 6 pounds. Male 1.5 years
Pudd: Otter, 3.5 pounds. Male. ~4 years

The trio creation: ( http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f18/tub-trio-bonding-78179/ )

Session 1
20 minutes
Wasn't really a session, I was just trying to figure out how I should go about this. I picked up Scully, because she is the most laid back and submissive rabbit and put her, and just her, in the tub with Pudd.

Pudd immediately began trying to mount her, this lead to a lot of circling, which progressed into fighting. I yelled and sprayed. Poor Pudd was always in the way every time, even when I was aiming for Scully lol. I never had to separate them physically, a little fur was pulled.

They did the nose-to-nose thing several times. Scully just didn't seem to want to accept Pudd as her newest boss for the first, I don't know, like 5 minutes. They both demanded grooms.

After breaking up another fight they sort of stared at each other tensely for a long time, so I petted both of them to calm the situation for a little while, then sat back again. Scully lost and groomed Pudd. Sorry, Scully, it looks like you're going to be #4 out of 4 just like I thought. I ended it after a little while of this. Good note.

Besides that I learned......... not a whole lot. I really need to see all of them together LOL. I have a feeling that this will be a slightly more difficult bond than the last one. I think I might try to go for a drive with the three boys for their first introduction because I have a feeling that Tank/Pudd might be the hardest match.

But now Scully smells like him and was able to act as his ambassador. I also put the towel I used in the tub in the trio's cage so they can get used to him summore.

Pictures: (check it out I don't even have to label them)

 

[pani]

Wow - you're aiming to bond all four of them together? This is going to be a great read! I'm looking forward to reading about the bonding sessions, and I hope it all goes well! Good luck to you and all your buns.

 

[zombiesue]

Thanks for the support

Session 2
~1 hour


Put all 4 in a laundry basket and went for a quick trip down the street so my husband could buy me yarn, thereby killing 2 birds with one stone.

There was 0 interest in fighting. None whatsoever. They were pretty afraid, lol. As you can see, there was hardly any ROOM to fight... Which didn't seem to bother them one bit because they all wanted to huddle as close together as possible. In fact, they usually stood/laid directly on top of Tank.

The stress bonding turned out to be way longer than I meant it too (like the first half hour--sorry bunnies ._.) and then I put them in the tub for another half hour. They all behaved pretty comfortably with one another. There was no fighting or humping whatsoever. Probably as a result of the car ride they all huddled for a while.

And then they dispersed to explore and it seemed like Mulder instantly fell in love with Pudd and hopped right over to groom him after a short while. And he really went to town. He wanted Pudd to get CLEAN.

Perhaps my earlier predictions were wrong. Maybe this will be a lot easier than the trio!

Is this the beginning of a happy bun bun family? Kinda looks that way!

 

[Tauntz]

Wow! May all of your bonding efforts go that well! Sounds like you have a bunny family/herd! lol My girls seem to have bonded since birth as they are sisters. So far no major tiffs for that I am very happy & relieved! I'm not sure I would be a good bunny bonder, having to break up bunny fights! Hope the 4-some bonding continues to go so smoothly & without incident! Will definitely be following this bonding blog/journal! I have a bunny addiction & I so want to add a bunny every now & then. Then reality hits & I am happy to have my two Jersey wooly girls to love each other & me too! lol

Happy bonding to you & the foursome!

 

[Imbrium]

This is a trio + newcomer bonding diary. I'll try to lay off the detail for this one. Last time I was super detailed which I think made it boring for other people but it was really helpful for me LOL.

GEEZ, you've already gotten a fourth?? At this rate, you're gonna end up with six bonded together like the woman who writes the bonding articles on wheekwheekthump, lol. I'm enjoying the rarely-accepted challenge of attempting a trio bond (so far, anyway), but I have no intention of trying to add any more bunns! I've already got three vastly different personalities on my hands.

As for the amount of detail, quads are even more practically unheard of than trios so if you ask me, more is better! Detail that's boring to some people could make a HUGE difference to someone else attempting a quad in the future .

 

[zombiesue]

@Tauntz;
Lol hey thanks! You'd be surprised what you can do when you really want something haha.

@Imbrium;
Well, so far it's been easy, actually, LOL. I've heard that before with people who have groups of rabbits (larger than 3) it gets easier every time they add one. Pudd previously had a bonded buddy, too, so all of the rabbits in this case have been with other rabbits before.

Groups are becoming more common! On this forum http://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/Default.aspx (where I am also a member) it seems like there are more members with groups than on RO. The owner of wheekwheekthump posts there and there's another regular member with a group of five, who also posted her journal on RO and BB.

I read a website once, I can't remember where I found it though =( the owner had 9 rabbits all bonded.

Four is really my max right now though x_x no really.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Wow, I loved ready when you bonded your three so I was interested to see how you got on with a fourth. Sounds like not too badly. Love all the photos, difficult to see who´s who but looks like it´s going relatively well.

I was briefly thinking about this at the weekend, a friend´s son sent me a pic of a really cute bunny who a neighbour was going to get rid of but I wasn´t over there and I really thought about trying to bond a fourth one with my three, didn´t even know the sex of the bunny.

I find all this really fascinating, sometimes they never do what you expect them to do and are so full of surprises at times. Look forward to reading more on these four.

 

[Azerane]

Looking great so far, it certainly is going to be an interesting read... if the bonding process lasts much longer, lol. I have also heard that larger groups tend to be easier to bond. In a book I read a rescue lady had around 20 rabbits that used to share the same living space, and she said she would just introduce the new one in and it would pretty much immediately find it's place. She said there were little friendship groups within the larger group and each little group had it's territory in outside play area. Fascinating stuff.

Looking forward to seeing more I'm glad you're labeling the images

 

[zombiesue]

Waaaaah I'm tired today!

But anyway, put them all back in the tub for about two hours and was really bored (therefore, good session.)

There were two fights (that I broke with yelling) and I am certain in one instance and I suspect in the other that Scully started both. Inexplicably, she is the only bun to have ever been aggressive toward Pudd, and she is the one I thought would get on with him the best. I can't put my finger on why. She's a relatively timid rabbit (in most situations, including when I was trio bonding and in her continued interactions with the other rabbits) and Pudd is more of a dominant personality. I guess sometimes rabbits just might kind of rub eachother the wrong way. + 1 for same-gender rabbits getting along just fine, though, because the boys have never had any problems with Pudd.

All rabbits groomed Pudd, even Scully who was all but attacking him earlier, and Tank, who I have never ever seen grooming the other two ever. It's gonna be tough to tell who's top rabbit!

Maybe I'll post pictures later. In any event, they're ready to move into semi-neutral territory which means rebuilding their cage for me QQ their current set up absolutely will not work, it's too small for 3 rabbits and would be SHAMEFUL for 4, even if they're out during the day.

 

[zombiesue]

Here are my favorite pictures =) Mulder did a good flop lol

 

[pani]

I love seeing this little matching bunny family of yours.

Is Pudd the smallest of them? I'm glad they seem to be getting along!

 

[zombiesue]

Yes, Pudd is quite a bit smaller than the rest of them. He weighs about half of what Tank does, who is the biggest.

 

[pani]

Aw, how cute! I love the idea that even though he is the smallest, he's quite dominant, and had the other three grooming him!

 

[Aubrisita]

Your buns are too cute. It sounds like things are going well. I am obsessively reading bonding journals, I would LOVE to get Luna a friend. This is great research. I really liked reading your tub trio one. Thanks for taking the time to document this. Continued good luck with your four.

 

[zombiesue]

How long have you had little luna?

 

[Aubrisita]

I adopted Luna February 1st. So I have had her....2 weeks? She was spayed January 31st, so I am def. going to wait a while before I even think about attempting to bond with another bun. I want to make sure her hormones are totally gone. Which is fine by me, it gives me plenty 'o time to do my homework.

 

[zombiesue]

Yes, that would probably make your life a lot easier