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Feasibility of rabbit trios

22 10:00:45

Question
Hi Dana,

I have a bonded pair of bunnies: a female and a male mini rex. I am considering adopting a third rabbit to live with them. However, I've heard that introducing a third bunny to a bonded pair can result in problems where the bunnies do not get along well. Have you had experience with three bunnies sharing the same hutch and living together?

I'll give you some more background about the current situation in case that helps. The two bunnies are currently living in a three storey hutch, so they have plenty of space (at least compared to most other bunnies I know of). They are both house bunnies (the hutch is inside the house). I let the bunnies out twice a day so they can run (and jump, and binky) around and to interact with them. I would let them out more often, but they tend to bite skirting boards and furniture, so I only let them out when I can keep an eye on them.

They are both neutered. They are brother and sister from the same litter and around 11 months old. The male is a bit afraid of contact with me (except when I'm giving him food :) and is the more submissive of the two. The female is more confident, is quite feisty and can nip (not bite) if I hold her too long.

Both bunnies are very healthy and get along very well. I can feed them together and they usually want to eat whatever the other one is currently eating. But even this occurs in a friendly way, there is never claws or biting involved.

Thanks in advance!

Answer
Dear Ronald,

Introducing a third bunny will be very risky.  Success will take immense patience, time, and a lot of luck.  All depends on the personalities of the rabbits involved, and you should *definitely* not bring a bunny home as a "surprise" because there will be BLOOD.  Sometimes the presence of a new rabbit in the house (especially if not neutered/spayed) will cause a bonded pair to fight.  You just never know what will happen.

If you are set on doing this, then contact your local rabbit rescuer here:

www.rabbit.org/chapters

and set up some "blind dates" with all three bunnies in a neutral territory. If there is *any* sign of aggression, I wouldn't take a chance on bringing the bunny home, as the situation will be much worse once the resident rabbits are in their own familiar territory.  The pairings can be complex!  The residents could gang up on the newcomer, or the newcomer could seduce one of the established pair away from his/her mate, causing stress and grief.  They're not all that different from humans (or other social mammals) when it comes to this sort of thing!

So proceed with extreme caution.  I wouldn't try this without the help of a truly expert rabbit rescuer who can help you at every step of the way.

Better to bring home a bonded pair who can live in a different area of the house--that way you can rescue more bunnies but not cause chaos in your home.

Hope this helps.

Dana