bonding 4 rabbits together

Question
QUESTION: I have two bonded pairs living in separate areas in my home. I saw a picture on your website that had lots of bunnies together on a bed and i'm hoping that I might be able to bond all my rabbits together and give them free reign of my house. They are all neutered and spayed and mostly litter trained.

Is there any way to bond them all together? or do you think that putting them all together will cause the pairs to break up and cause more territorial havoc then its worth?

How many bunnies have you had live happily together and how did you do it? Is my dream of four rabbits living together happily just a dream or is it possible to achieve.

Thank you.

ANSWER: Dear Rachel,

It all depends on the personalities of the rabbits.  You'll have to do this carefully and in a neutral territory.  (The picture you saw was everyone on a car ride to try and get them used to each other.)  And yes, there's the possibility of bond-swapping and one being left out.

Our house is all tile, making rabbit territories easy to separate by putting secure cotton mats for traction in every territory.  The bunz don't feel secure on tile, so tend to honor the boundaries.  But the only way you'll know about your bunnies' potential for group life is to carefully experiment with bonding.  You can find articles to help you here:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00062824-sp00000000&sp-q=bonding

Hope that helps.  Good luck!

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok so heres the plan - every winter we go away to a resort for a week - last year it nicely corresponded with my one rabbit getting a mate so I took them both to the resort and used the time there as neutral bonding time. It took the full week but after that they were pretty much together. It didnt take much time after that to get the bond working well at home either. like 1 - 2 months max!

This year I'm wondering if it might not be a good idea to bring them all to the resort and have them sort it all out there.. or do you think everything will go haywire once we come back home and the territories are remembered again?

What do you think of my plan? Crazy? Insane?

Sometimes I wonder - everyone seems to be happy now - am I tempting fate to take down the baby gates and risk potential peefest, poopfest, fur-flying fest, etc that might occur if I do.. or should I stop being silly and just let them all be.

Answer
Dear Rachel,

Taking them to the resort is a great idea, as long as you can be sure they'll be safe from the cleaning crews or any dangers of the room you'll be using.  This will give them the opportunity to be in a neutral territory and see what friendships are possible among them.

It won't guarantee that they won't fight when they come back.  But it is worth a try.  You might want to slightly rearrange things once you get home, and clean well to reduce their scents so they might not be quite as possessive.

Good luck!

Dana