re: rabbit bonding

Question
I would really like some help with my 3 rabbits..back in april we lost our french lop female(Annabelle) which we put in when her mate passed away(Arthur), Annabelle was sprayed and about 5 when we put her in with our two mini lops (brother(Wilf) and sister(Enid)), all that happened was some chasing and bonking from Wilf with Annabelle. Enid stayed out fo it. and after a few hours they were washing each other.now 6 days ago we decided to get another french lop (Penelope) she is 9 weeks old and has not yet be spayed as she is too young. the mini lops have both been neutred.we brought Penelope home and put her in a run next to the mini lops. and swapped them over. the reason for us getting Penelope was also because my dad got her brother for his rabbit, as she had just lost her mate a few days before,and was really in a bad way missing her friend.during looking for a mate we brought my dads female not spayed female down for the day so i could take care of her. seperated by thick bars from my two. at some point during the day there must have been a bit of a nipping session throw the bars. Enid before wasnt worried, but her Wilf was (by my dads rabbits presence) and nipped her, but Enid must have gotten in the way somewhere.i dont know if this has any inpact of Enids behaviour so i added it.anyway we got Penelope and seperated them with a small gap and sperate spaces. but 3 days after we brought them home, Penelope found her way into the mini lops territory. so they has spent a night together when i found them in the morning all abit tense. but not fighting.the mini lops chased and bit Penelope. 2 days later the male is fine, and has washed her. Enid is still chasing and nipping if Penelope goes within nipping range. otheriwse she icnores her. i have put them on the dryer(reading all sorts of tips on the net) and it does work. Enid has even sat there washing Penelope. but once back in there house, she goes back to nipping and chasing.i have moved them now out of the house, and into the kitchen in neutral territory in a run. all 3 rabbits. there is less chasing and nipping day by day.is any of this to do with Penelope not yet being spayed.Wilf is trying to play peace keeper. washing them both. chasing off Enid and protecting Penelope when shes about to attack. Enid looks very put out.will they get on?Penelope is extremly submissive,a nd never starts any fights. and will wash Enid. but when too close she will keep nipping her.what do i do?ive been adviced to keep them together.but im worried Penelope is getting stressed. i didnt have this problem with Annabelle, Enid was perfect. so why is she so bad with Penelope?sorry this messege is so full on but i didnt want to leave anything out.

Answer
Hi,

you may be moving too fast.  Further, bonded trios are generally very hard to do as you risk breaking up the two bonded rabbits.

The two girls are going to be at odds because females are interested in territory and now Enid has a new female that is in her established territory.  She wants to be the top dog here and that's why she's acting dominant and giving Penelope a hard time.  Natural reaction.

I would advise going slower, and keepign Penelope separate until about 6 weeks after she is spayed.  If you have them together now, she will hit puberty and become more aggressive and you will get potentially very bad fighting.  Let them be in separate areas but able to see each other through separate double gates a few inches apart, so they cannot nip at each other through the gates, as this will not help you at all when you later try to bond them.  It will have created animosity between them, so double gates given their behavior will be a necessity.

You need to wait 6 weeks after her spay so that her new lower hormone levels are stable and will not affect the bonding process negatively.

Two females and one male can work, it just depends on the personalities of the rabbits.  During that six weeks waiting after the spay, switch litterpans between the two areas, and all that.  Do all bonding in a neutral area.  Go very slowly, starting with 10-15 minute sessions once or twice a day, depending how they are going.  Gradually over weeks increase up to 1-2 hour sessions in the neutral area.  You cannot just dump the new one into the other girls' area even after this.  You need to start with a small area inside the twos' area, fenced in with all three and you supervising.  then as things go okay, make that area bigger.  If you go too fast they will fight and you're back to the neutral area from scratch.  So go very slowly.  Too often people push the bonding too hard and it fails because we're impatient.

THese two are dealing with the loss of a friend and they aren't just going to accept any strange rabbit replacement they both don't like.  They are like people this way, rabbits pick their friends, and not all get along.  So don't rush them.  And know the difference between the necessity of establishing dominance and actual fighting, because the former you must not break up, and the latter you must break up.