litter training and bonding,

Question
Hello Andrea
I have had pet bunnies for over the last twenty years. So I consider myself very well experiences. I have one Spayed boy which I have had since he was a baby. I bonded him last year with a unsprayed female, which I took in from a co-worker. They lived in separate cages but would have unlimited amount of free time together, and for the most got along extremely well. Recently I helped out another co-worker and took in a 3 month old unsprayed boy. I will get him fixed when he is of age, he seems to get along well with the girl, (go figure) however I have bought a bigger hutch for the two that were bonded. They get along very well but for some reason they are losing their litter training and it seems that their personalities have switched drastically. I have been being admen about getting them used to their new home, but I am not sure. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you

Answer
Most of the behavior you see with the loss of litter training and personality change is due to the new rabbit.  

It sounds like everyone is going through a hierarchy adjustment in addition to the affects of the hormones with an intact male and intact female around.  The litter habit change is the two bunnies marking territory. They will be letting the new rabbit know where their territory is.  In addition, with the hormones that are now in play, the hierarchical status between the intact female and the neutered male may have changed, and they may be letting each other know that things have changed between them.

With the hormones in the air, you may see some more moodiness from the female, possibly some false pregnancy behavior, and increased territorialness.

Whichever rabbit was previously the alpha rabbit, will also engage in more territorial behavior by marking with the poop and/or urine, and may get a bit more moody.

The biggest challenge for you will be dealing with the behavior caused by the hormones.  As the new rabbit grows older, he may exhibit the circling, thumping, spraying behavior of his newly found sex drive.  And everyone will just be more on edge and territorial.

The new rabbit isn't too far away from the age when the testicles will descend and it'll take about a month for the hormones to get out of his system.

You may want to consider getting the intact female spayed also.  This will also help lessen territorial behavior caused by the hormones that have probably kicked in.

It's also easier to get everyone to get along when everyone is fixed.

Once the hormonal issues have settled down, the rabbits will go through a period of readjusting the bunny hierarchy.  If everyone gets along, or at least doesn't hate each other.  The territorial behavior and in particular the bad litter box habits will die down.

I hope this helps