An Update on Brayden and Tulip

Today's layout features the photo from the first time Brayden and Tulip met. 

 

This page earned three points for my Bash Bowl team, Twisted Scissors: 1 point for the tags, 1 point for the full-length border, and another point for using three or more words. Once again, I opted not to use metal on the page just to claim the extra points for that and using punches. I could easily have used metal grommets on my tags, but I don't want that bulk in the album. 

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I'm way overdue on an update about Brayden and Tulip. Bonding rabbits can be a long and difficult process, which we knew going in, but we never expected it to be this difficult. We had high hopes at first that we'd get them bonded after a few weeks. After a month of us working with them with no progress, my anxiety was sky-high. It was clearly time to try something else, so we ended up hiring a professional who has tons of experience bonding rabbits. She boarded them for a week and worked closely with them, during what she calls a Bunny Moon. They were showing progress, albeit very slowly.

Unfortunately, as soon as Brayden and Tulip returned home, there was a fight. I got bit trying to separate them, which obviously made me even more anxious about the whole process. The buns returned for a Bunny Moon #2. Again, there was some progress, but once the week was over, they were nowhere near ready to coexist. We brought them home to separate spaces. It was disappointing, to say the least.

When we traveled to Southern California, she took the buns again in hopes that a final intensive stay would do the trick. They made progress, snuggling happily together for significant blocks of time (supervised). Each day we got a report and it was sounding better and better. Brayden and Tulip clearly like each other and want to spend time together, but they never got to a point where she felt comfortable leaving them together unsupervised. 

Again, we brought them home to separate spaces. However, this time we completely rearranged our furniture so that they wouldn't be living in what was Brayden's territory when he was an only bun. Our hope is that they can learn to get along in the neutral territory. 

The separate spaces are fine for now, but it's not what either of them deserve long-term. We're trying to stay positive and keep up hope that they'll eventually be bonded. We obviously want what is best for both rabbits.