Hi, my name’s Carly and I’m new here (although I feel like I should’ve joined this community years ago!) I currently have two bunnies–Murphy, a 3~ish year old grey lionhead mix who I rescued from someone in my town who released their rubbits and set their outdoor hutch on fire about 2 years ago, and Stella, my brand new (literally… I’ve only had her for 4 days) 2 year old Holland Lop who I adopted from ARL in Pittsburgh.
I took Murphy up to Pittsburgh to meet some buns and he and Stella were great together right away. They were grooming each other and when they weren’t, they were ignoring each other. The lady at the shelter said they’d be a great match. On the 2 hour car ride home they did amazing in the same carrier and relaxed and snuggled the entire time. Now, at home, I’ve done 3 bonding sessions, and none of them have gone very well.
The first session, I made the mistake of setting up the neutral area on carpet where Murphy had a lot of grip. He started chasing Stella and we (my boyfriend & I) had to break it up immediately. Then, the next night we tried a session in the bath tub, and this went a little better. There was grooming at first, and then some mounting and scuffling. Finally, last night we tried again on another neutral area with a more slippery floor, and there was a full fledge fight with fur pulling and all.
Each session, my anxiety has grown worse and worse. The thought of putting them together makes my heart race and last night when my boyfriend was controlling the session, I heard them fighting I literally started hyperventilating and went into panic mode. I know that this aggression is pretty normal between two rabbits meeting for the first time, but it freaks me out and makes me incredibly anxious. I know that the rabbits can somewhat sense my tension, and it probably isn’t helping. I just really didn’t know it was going to be this nerve wracking and I’m starting to think I can’t do this…
I know a lot of you are probably going to tell me to suck it up and take control, but if any of you have suffered with anxiety you’ll know that it’s harder than it seems. Tonight is the first night my boyfriend has to work… and without him here I don’t think I can do a bonding session, not alone. f I can’t get this under control, I’ll never be able to bond these rabbits. It’s only been 4 days and the bonding process has already caused me extreme stress and I’m on the borderline of an emotional breakdown. I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for in responses–advice or a pep talk or what–but if anyone could let me know if you’ve had a similar experience or situation, maybe it’d help me out. Thanks!