Ethel the snuggliest bunny maintains her reputation

Yes, that's it, Mommy, rub my head just like that...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Beanie bunnies!

Hippie



Nibbler

 

Floppity
















My daughter was home from college for a too-short break. She went exploring in her old bedroom and came up with three bunny Beanie Babies.

Were you one of the thousands who "invested" in collecting these?
Well, hindsight is 20/20, and now you can see that it would have been much better to have invested in tech stocks in 2000, or Florida real estate in 2007.

"It's always something." (Apologies to Roseanne Roseannadanna ... we miss you, Gilda Radner)

One day at the computer desk -- Treats!

All: Nom, nom, nom...
Ethel: These treats are splendiferous!
Bunya: Yeah, the humans took Bunny 201 at HRS
and came back with a sample bag of treats.
Lucy: Papaya and Exact and Probios, oh my! *

Bunya: Please, Ma'am, may we have s'more? **
Lucy: NOW!

All: nom, nom, nom...
Ethel: Good job, Bunya.
Lucy: Less talking, more nomming.
Oh, wait - you talk, I'll nom.

* Yes, a Wizard of Oz reference. Deal with it.
** An Oliver reference (ever read Dickens - only for school, I'm sure). 
Score - Two movie refs in one post...

Bunny 101 and Bunny 201 are bunny education courses offered at our local HRS chapter.
Check for educational courses in your area -
A good idea even BEFORE you get a bunny.

Fender bender II

If Ethel is not careful, she is going to get cited for following too closely.
Again!

Modifications to the pen ... and cardboard

As noted in yesterday's post, we sent their favorite box to that big recycle bin in the sky. (Actually, we sent it to the big green recycle bin in the driveway.)

Their favorite box, in its younger days

Their favorite box, at disposal,
after being run over by a bunny chew-chew train

Their new Hopper Hideaway
(to which I added the upper level ...
which Ethel & Lucy have already explored)

We will still try to replace that box they loved so much, maybe for their cardboard playground outside the pen...
Next time we go shopping at Costco, we'll dig around in their box bin.

Yeah, we have a lot of cardboard boxes ... so what?

It was clean the bunnies' pen day and that means vacuuming the carpet, too. So we stacked their hidey box collection on the coffee table. As you can see from the clean pen in the background, this tower does not include the boxes in their pen (or their new Hopper Hideaway).



Opening soon: Bunny high-rise condos.

It became surprisingly easy to navigate around the room. The box in the upper left corner is one of their favorites but it has seen better days (as related in prior posts: Cardboard Jungle, Part 2, Skylight Project, and Ethel is back). We rearranged the pen and got rid of it the day this picture was taken.

At least the bunnies are easy to shop for ... you just have to find the right boxes when you check out at Costco. I think that is where that box came from and we will have to look for another. They really loved it.

But they have fun with all their boxes, jumping in one door or window and popping out of another. Or just hiding inside. Often, we can hear them tearing up the cardboard inside a box or see them nibbling on a shutter.

With so many boxes, you just don't know where everyone is.
Until they hear the top of the treat jar opening...
and then they are all at your feet.

More cardboard - the Hopper Hideaway

Hey, everybody - look what I found!

May I come in?

Sure - there's room for everybunny!




This is the old home-built construct the buns have had for a while, and still love. They hide inside or jump on top and go through the elevated tunnel. It is currently in their pen, but if we can get a similar upper level on the Hopper Hideaway, it might replace this thing in their pen. (That's Ethel peeking through the little window.)

BTW, the Hopper Hideaway was not available from my local HRS shop (the first place to look for anything bunny) so I ordered it from Cats & Rabbits & More (lots of pictures of it here). It is the deluxe starter digs ($17.99 + S&H), with two houses and one connecting tunnel. I have not yet gone crazy and constructed a series of connected Hopper Hideaways...

But the thought has crossed my mind.

Lucy & Bunya, sittin' in a tree...

Well, actually, sittin' on the fireplace.

It's one of Lucy's favorite hangout spots anyway and we were cleaning their pen. The other "always-happens" when we clean is that Lucy will try to scale Mt. Tube. We lean their tube tunnel from their pen on the fireplace while we clean. Lucy gets at the bottom and tries to climb up the tube.

This is made near impossible by several facts: the tube is very slick, she has very fuzzy feet and Lucy is bottom heavy (it's okay, she knows it and she is a gorgeous bunny). Mostly what we see and hear is her butt sticking out of the tube and her nails clacking on the tube at high speed as she tries to race to the summit, while standing in place. At least it's good exercise.



After her workout, she settles on the fireplace to cool down. Bunya joined her to snuggle and she must have started to groom him, because he settled into his smashed flat, patiently waiting Zen position (that's the end of above referenced white tube, resting on the fireplace in front of Bunya). When Lucy sees us with the camera, she gets bashful and stops licking him.

Sorry, Bunya.

There'll be more later.

Bunny care - Binky bunny hay buffet

Bunny care - Your bunnies should have 24/7 access to fresh, clean hay. Timothy hay is good. Or Western Timothy hay. You can vary the hay and add some "treat" hays, but check with your HRS or bunny-wise vet to make sure you do not give them too much of a kind of hay that is not good for them.

So ... thinking about that and how to deliver it to the bunnies, here's what developed ...

They picked up on eating from it very quickly (especially Lucy). At about 20 seconds in, Ethel jumps in to join Lucy. Of course, Ethel wanted to eat from the same opening Lucy was and nudges her out of the way. Sometimes, they snatch the food from each other's mouth - especially when treats are involved.

A few points:
+ The container is plastic, so it can be cleaned.
+ Left several inches before the first eating hole so the hay dust could gather in the bottom and be emptied every so often.
+ The three holes are at different heights (didn't know which they might find they wanted to eat from, where the "good" hay pieces might be at a particular time, and the buns are different sizes).
+ A zip tie anchors the container to the wire of their pen, so it shouldn't fall over.
+ Pushed the litter box close to it, so they have to still sit in litter box to eat. This way, if they are still inclined to poop while eating (and yes, they are), they are already positioned to do so.

Then I put a LOT of hay in it (3 kinds) and it's "Chow Time!"
 
(The "white noise" you may hear in this and a number of other videos is a room air filter we constantly run to keep down the hay dust and bunny hair.)

Bunny cards!



It says: The best things in life are free.
(But the cards run about $3.50)


My wife was shopping in a bookstore in Chapel Hill and came across these cards. She bought several for me, because, let's face it, I just don't have enough bunny stuff.

In case you, dear RRRR (regular Rambling Rabbits readers), are looking for bunny cards to send to someone, here's where you can find them: Two Bad Mice, along with lots of other cute cards and things. The artist is Anita Jeram and the cards are reproduced from her water-colours and printed in England. A special one might look very cute in a little frame (like the one that says "New Baby" for a baby's room).





All this bunny stuff people buy for me makes me seem much crazier than I really am.
Possibly...

Ethel ... "She sleeps with the dishes"

(Yes, that title was a Godfather reference.)

Once again, we must ask: What's up with Ethel?

The gate is wide open. Even if not, there's plenty of room to stretch out in the pen.
But not our Ethel...

This first picture is through the fence,
in case she moves when I get closer.
She is resting her chin on the food pellets dish
and leaning her cheek against the water dish.

She didn't move, so you can see how
she wiggles herself between their dishes to rest.

Close-up of that sweet, sweet face.

Hope she got a receipt from the attendant when she checked her brain cell at the door.

Bunya the Hutt

Yeah, well ... not much I can add to the title of the post
(which was a Star Wars reference, unless you don't want it to be ... but then this post would make no sense to you).

Bunya's trip to the vet ... a poop primer

A few days ago, Bunya had a day when he was really under the weather (posted here). We home diagnosed poopy butt (check the Rabbit Resources in the right hand column to learn more). There could be a number of causes and began some of the things that might improve the situation (depending on the cause).

It didn't get better, although his mood picked up significantly over his really pooky day. So, we went to the vet. Poor, trusting, human-friendly Bunya ... I ran home from work, scooped him up (he came right to me), threw him in the carrier and off to the vet we went. Lucy & Ethel were shell-shocked, but happy not to be going - they did cheer Bunya on when he resisted entry to the carrier by splaying his back legs across the top entrance.

Bunya's mug shot ... now, turn to the side.
When we go to the vet, the nurse takes a current picture of the patient,
 so this is handsome Bunya's potrait.
It prints out on the visit's medical summary, the detailed results of his examination.
(We don't get such reports from our doctor visits.)

At first, while we waited for the doctor,
Bunya just sat on the scale while I rubbed his head and ears.
That was satisfactory for 10-15 minutes and then he wanted to explore the counter top.

Said exploration included the most interesting jars and sink.
Or maybe he was just looking for an escape.

One of the best ways to assess your bunnies health is via their poop. Know your poops!

Healthy poops are round pellets. Not-so-healthy poops may be smaller than usual, runny or strung together (someone's been eating carpet fibers). No poops might be the worst. Read up on poop in the resources; it can indicate some serious medical conditions that need to be addressed quickly.

With more than one bunny, you might spy a poop that isn't normal, but it is not like they leave ID labels on them. So to isolate Bunya's poops, Bunya had to be isolated. He was put in a separate pen with a clean litter box. Any poops appearing therein would be his. When he made a deposit, I made a withdrawal and ran them back to the vet for analysis.

Bunya in isolation, while Lucy & Ethel picket for his release.

We are awaiting the analysis which will let the vet know if Bunya needs a specific medicine to treat him. He has rejoined the general bunny population, which made everyone, bunny and human, much happier than his isolation.

One thing he has to work on ... he has ballooned to 4.77 pounds and should be about 4. He will not be happy about that.
How do you get a bunny to exercise?
Maybe he will get on the treadmill with me.

Here are some more direct links for you to learn about bunny poops (please, contain your excitement):
Georgia HRS - look under the heading RABBIT POOP & DIGESTION for relevant articles.
HRS has a page of medical topics here
Check here under Rabbit Health 101, specifically Disorders of the Digestive Tract

Wishing you all a lifetime of healthy, round poops.
Well, wishing that for your bunnies.

Headbanger bunnies?

Is this some alarming new trend we must watch for in our bunny youth?

Sleeping with forehead smashed into object?

What kind of role model is Bunya being?

Let's all hope it's just a passing phase.

Another bedtime assemblage

It was again approaching 11 PM and the bunnies usually gather for bedtime. This was a variation of the Bunmuda Triangle (where they did something similar, but with their heads all together). They all settled down together, touching butts but facing in different directions.

Don't ask me. I have no clue why they do stuff like this.

Bedtime bunny snuggle

It was past 11 o'clock and the bunnies were ready for bed. They let us know this by going into their open pen and flopping together to snooze. Bunya's head is resting on Lucy's hip. All are ears up and feet back.

Hmmm, then again, maybe they were all watching the Nature Channel together.

Except soon, it was all quiet except for little bunny zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs.

Another ploy for affection

Yes, Bunya's head is smashed under Lucy's butt. She was laying down in a position just like the other two but in front of them. Then she sat up to scratch an itch. Bunya never moved, patiently awaiting licks.

We'll call this an unsuccessful attempt for affection and leave it at that.

Getting affection on the sly

The bunnies love to be groomed, mostly by each other. Bunya will accept it from humans, too.

One of their funniest behaviors is when one is doing something else, like eating or grooming themselves, and another one tries to sneak in for a surreptitious lick, hoping the hint is taken and ends up in a full out licking/cleaning/grooming session.

Here, Ethel tries to drop a not-so-subtle hint to Lucy:

Ethel, concentrating hard: C'mon Lucy, lick me, not your paws!

Bunya just keeps on eating his bunny chow, clueless.

The mystery box is opened

You may have seen this bunny cardboard playground box in the background of some other RR pictures. It is maybe 8-10" high, but wide and fairly long. It has several doors, which they nibble on, and windows, which they enlarge regularly.

They all disappear into it often, sometimes more than one at the same time. We can hear ripping noises coming out of it.

Bunya was having an off day, feeling very pooky. We kept an eagle eye on him because his behavior was atypical, for him. He was not eating much, except treats (which we took as a good sign - nothing super-critical yet). But he was laying inside a box in the pen most of the day and wasn't trying to get his usual loving from the girls.

At one point, he went into this box and stayed there. So, I opened it to see him and the results of what they had been doing in there for weeks and weeks. And this is what I saw:

Basically, they behaved as expected, eating the cardboard. The floor of the box was torn up in little curly-cues of paper. (The smaller box inside is to help support the "roof" of the box when the flaps are closed ... the buns, especially Ethel, like to jump on top.) They do not go to the bathroom in it.

Bunya was off the whole day but the next day was a completely different bun, his old self. He binkied out of his pen the next morning, hounded me in the kitchen for an advance tasting of breakfast, chowed down on his greens, pooped in the litter box, put his head under Lucy and Ethel to get licks, and chased the girls away from the treats - because he is alpha bunny and was feelin' fine.

Bunny care - Know your bun's personality and pay attention to their behavior. Watch carefully if they do not seem like themselves. If it's a blockage or problems with their teeth, you will want to get them to the vet ASAP. Check the Rabbit Resources link in the right-hand column for more on bunny health issues.

One day at the GA House Rabbit Society...

Stopped in to restock supplies and see what new toys and playthings might be available for the bunnies. Found the tunnel on this excursion.

But also looked in on the bunnies that were there.

Does this bunny look familiar??? (Think Lucy)
This is Winken - Lucy and Ethel's BROTHER!



Dakota, Winken's best bud


Originally anonymously abandoned together on the GHRS doorstep (still better than letting them go in the wild), the trio was dubbed Winken, Blinken and Nod (last two now Lucy and Ethel). When L&E were adopted for Bunya, Winkin and his bonded pal had already been adopted. Alas, they were returned ("repo"-ed, really) and are awaiting their forever family.

As I may have mentioned before, I have reached my married bunny limit. Any more bunnies and it's just me and them, so...
If you are in the area and want a prebonded pair, stop in to GHRS (this is much easier than getting one and trying to make a match later).

This GORGEOUS bunny is Liz Taylor!
Don't you just love that name!?!
No, she doesn't poop diamonds,
"butt" you could love her like she did.

Look at this stern visage -
I submitted to Disapproving Rabbits,
but no luck so far.
His name is Pepe Le Pew.
(The GHRS website said he was in a trial bonding,
but he looked to be back and by himself when I was there.)

Well, that's it for now. There are plenty more where these came from...
The local HRS website and pages for these bunnies are as follows:
GHRS, Winken and Dakota, Liz Taylor, Pepe Le Pew
More: Adoptable buns and Care, Health and Diet (a great resource)

Bunny News Flash: Br’er Rabbit statue stolen

Said the sheriff: “We picked up Br’er Fox ... (but he had) an iron-clad alibi."

You can read about this rabbit crime here.

Missing!

When asked for a comment, Bunya responded: I hope this is not a case of bun on bun crime. I've been there and it sent me to the vet ... not a fun place under the best of circumstances.

Bunny care - Exploring the new tunnel

I worry about the bunnies being entertained.

Really, about having enough around to keep them active, interested, playful and healthy. Picked up this cardboard tunnel at the local chapter of the HRS. I would say the bunnies find it entertaining. At a minimum, it's something else they can chew on that we don't get upset about.

In this video, you see one go in and another exit at the opposite end. Maybe all three were in there at the same time? Bunya tries to make a U-turn at one point ... obviously not having grasped that he used to be younger - and smaller.

I was going to try to edit this clip to just when they went in and out, or periscoped to chew on it (actually, it is edited ... I won't tell you how long the original was). But that would have made it very choppy and I think you get a better idea of the bunny flow without my "jumpy" edits (that's a bunny pun).

Reults of Funny Fluffy Photo Contest

Thank you to all who voted and especially to those who voted daily. From over a thousand entries, we made it to the final 10 but ended up #4. Only #1 and #2 would have put GHRS in the money.

> : (
Results here.

But you can still vote daily through September 18th for HRS International in the big contest. See instructions to do so here.

The highest I have seen HRS was #6 and we've dropped to #7, so vote often!

Okay, photo shoot is over. We didn't win.
Break it up. Move along.
Nothing to see here...



Bunny Hide and Seek

Bunya: Shhh - Lucy's almost finished counting to 10!
Ethel: She'll never find us here. Tee hee.

Reader Comment from Funny Fluffy Photo Contest Site

In one of the last comments (#35) from the Funny Fluffy Photo Contest Site to try to win money for GHRS, someone anonymously noted:

cute photo however see something unique there? look at black and white very careful you will find... tiny heart!

And it's true and so obvious ... now. We never noticed and I guess no one else did because this is the first time anyone has ever mentioned it.

The heart is formed by Lucy's black ear laying at just the right angle across her back. I have always loved this picture - it makes me laugh. Now it's even sweeter.

Thank you, most observant commenter #35.

Woodland Buddies - just in from Rabbit Ramblings Reporter in CO

On right: Wild bunneh.     On left: ?
(Just been informed by the reporter that creature on the left is
indeed a prairie dog, best buds with the bun)

From the son who makes fun of me.

Well, the younger of the two sons that make fun of me.

Well, the middle child, of the three kids that make fun of me.

Yeah, that one.

Rabbit Ramblings Retraction - Important Modification to Bunny Care item

Ethel LOVES the newspaper box (See original post here.)

She loves it so much, she digs and digs ... you can't see her and then she'll rear up her little head, usually with a strip of newspaper across her nose. And then she dives back in.

It has been nicknamed "SCUBA": Self Contained Undernewspaper Bunny Apparatus (apologies, Jacques Cousteau).

Well, WHOOPS! Maybe this was more apparent since Ethel is a LWB (Little White Bunny), but she spent so much time in there, the newsprint was coming off on her paws.

Noooo! Put me back, I wanna' dig!!!

She loves it so much, we had to figure out a substitute, so here's plan B.

It's pretty much the same as plan A, but without the newspaper. We substituted packing paper; a tube of it was 70 sheets of 24" x 24" (off-)WHITE with NO ink printing. Bonus: it was 85% post consumer recycled content. (Found it at Home Depot. It's probably at other stores, too, but, you know, once we found it, we stopped looking.)

Tear or cut it into strips, 2-3" wide.

Layer the bottom with several
of the sheets folded over together.

 

Cover the bottom layer of folded paper
with lots of separated strips. Fluff them up.
(She's in there. Hint: Look for the pink ears.)

Add bunny.

Ethel pondering whether to forgive us for
temporarily removing her paper box.

Ethel was "upset" with us for taking it away (and even more upset with us for trying to clean her paws), so we are glad to have the SCUBA box back in operation.

Even if you don't have a white bunny, skip the newspaper and go for something ink-less.

---------------------------------- 

August 8 is the LAST DAY ---

PLEASE VOTE for Snuggle Bunnies

and help WIN $2,000 for GHRS to help RESCUE BUNNIES!

See the 07-27-2011 post for the story. Thank you!