Make it a Happy 4th of July for your bunnies, too!

You remember the holiday message right?
Don't drink and drive.
Don't text and drive.
Don't drink and text.
When boating, wear a big orange life vest (you humans look so funny in those).
Play with your bunnies and give them lots of treats!

Be grateful to be in the land of the free and the home of the buns.

Well, here's another one: Bunnies don't like fireworks.
It stresses them just like other sudden and/or loud noises.

If your bunny's neighborhood is firecracker noisy, keep the buns cool and quiet.
Close the windows and doors. Close the blinds to avoid flashing lights.

Play music - peaceful, easy listening (not loud). Think elevator music.
(No hair bands or hare bands. Stay away from 1812 Overture.)
Your TV service might even have a suitable channel in its lineup - you just never tune to those channels.

If you do not already have boxes for them to play on and in, get some plain cardboard boxes (not slick or a lot of ink/color, no staples, labels or tape); cut at least two openings in each box big enough for your bunny to get in and out. They can hide in them, to further mute the noise and feel a little safer.

An air filter in their room may provide a white noise to help muffle the fireworks' sounds.

Keep them company and reassure them that everything's okay. Pet them if they are the petting kind of bunnies. Have a couple of healthy treats handy (Bunya told me to say that).

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday!

Here's another great article about Pet and Fireworks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previously saw these bunnies celebrating on the GHRS Facebook page and their humans from Langhorne, PA graciously sent their too cute pictures to become the standard Rabbit Ramblings 4th of July bunny reps.

Chloe & Casper,

Rabbit Ramblings' 4th of July bunnies!

<< Insert "SQUEEE" here >>

(Chloe looks like a living Rorschach test)

And Daffney is preparing for the sunshine and cookout

(or maybe the fireworks ... be a dear and fetch her ear plugs, please).

P.S. Daffney, a lionhead, was adopted from the Bucks County SPCA.

Four lucky bunnies (two bonded couples) live together with well-trained human servants who have been adopting rabbits for over 20 years -- way to go!

Wisely, all bunnies are "math-impaired" (they can't multiply).

Make it a Happy 4th of July for your bunnies, too!

You remember the holiday message right?
Don't drink and drive.
Don't text and drive.
Don't drink and text.
When boating, wear a big orange life vest (you humans look so funny in those).
Play with your bunnies and give them lots of treats!

Be grateful to be in the land of the free and the home of the buns.

Well, here's another one: Bunnies don't like fireworks.
It stresses them just like other sudden and/or loud noises.

If your bunny's neighborhood is firecracker noisy, keep the buns cool and quiet.
Close the windows and doors. Close the blinds to avoid flashing lights.

Play music - peaceful, easy listening (not loud). Think elevator music.
(No hair bands or hare bands. Stay away from 1812 Overture.)
Your TV service might even have a suitable channel in its lineup - you just never tune to those channels.

If you do not already have boxes for them to play on and in, get some plain cardboard boxes (not slick or a lot of ink/color, no staples, labels or tape); cut at least two openings in each box big enough for your bunny to get in and out. They can hide in them, to further mute the noise and feel a little safer.

An air filter in their room may provide a white noise to help muffle the fireworks' sounds.

Keep them company and reassure them that everything's okay. Pet them if they are the petting kind of bunnies. Have a couple of healthy treats handy (Bunya told me to say that).

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday!

Here's another great article about Pet and Fireworks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previously saw these bunnies celebrating on the GHRS Facebook page and their humans from Langhorne, PA graciously sent their too cute pictures for the RR Fourth of July ...

Chloe & Casper,
Rabbit Ramblings' 4th of July bunnies!
<< Insert "SQUEEE" here >>
(Chloe looks like a living Rorschach test)

And Daffney is preparing for the sunshine and cookout
(or maybe the fireworks ... be a dear and fetch her ear plugs, please).
P.S. Daffney, a lionhead, was adopted from the Bucks County SPCA.

Four lucky bunnies (two bonded couples) live together with well-trained human servants who have been adopting rabbits for over 20 years -- way to go!
Wisely, all bunnies are "math-impaired" (they can't multiply).

Ethel knock knock

[Bunstruction noises in background]
Human: Knock knock
Ethel: Go away - not interested! No soliciting!
Human: Knock knock
Ethel: Who's there!?
Human: Papaya treat.
Ethel: Nomnomnom...

Happy New Year! (and some bunny care and human care)

New Year's reminder from the humans:

Bunnies do NOT like fireworks.

It stresses them just like other sudden and/or loud noises.

If your bunny's neighborhood is firecracker noisy, keep the buns cool and quiet.
Close the windows and doors.

If needed to "cover" firecracker noise, play music - peaceful, easy listening (not loud).

Think elevator music. No hair bands or hare bands. Stay away from 1812 Overture.
Your TV service might even have a suitable channel in its lineup - you just never tune to those channels.

If you do not already have boxes for them to play on and in, get some plain cardboard boxes (not slick or a lot of ink/color; no staples, labels or tape). Cut at least two openings in each box big enough for your bunny to get in and out ... they can hide in them, to further mute the noise and feel a little safer.

Keep them company and reassure them that everything's okay. Pet them if they are the petting kind of bunnies. Have a couple of healthy treats handy (Bunya told me to say that).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi there. Bunya here.

First, Lucy & Ethel and I want to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Please be careful in your celebrations.
If you drink, don't drive.
We don't have anything against moderate imbibing ... the humans don't know it but we always ferment a little carrot juice to celebrate, too. But we are staying home to celebrate. We hate cars.

Even if you don't drink, be careful driving, because not everyone is as smart as you.
Don't text while driving either. Just concentrate.

Also, be kind to each other next year. And beyond.
Be kind to all pets and animals, too. (But especially bunnies.)

Have fun & be safe!

Bunny care: Build your bunnies a warren

One way to fight bunny boredom is to construct things for your bunnies to chew on and play in; if you don't, they will find things themselves. Cardboard boxes are great hidey places for your buns. You can make them more interesting by grouping them.

Having bunnies has changed my Costco shopping habits. In addition to buying mass quantities of vinegar (for cleaning their litter boxes), it has changed the way I select boxes to pack up purchases. The best boxes are "plain" brown cardboard, with no waxy surfaces and as little ink as possible. Then you start prepping them...

Remove all the tape.
(Keep boxes closed by the classic flap fold in sequence,
with the last (#4) folding under the first flap.)

Note: The bunnies' interest may
be piqued before you are finished.

Continuing with box prep:
Remove all labels.
There were no staples in these,
but if there are, get rid of those, too.

After label removal.
(The little stragglers were removed, too.)

For really stubborn labels,
well - here's a window!
(Used the cut-out as a template for sizing other doors)

Bunya has not lost interest yet.

Cut out a door in the side of one box and another door in the side of another box.
Leave the flaps attached. Fold the door flap of one box
into the other box and vice versa.
This will provide a loose connection and
allow the bunnies to run from one box to another.

Even if a door is not use as a connector, leave the flap on.
It gives the bunnies something else to chew.

Attach a series of boxes.
(Could also do this in different arrangements, e.g., an "L" shape.)

Lucy inspects the finished product. Bunya is already inside
and he is chewing away - very loudly.

Miss Ethel always loves the high ground.

As noted above, the bunnies like to chew the door/window flaps.

So be on the lookout for good bunny boxes. Do not construct anything higher than a height from which they can safely jump to the floor. In the case of one large relatively flat box we had, we used a smaller box in the middle as a pillar/support for the top of the box so they wouldn't fall in between the top flaps if they walked on the top. Which they did (walk, not fall). The "inside" box also had doors and they would hop inside it to chew. So it was a bun in a box in a box.

Here's another post about Battling Bunny Boredom.

Ethel at the gym

Just Ethel amusing herself with a couple of long cardboard tubes (from carpet). Maybe she liked the sound they made when the narrow one tapped on the big one. You can see they have had the large one for quite a while by how much of it has been chewed away.

This video has been added to the Rabbit Ramblings YouTube channel.

Lucy & Ethel - Loving & Lifting

This clip is a couple of minutes but I could not cut it down any more. When I grabbed the camera, I was trying to get Lucy grooming herself and talking on her "ear phone". By the time I got focused, the video turned into something completely different.
Here are some highlights:

0s: Lucy is loving on Ethel. While Lucy was grooming herself, Ethel came over to get some loving, even if only pretending Lucy was loving on her by Ethel inserting herself under Lucy.
Lucy scratches and then grooms Ethel. Ethel is just happy to soak up the love.

12s: Lucy decides she wants to snack on their new cardboard tube (discussed in a recent post).

18s: Ethel wants more loving and tries to remind Lucy of that fact by sliding her head under Lucy as Lucy is chewing. So even if Lucy doesn't groom Ethel directly, Ethel can pretend. All three of them do this behavior a lot. Lucy continues to chew and Ethel gives up.

30s: Lucy takes another tug on the tube and lifts it up - and Bam! - right into Ethel. Ethel acts like she's going to chew on the tube, too, but then decides to give the loving another try; she gets tube-smacked again for her efforts. Ethel addresses an itch. Lucy's lifting like she's showing off at the gym. This is where it really reminded me of the coordinated physical slapstick comedy of the Lucy and Ethel from "I Love Lucy".

1m: Ethel's thinking about just playing with the tube, too. No - not really! She decides she'd rather be receiving some lovin'. And gets repeatedly smacked in the face for her romantic overture.

1m39s: Ethel senses an opening when Lucy decides to clean her paw... to no avail; Lucy goes back to the tube.

1m55s: Ethel finally gives up and under the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" theory, begins to chomp on the tube with Lucy.

This video has been added to the Rabbit Ramblings YouTube channel.

Do you even lift?

Ethel does.

If you have bunnies, you are always on the lookout to score some good cardboard. It has totally changed the way I select boxes at Costco.

When we got a new rug for the bunnies' pen, there was a cardboard tube in the center - bonus! We would have paid extra for it. It's basically a 7 foot heavy-duty paper towel tube. The bunnies love it. Here, Ethel demonstrates...

Also added to the Rabbit Ramblings YouTube channel.

Make it a Happy 4th of July for your bunnies, too!

You remember the holiday message right?
Don't drink and drive.
Don't text and drive.
Don't drink and text (you can get into a lot of trouble this way, too).
When boating, wear a big orange life vest (you humans look so funny in those).
Play with your bunnies and give them lots of treats!

Be grateful to be in the land of the free and the home of the buns.

Well, here's another one: Bunnies don't like fireworks.
It stresses them just like other sudden and/or loud noises.

If your bunny's neighborhood is firecracker noisy, keep the buns cool and quiet.
Close the windows and doors.

Play music - peaceful, easy listening (not loud). Think elevator music.
(No hair bands or hare bands. Stay away from 1812 Overture.)
Your TV service might even have a suitable channel in its lineup - you just never tune to those channels.

If you do not already have boxes for them to play on and in, get some plain cardboard boxes (not slick or a lot of ink/color, no staples, labels or tape); cut at least two openings in each box big enough for your bunny to get in and out. They can hide in them, to further mute the noise and feel a little safer.

Keep them company and reassure them that everything's okay. Pet them if they are the petting kind of bunnies. Have a couple of healthy treats handy (Bunya told me to say that).

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously saw these bunnies celebrating on the GHRS Facebook page and their humans from Langhorne, PA graciously sent their too cute pictures for the RR Fourth of July ...

Meet Chloe & Casper,
Rabbit Ramblings' 4th of July bunnies!
<< Insert "SQUEEE" here >>
(Chloe looks like a living Rorschach test)

And Daffney is preparing for the sunshine and cookout
(or maybe the fireworks ... be a dear and fetch her ear plugs, please).
P.S. Daffney, a lionhead, was adopted from the Bucks County SPCA.

Four lucky bunnies (two bonded couples) live together with well-trained human servants who have been adopting rabbits for over 20 years -- way to go!
Wisely, all bunnies are "math-impaired" (they can't multiply).

One day at the pen gate and "patio"

Ethel flops by the pen gate,
a favored bunny spot.

(See Ethel still flopped at the pen gate, at the right.)
Meanwhile, Lucy runs through their wicker chew tunnel...

...and decides to give the paper towel tube a good shaking.

That's some bun fun!

Bunny Care: Battling Bunny Boredom

A recent message to the RR Facebook page about a pooky bunny generated the idea for this topic. There may be several reasons for a pooky (unhappy) bunny, including:
Illness (Here's a post about monitoring your bunny's mood as a hint to illness)
Improper diet (Here's a post that about diet and treats)
Too small cage or pen
Insufficient exercise time
Insufficient socialization
and
Bunny Boredom

Bored bunnies can be destructive bunnies (bunny proof their area). Some different types of toys that your bunny may find entertaining...

Here are some big, crawl-inside type toys. Both are all natural and completely chewable. We have had these toys or ones like them before. Eventually, they will chew them into almost nothing - you throw away the scraps and get a new one.

As you can see, just by arranging them to take a picture, the bunnies got interested in them. Everyone had to come over to chin it, chew it or run through it. We have a couple of others not as new as these that the bunnies also chew; one is in the shape of an A-frame and the other is a little stick house.

Lucy - chin, chew and through

    By the way, touching on the socialization issue, playing with your bunny - every day - is one was to make them happy. Bunnies are very social little animals, which is why a bonded pair can be great. Just by my showing interest in their toys, they had to come over and engage.

They live in a 7'x7' pen but free range a much larger area when a human is home. Another way to combat bunny boredom is to have some toys, boxes, tubes and habitats inside their living quarters and others in their free-range area. Every once in a while, switch some of those things, so their environment evolves a little and gives them something different to explore. Of course, they may have core favorites (in our case, their elevated bed from The Blissful Bunny) that are always in their pen for them.

Here are a selection of their different wooden chew toys. Many of them have little bells. A baby's teething key ring (hard plastic) is another toy a bunny may like. Many of these toys were purchased from the GHRS Hop Shop, so your bunnies get toys and you help support the rescue of other bunnies. (And here's a link to The Blissful Bunny's Etsy store).


(This post is about the bunnies' Einstein toy.)

The bunnies will roll these or pick them up, rear up like Silver (from The Lone Ranger) and toss them around. One of these is simply the ring to a mason jar; they love it.

 

The old stand-by, a paper towel tube (the "ABC" one is on the left, Already Been Chewed). Save the cardboard from toilet paper rolls, too. (Here's a post about stuffing the TP tube with hay.)

Give your bunny things to entertain and to play with. Engage your bunny. Rabbits are crepuscular, primarily active during twilight (dawn and dusk), so be sure they have time to play and run around every morning and evening (in total, at least 3-4 hours every day during these times).

P.S. Kat, in the comments, reminded me of another tool to battle boredom, a digging box. A post about our first one is here. Their funhouse also has a digging room (see Ethel in it here).

Shaking up the bunny pen

Cleaning the bunny pen and took out everything to do so, even the bunny "funhouse". So, when we started to out it back together, we decided to mix it up a little. We think this keeps the bunnies more interested in their toys and hidey places. They seem to have had a fun day exploring the relocated castle (in the pen now) and funhouse (outside the pen). Even the maze haven and vacation villa, still located in the same old places, seem to be gaining renewed attention ... maybe just to verify they have not been changed.

Here's the rearranged pen now, or at least, for the moment. They love their princess bed from The Blissful Bunny so much, we had to leave that in the pen. And the wooden tunnel has already been used to gain access to the castle tower and to hop from the tower to the princess bed (and back).

Of course, you can check it out during the day on the BunCam.

Happy New Year! (and some bunny care and human care)

New Year's reminder from the humans:

Bunnies do NOT like fireworks.

It stresses them just like other sudden and/or loud noises.

If your bunny's neighborhood is firecracker noisy, keep the buns cool and quiet.
Close the windows and doors.

If needed to "cover" firecracker noise, play music - peaceful, easy listening (not loud).

Think elevator music. No hair bands or hare bands. Stay away from 1812 Overture.
Your TV service might even have a suitable channel in its lineup - you just never tune to those channels.

If you do not already have boxes for them to play on and in, get some plain cardboard boxes (not slick or a lot of ink/color; no staples, labels or tape). Cut at least two openings in each box big enough for your bunny to get in and out ... they can hide in them, to further mute the noise and feel a little safer.

Keep them company and reassure them that everything's okay. Pet them if they are the petting kind of bunnies. Have a couple of healthy treats handy (Bunya told me to say that).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi there. Bunya here.

First, Lucy & Ethel and I want to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Please be careful in your celebrations.
If you drink, don't drive.
We don't have anything against moderate imbibing ... the humans don't know it but we always ferment a little carrot juice to celebrate, too. But we are staying home to celebrate. We hate cars.

Even if you don't drink, be careful driving out there, because not everyone is as smart as you.
Don't text while driving either. Just concentrate.

Also, be kind to each other next year. And beyond.
Be kind to all pets and animals, too. (But especially bunnies.)

Take care!

One day in the Maze Haven

Another bunny activity of daily life - play.
Doesn't really need a lot of explanation.
Ethel likes being up high (when it is someplace she can get up to and down from by herself).
Lucy is in all of the pictures with Ethel, just never the same place twice.
Peek-a-boo!

Our Maze Haven is from Binky Bunny.

Lucy's Big Adventure

Last weekend, hanging with the bunnies in the basement, working on the computer and passing out treats in response to nose bonks on my big toe.

About mid-day, got up to leave and, as is the "return the bunnies to their pen" ritual, grabbed a small handful of their crumbles and added a few treats (Exact). This usually starts their pen bedlam ritual, where they get so excited that they chase each other around their pen like a Three Stooges short. (You can see a video of one version here ... of the Three Bunnies, not the Three Stooges.)

Except this time, only Bunya and Ethel participated. Instant bunny owner worries - if a bunny does not respond to favorite treats (and treat rituals), this is a huge indicator that said bunny may be sick and needs to see a vet ASAP. I was looking in boxes, opening said boxes, looking in their pen, upsetting tunnels, checking under the desk (her favorite "you can't reach me here and the desk is too heavy to move" place to retreat when she does not want to be touched).

During this process, I realized we have a LOT of bunny boxes, both wood and cardboard. Still no Lucy. I was getting scared then that she was really sick.

I called her name and whistled for her, both of which she responds to - she knows her name. And when there might be a treat in the offing.

Stopped to ponder ... and recalled that someone (not a family member) went into a usually closed room earlier that morning. Could she, would she???

Yes, she could, she would and she did. When I first opened the door to the room, no Lucy. But when I left it and left the door open, she eventually peeked out. Ahh, at least she was okay!

Then started the game of trying to lure her out. With a container of papaya. I wasn't even trying to pick her up, just get her out of the room. It took some time. She was happy on strange turf with so many things to explore, a bed to hide under, so many wires to chew...

Eventually, the papaya proved too strong a temptation to resist and she joined her penmates.

Lucy, the culprit in question

Life with bunnies, full of challenges, adventure and amusement.

D-I-Y bunny toy

(Recently posted on the Rabbit Ramblings Facebook page)

From the Hoppy Bunny Rabbit Rescue, a D-I-Y bunny toy:
1.Chop the toilet roll tube (or paper towel tube) into slices about a centimeter (half an inch) across to make hoops. Each toilet roll makes about 6-7 hoops, about right to make one ball.
2.Once you have your sections, you push one over another, then another over those two, overlapping them at different angles to cover the gaps until you have a ball. At some point before the gaps get too small (usually the 2-3 hoop mark) you might pop in something tasty: hay, papaya or other hard bunny-safe treat (that won't spoil).
Once all the hoops have been added, they should look something like the picture. Let us know how your bunny likes it!

Well, we gave it a try. Took more than 6-7 strips and did not come out quite as round as the picture looks. Ethel loved it ... then Bunya popped out of hiding and took over. 

Later, Lucy gave it a twirl. They seem to like picking it up and tossing it around. So far, nobody has gotten to the treats inside, but we'll see. > : )