Ethel in the cleaning day "tunnel"

Sunday mornings are our clean the bunny pen day. We take everything out so we can vacuum. This includes pulling the pen away from the wall. Bunya usually goes and plops down somewhere else, typically in the  castle tower that is outside the pen.

Bunya gets out of the way on cleaning day.
The tunnel and ramp have been piled on
top of the castle tower to empty the pen.
(That tower stays on top of their "fun house".
The tower from the pen is in the left foreground.)

As soon as there is a little space between the wall and the pen, Miss Ethel has to run explore. When the pen is pulled away from the wall, the lip of the carpet tilts over and forms a tunnel. She ran to the end (at this time, it was pulled away from only one wall). We were both laughing so hard because then she backed up the whole way - there was too little space to turn around. We didn't get any pictures.

The cleaning went on and Ethel gave the exploration a second try. Same thing happened, so you can get an idea of the first time. However, she did not back up the entire way with her little steps that were extra cute the first time. We kept waiting for OSHA to cite her for not having that vehicle-backing-up "beep beep beep".

Little miss perpetual motion bunny meets Bunya the Hutt

Mr. Bunya excels at chill-axin'. Miss Ethel excels at play.
When perpetual motion meets perpetual loaf, and wants to play...

Well, she tried.

P.S. This is Rabbit Ramblings' 1,000th post!

Bunny Monday Meme*day (Bun wrath)

You mean, it's not just Bunya, Lucy & Ethel that don't like their mani-pedi???

Our buns have that same A-frame stick chew toy and the same cardboard tunnel.
Bunny owners ... we're all crazy!

Bunstruction

On pen cleaning day, everything comes out of the pen, so it can be vacuumed. The mazes, boxes, tunnels and toys just get stuck into each other and piled on the coffee table. Lucy and Ethel love to explore this somewhat familiar but topsy-turvy world. Here are a couple of Lucy doing just that.

Sort of a bunny version of an Escher stairwell

Lucy used the "Princess Bed" from The Blissful Bunny
to step down from her temporary playground.
(It may be how she got up there in the first place, but we didn't see.)

More bunny boxes

Do all bunny people get excited by boxes?
Oh ... just me?

On my trip to Costco last week, I took one last look at my shopping list and realized I had forgotten to look for vinegar boxes (yes - it was on the list ... my memory's getting so bad, I could plan my own surprise party). Found a couple of empty ones near the back of the store. You can see them on the buncam, in pictures of the pen. Only now it has been "refreshed". This is probably around the 5th incarnation of it. The bunnies love it, so after they have chewed it paper thin, we replace it. (If you want to know why these particular boxes, you can read here.)

But Mrs. Bunnymom got a refurbished vacuum to use on the bunnies turf. I snagged the box it came in. It's large and low, like "the warren" (only smaller). Removed the tape and stickers, cut several ingress and egress holes and - Voila'.

Bunya ran straight through,
from one short end door and out the other.

Ethel loves the high ground.
She gets on top and explores
how she can get to the top of other nearby boxes.

After running through it and
poking her nose out of the different doors,
Lucy got on top and is just looking around,
trying to figure out what Ethel saw.

Boxes!
Does your bunny have a favorite box?

Lucy's tunnel exercise

This is from a recent Sunday morning when we clean their pen completely, groom them, et cetera. We take everything out of the pen, including their big white tube/tunnel. We lean the tunnel against the fireplace, so it is at a slight angle. Every week, Lucy gets her exercise trying to climb up the incline.

This is her exer-cycle:
1. Insert self into tube.
2. Run as fast as you can to try to get through it (wish the sound of her nails clacking on the tube had recorded).
3. Slide back to bottom, butt only sticking out of tube (we clean their pen, them groom them, so the buncupine butt was furminated and brushed after this was videoed).
4. Pause and take a few deep breaths.
5. Rinse and repeat.

This video is less than 90 seconds; who knows how long she would have tried if she hadn't heard someone approaching.

Ethel showed Lucy how to slide down the tube here.

Bunya in the chew tunnel

Earlier, Ethel demonstrated gnawing on the chew tunnel from the outside (here).

It's like how different people eat their Reese's Peanut Butter cups. In this clip, Bunya chews the tunnel from the inside.

I love is the way bunnies chew. They go at it like little motors, but partly side-to-side. You can see the slightly bemused and mischievous expression that inspired some cartoonist to make Bugs Bunny's tag line: "Nyaaaah, What's up, Doc?" That cartoonist must have seriously studied real rabbits before beginning to draw the character.

Speaking of bunny chew toys

Found this chew toy at the GHRS Hop Shop. They have really been loving it. By the time you read this, there is a lot less of this tunnel than is shown here. The video show Ethel bossing it around.

In an earlier incarnation of the tunnel (i.e., there's more of it),
Lucy chews to get the party started.

Bunya's big chew toy

The tail end of a video trying to catch Ethel speeding around the room focused on Bunya. He was chewing on some cardboard, a big tube we have for them. We try to keep it on top of the rug fringe, to protect it and give them an alternative chew toy in the same vicinity.

So, this is just Bunya chewing, undaunted by the size of his task. All of them chew on it, all along it; Bunya just happened to look like he was going to work his way down the tube more methodically.

BTW, the tube was from a rug we purchased, the one we got to go under their pen. If you have bunnies, you are always on the lookout for good cardboard (although we did have to wipe it down - very dusty).

One morning on the fireplace ...

As you know if you are a Regular Rabbit Ramblings Reader (RRRR), Sunday morning is typically the complete clean-out of the pen. Often, the bunnies will go lounge on the cool bricks of the fireplace while they await their maids' completion of their tasks (maids = human slaves). Well, Lucy will go there first and then she gets company.

The pen is emptied, including their long white tunnel. For whatever reason, we lean it up against the fireplace where it tilts down to the carpet at about a 15 to 20-ish degree angle.

Every Sunday, Lucy tried to scamper UP the tunnel to the fireplace. Sometimes, we pick up the end she goes in so she can have a level or downhill run to the fireplace. Sometimes, we just let her try; she gets a lot of exercise and eventually slides back out, butt first. Amuses us to no end.

Ethel decided to show Lucy how she should approach this goal ...

Lucy settles on the fireplace and Bunya joins her shortly thereafter.

Ethel follows to find out what everyone is doing and
to compliment Bunya that he no longer has that embarrassing poopy butt.

Ethel to Lucy: Hey, Lucy, why don't you try it this way?!?

Ethel (sliding DOWNhill ... Duh, Lucy): Wheeeeee!!!

Ethel: That was fun! They ought to make that a ride at Six Flags!