The Great Shed-Aid of 2010

It was a sad day in the bunny house. Vanna's great litter of hope and prosperity was reduced by one. We found one cold kit this afternoon when we went to check the nestbox. It was a very sad occasion. We gave time for Vanna to say Goodbye to the little body and then took it away.
After some mourning I decided to make a fresh nest box for the remaining two kits. We have been spending individual slicker brush sessions with the other rabbits for an hour and this is what fur we have collected:




A shallow box of tangled fur and some very fuzzy clothes. We'll collect some more donations tomorrow.

"I'm no handyman!"

One of our smoke alarms started to beep in unwanted intervals. We couldn't even open the thing to access the battery. We threw it to Kiwi to see if she could do any better.

The cat: a second mother

Cow is a good roommate to the bunnies. She is also handy to keep around because she can call us to the bunny room but Vanna can't.

Growing infants

Vanna's little trio is progressing well. They haven't opened their eyes yet but they move around quite well. One of them surprised us yesterday by springing out of the cage while we had the door open for feeding. But in the same instant our mama cat crawled into the tight spot behind the cage and gently carried him back to us. She has been living in the rabbit room for a week now and she has taken on the role of guardian.

"Why can't I use the remote?"

JD doesn't seem to enjoy the all-day marathon of Mythbusters.

Revenge on the cat

Hugs doesn't enjoy the outside exercise pen as much as he used to. The kittens have grown up and taken it over. Here he stalks one of the cats while it is distracted.

First autumn

Kiwi's babies are just as big as she is now. We took one of the clones outside to play in the leaves.

The rabbit invented her own treat-toy!

Vanna stuffed her toy in the food bowl and when I pulled it out, it was full of pellets. Somehow she has managed to eat all the food out of the ball since then.

They grow up so fast

Our new litter of babies is getting so furry! It seems that they were at the 'peach fuzz' stage for one day.

"Decaf?!"

Tumble and Magnus are eating out of an old mug instead of a foodbowl currently. They probably wish there was some nice bunny hot cocoa in it though.

Life of the party

JD went to a get-together with us today and everyone wanted to hold him and give him carrots. He was a very good boy and he made lots of new friends.

Girls night in

Now that we have separated some of Kiwi's litter, there remain just three in the family cage. With fewer kids at home, it seems more peaceful in there.

Finally friends

Magnus and Tumble have been roommates for a few days now, but I wouldn't say they have bonded. It is more like calm toleration.
Maybe Magnus is having withdrawals after being separated from her mother and subsequently replaced by three babies. Take comfort in your new friend, Magnus.

Genes in action

Bandit as an infant

He later grew to look like this.

Vanna's litter contains two standard hotots, with the white body and the black eyeband, just like the parents. However the third kit (Bandit) is completely mismarked for a hotot. One may wonder, "Where do all those spots come from if the parents are all white?"It is because hotots are a unique expression of the English spot pattern and Dutch pattern. When the gene combination is just right, the baby has a bleached body and color is left in the eyebands only.
For this third little kit, you can see he has a Dutch head and English spots on the body. Nonetheless, he is just as welcome to the family.

Standard dwarf hotot

Dutch

English Spot

A litter of three

Vanna just had a litter, right on time at 30 days -- to the HOUR. Once again she birthed them while I was in the shower so I missed most of the action.
One of our cats was in the rabbit room at the time and she wouldn't stop meowing. Turns out she was calling for me, "Come see!"
Vanna is such a good mommy. She has had many litters by now (this is her second litter under our ownership) and she doesn't mind me getting close. In fact we built the nest together. I gathered her scattered fur tufts and used the slicker brush to collect some fur donations from Grandpa Mochi.
It is a magical experience for anyone who can welcome some more into their bunny family. We are proud of you, Vanna.

No babies yet

Vanna has been laying down for about 24 hours now. She started collecting paper for her nest, but she is not pulling fur yet. She keeps stealing bites from the food bowl. These are all clues that the time is coming but still far off for us anticipating grandparents.

New roommate

The Kiwi Clones have reached maturity now and we separated the boy from the girls. Magnus also had to move out of her mom's cage to make room for a new litter. We un-boxed a new pad today and we're seeing if Magnus would like a roommate. They have stayed as far apart as possible all afternoon.

Moving-in day

Vanna's nesting box has been placed. I lined it with some newspaper and returned shortly to find that she did not appreciate that gesture.

The rotund countdown

Vanna is due to have bunny babies on Tuesday. We noticed today when we turned her over that she has developed a little roundness in her belly. We knew she was pregnant much earlier, however, because you can feel developing kits long before you can see a bulging belly.

Still not a cat person

Our cat still wants to snuggle the bunnies, but they have not warmed up to the idea.

"What a deception."

"This cabbage isn't real and there is no food in the bowl."

Supplement time!

When you have a pregnant rabbit, it is recommended that you add some calcium to their diet a few days before kindling. Vanna likes lime-flavored tablets the best out of the four flavors in the bottle.

The next Oolong?

Today I set Vanna's kitty ball toy on her head and discovered that she has a natural talent for balancing it on her head. I think it is her eyebrow ridges that hold onto the ball and she can move about without dropping it. I was a big fan of Oolong, the balancing bunny, so this was a nice treat to see her balancing so well.

You want some gum, JD?

"Nah, I'm more of a Bubbalicious guy."

Mochi loves late night tv

TBS: Very Bunny

The waste chute

We sure are glad to have made that door to the exterior for cleaning the rabbit pans. It speeds up cleaning time by 500% for us.

"Who has the keys?"

Kiwi, being 7 whole months older than our cat Freddie, feels qualified to give driving lessons (using the lawn mower).

Amateur wrestlers

Vanna and Magnus are always in a struggle when a fresh water bottle gets hooked on the wall. In this photo, Magnus won.

"You're mine now."

Rumble goes through phases where he must be adored and in turn he rubs all over your hand. Usually he is more cautious about visitors in his house.

Attack of the Snuggle Cat

One of our cats intruded on bunny floor time and tried his best to show the babies some affection. Rubs and kisses are just not their thing, I guess. Maybe it was the mouse breath that turned them off.

"A giant cookie? You shouldn't have!"

It's actually some kind of sandwich bread. Rumble is the only rabbit who will nibble out of my hand and not just yank it from my fingers.