RandomWiktor
Critter Keeper
An Introduction of Sorts...
It's five in the morning and I'm lying on my boyfriend's couch. The room should probably be silent this early in the morning, but I hear one of the African bullfrogs bellowing his mating call, the soft scrape of scales on wood as the carpet python explores his confines. Thanator,recently adopted by Steve &astrayrabbit just two weeks ago, has his small head wedged tightly beneath my chin. My nose itches and my eyes water; I've always been mildly allergic to rabbits. His heart beat is ahalcyonhum against my chest.
Thinking back to when I found the tiny rabbit, I can remember the frantic cadence of his heartbeat as I pulled him from Coco's mouth. The pudgy old Eskie looked very proud of himself. At the time, all I could think was not another animal. I'd placed over twenty animals in 2009, and already had 13 fosters waiting for homes in 2010. Placing fish and reptiles is all fine and good, but a rabbit? Suffice it to say that good homes are in short supply.
My mother, of course, wanted to keep the kit as soon as she saw his big, brown eyes and soft, wiggling nose. I was adamant against keeping him; I wanted him to get a good home where he could live with other house bunnies. When my mother pressed, I rattled off the myriad of reasons that we were not a good home... and I shocked myself.
I wouldn't adopt to me given my current rabbit care? Oh my.
Do not misunderstand; my rabbits are far from the all too common sight ofsad, neglected souls confined to a tiny wire-bottom cage, living in waste and lonliness. They have reasonably large, clean ex-pens, graze outdoors every day when weather permits, have toys, get plenty of hay and fresh foods, and more.
Yet I also see some glaring problems. Neither is spayed against my better judgement; when I was younger, we spayed a much beloved rabbit named Lucy and she died from the complications of surgery. My mom flat out refuses to allow the spaying of our rabbits as a result, something which I take great issue with but can not challenge ifI wish to live in relative peace beneath this roof.
Both rabbits also do not regularly get to run around in the house; they are either in a 4x4 expen, or a 4x6 outdoor run, neither of which provides much room to trulyrun around. Brindam is overweight, probably at least in part due to this.
Finally, both rabbits are fed a poor quality pellet, which only makes up a small percentage of the diet but is still well below my normal standards for pet food. Indeed, Steve recently made a disparaging remark about the "crap quality (brand) food people feed their poor rabbits," not realizing that this was what MY rabbits eat! Where's a badly embarassed emoticon when you need one?
In short...I can do better than this!
They say it takes a big man to admit to his mistakes. Well, sometimes it takes a small woman, instead. While I can not do anything about the reproductive status of these rabbits, I can make otherimprovements.
Thus, I have the following objectives:
1. Play time isn't just for parrots. I need to kick my own double standard in the butt and make sure the bunnies get out to play in the house.
2. She's not fluffy, she's FAT. For the sake of her own health and wellbeing, Brindam needs to lose weight.
3. Junk food recall! Time to switch to a higher quality pellet and really amp up the quality of the veggie/greens portion of the diet as well.
4. Ex-Pen enrichment. While I can't give me rabbits bigger indoor quarters for rest & poor weather, I can certainly offer more enrichment. They both have toys, but I'm sure I could be a bit more creative and come up with new daily entertainment for them.
This blog will include photos and observations on the progress of this attempt to improve things for my buns, and probably some other little stories about the other critters who live here. In the mean time...
Thank you, Thanator, for hopping into my life and opening my eyes!
It's five in the morning and I'm lying on my boyfriend's couch. The room should probably be silent this early in the morning, but I hear one of the African bullfrogs bellowing his mating call, the soft scrape of scales on wood as the carpet python explores his confines. Thanator,recently adopted by Steve &astrayrabbit just two weeks ago, has his small head wedged tightly beneath my chin. My nose itches and my eyes water; I've always been mildly allergic to rabbits. His heart beat is ahalcyonhum against my chest.
Thinking back to when I found the tiny rabbit, I can remember the frantic cadence of his heartbeat as I pulled him from Coco's mouth. The pudgy old Eskie looked very proud of himself. At the time, all I could think was not another animal. I'd placed over twenty animals in 2009, and already had 13 fosters waiting for homes in 2010. Placing fish and reptiles is all fine and good, but a rabbit? Suffice it to say that good homes are in short supply.
My mother, of course, wanted to keep the kit as soon as she saw his big, brown eyes and soft, wiggling nose. I was adamant against keeping him; I wanted him to get a good home where he could live with other house bunnies. When my mother pressed, I rattled off the myriad of reasons that we were not a good home... and I shocked myself.
I wouldn't adopt to me given my current rabbit care? Oh my.
Do not misunderstand; my rabbits are far from the all too common sight ofsad, neglected souls confined to a tiny wire-bottom cage, living in waste and lonliness. They have reasonably large, clean ex-pens, graze outdoors every day when weather permits, have toys, get plenty of hay and fresh foods, and more.
Yet I also see some glaring problems. Neither is spayed against my better judgement; when I was younger, we spayed a much beloved rabbit named Lucy and she died from the complications of surgery. My mom flat out refuses to allow the spaying of our rabbits as a result, something which I take great issue with but can not challenge ifI wish to live in relative peace beneath this roof.
Both rabbits also do not regularly get to run around in the house; they are either in a 4x4 expen, or a 4x6 outdoor run, neither of which provides much room to trulyrun around. Brindam is overweight, probably at least in part due to this.
Finally, both rabbits are fed a poor quality pellet, which only makes up a small percentage of the diet but is still well below my normal standards for pet food. Indeed, Steve recently made a disparaging remark about the "crap quality (brand) food people feed their poor rabbits," not realizing that this was what MY rabbits eat! Where's a badly embarassed emoticon when you need one?
In short...I can do better than this!
They say it takes a big man to admit to his mistakes. Well, sometimes it takes a small woman, instead. While I can not do anything about the reproductive status of these rabbits, I can make otherimprovements.
Thus, I have the following objectives:
1. Play time isn't just for parrots. I need to kick my own double standard in the butt and make sure the bunnies get out to play in the house.
2. She's not fluffy, she's FAT. For the sake of her own health and wellbeing, Brindam needs to lose weight.
3. Junk food recall! Time to switch to a higher quality pellet and really amp up the quality of the veggie/greens portion of the diet as well.
4. Ex-Pen enrichment. While I can't give me rabbits bigger indoor quarters for rest & poor weather, I can certainly offer more enrichment. They both have toys, but I'm sure I could be a bit more creative and come up with new daily entertainment for them.
This blog will include photos and observations on the progress of this attempt to improve things for my buns, and probably some other little stories about the other critters who live here. In the mean time...
Thank you, Thanator, for hopping into my life and opening my eyes!