The tale of 3 Holland Lops (Long!)

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SnowyShiloh

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Hi everyone! I haven't logged into the forum for months and months (except for last week to post a question in the health forum about Rory), but this is so amazing to me that I had to share. This is LONG, so be prepared!

As some people who have been on the forum for a long time may remember, I purchased a baby Holland Lop from a breeder in January 2008 and named her Tallulah. I purchased her while visiting my mother in a different state and brought her on an airplane 1500 miles to my home. Tallulah was an incredibly special rabbit. I loved her so, so much. At the time, she was the third rabbit I'd ever owned, and although I'm now on #13, she was unlike any other bunny I've known. Her personality was so amazing- sweet and spunky- and she loved me so much! She would follow me wherever I went, thrived on love, and would hop on my lap whenever I sat down. She would cuddle with me for hours and just lie on my lap on her back with her feet up in the air. She also had a lot of health issues and we spent a LOT of time at the vet. At about 6 months of age, she was finally given the all clear by our very good vet, but to my utter horror, she passed away suddenly at 7 months of age. To say I was heartbroken is a huge understatement. To give you an idea of how much it impacted me, 6 years later I still cry if I think about her. Here is her Rainbow Bridge thread if anyone wants to see pictures of her or read about her. It's 20 pages long! http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=31238

After Tallulah passed away, I was desperate to have a bunny related to her, but was out of luck. I contacted her breeder, but the breeder did not have any rabbits that were related to her anymore because she had sold them. She did send me pictures of Tallulah's mother and brother so I could see them, but she didn't own either rabbit anymore. Finding a rabbit related to her was a dead end. There was a brief thrill of hope when I completely randomly found Tallulah's mother for sale by a different breeder, but I ended up not being able to purchase her, which is an EXTREMELY long and awful story that was documented here on the forum if anyone is curious enough to go back and find it. After that, I gave up on ever having a rabbit related to my girl.

A year and a half after Tallulah died, I still had a Holland Lop sized hole in my heart and yearned for another little girl. When I went to the state fair in 2010, I fell in LOVE with a 10 week old Holland Lop from a breeder here in my town. You can read this thread if you're curious, but the fact that I ended up with her at all is pretty amazing: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=55093&highlight=kerensa I named my little lovie Kerensa and she is seriously the only thing that helped me heal (other than time) from Lula's death.

Kerensa was extremely loved, and undeniably my favorite bunny after Rory, my Mini Lop. Sadly, Kerensa passed away suddenly at 3 years old last October. Her death was not as traumatic as Tallulah's- I've gone through the deaths of 5 rabbits since then and NONE have been as hard as Tallulah's- but it was still a complete shock. It was like losing Lula again in many ways. In my mind, Kerensa and Tallulah were always a pair, even though they weren't related, didn't look like each other, didn't have similar personalities, and never even met. They were my baby girl Hollands and so special to me!

After Kerensa died, my husband and I decided to wait a few years before getting another Holland Lop (Tallulah and Kerensa were my only Hollands). Our plan was to buy a pair of baby girl sisters from Kerensa's breeder. Her breeder is a wonderful lady who truly loves her rabbits and takes fantastic care of them.

This past week has been the week of the state fair. The big draw for me is always the bunnies! My husband and I visited with all of the rabbits (at least 100), but we were both very drawn to a rabbit from Kerensa's breeder. We weren't planning to get another Holland Lop (or any bunny, for that matter), but there was something about this one. Not a baby girl this time, but a 10 month old breeding buck. He was so sweet and spunky, and there was just SOMETHING about him, so we asked the breeder to let us know if she ever wanted to part with him because he would have a home with us. She told us she would consider selling him to us, depending on how he did during the shows. Much excitement followed for me, and I picked a name for him (it actually just popped into my head when I saw him), and even built him a cage even though I didn't know if he'd be mine!

Yesterday I was having a bad day, so went back to the fair to visit the bunny. His breeder was there and she told me that she'd decided to let me have him! He actually did very well in the show- he got third place out of ten, but his breeder said that she felt like he belonged with me since I loved him so much. She told me she'd actually planned to keep him the entire week, right up until the night before when she suddenly felt like he belonged with me and that she shouldn't interfere. She was impressed by how comfortable he was with me (coming to the front of the cage for attention, nestling into my arms with half closed eyes when I held him, etc) and that he really seemed to like me.

So, my husband and I went to pick up our new little man tonight! They gave me his pedigree, which goes back all the way to his great-grandparents. As my husband drove us home (with my new little fluffums in the carrier on my lap), I looked over his pedigree. What I saw made my heart jump into my throat. My new little man is Tallulah's great-great-nephew! The brother that I have the photo of from 6 years ago is my boy's great-grandfather! He is the ONLY rabbit from that breeder in my boy's pedigree, and he is from a breeder 1500 miles away. My boy's dad is from a different breeder, and his grandpa was from another different breeder, and then great-grandpa is from ANOTHER different breeder.

Seriously, what are the chances that after all this time, I would completely randomly come upon my sweet baby girl's relative?! His coloring is not like hers at all, so that's not why I was drawn to him. He wasn't a girl OR a baby, when a baby girl is what I wanted my next Holland to be. The breeder even had multiple baby girls available that I could have chosen from instead. I've held many Holland Lops since Kerensa died, and none of them were THE ONE until him. His personality did remind me of Tallulah's and the breeder and I even talked about Tallulah (who she never met, remember, different breeder) for a good 15 minutes and she told me that his personality sounded really similar to hers, he even jumps on her lap when she sits down and is particular about who he likes, just like how Tallulah was.

So, that is my amazing story. After 6 years, I randomly came upon the bunny that is related to both my long departed, very loved Tallulah, AND my sweet Kerensa. I feel so fortunate to have him and can't wait to get to know him and spend many years together!

I could go on, but will stop- kudos to anyone who has made it through this post!

This is my little boy, I've named him Basil :) He was already incredibly special to me, but is now even more so!







Tallulah:



Kerensa:



Side note- I love rescued rabbits. So far, including Basil, I have owned 13 bunnies (coincidentally, Tallulah was #3 and Basil is #13!). 8 of them have been/are rescues. My first bunny as a child was from a pet store (I had no control as a 10 year old in 1995 over where my bunny would come from!), Skyler was from a breeder friend here on RO years ago who loved him so much that she wanted a forum member to have him, and Tallulah, Kerensa, and now Basil were purchased from a breeder. The Holland Lop is my favorite breed and I have seriously only seen a Holland Lop at our shelter twice in 7 years. The first one I fell in love via her Petfinder photo but was out of state at the time and she was adopted before I could get home, which led to me purchasing my sweet Tallulah a few days later because I really wanted a Holland Lop. I know a lot of people disapprove of buying rabbits, but I will not feel guilty. There is not an excess of bunnies here in Fairbanks- the shelter doesn't usually have any bunnies and we don't have any rescues.
 
Basil is absolutely adorable. It's also the craziest most wonderful set of circumstances that you ended up with him and he is related to your dear Tallulah. :)
 
What a sweet story! Such an amazing turn of events, too, that Basil is related to your dear Tallulah.
 
Thanks, Azerane and Pani! Basil is loved already. He has such a huge personality! He spent the first day unwilling to leave his litter box (he lived in a wire bottomed cage his whole life until now), and I had to put his food bowl and toys in the litter box with him and have his water bottle there, too, so he could use them all! Thankfully last night he finally got out of the litter box and is enjoying the entirety of his cage :)
 
What a fabulous story!!! And so amazing that you ended up with a descendant of your beloved buns. Just makes me feel so happy for you:) This really confirms my belief that there are some rabbits that are just meant to find their way to us and meant to share our lives.

I believe no matter where a rabbit comes from, whether pet store, breeder, or rescue, all buns deserve a good home where they will be loved and cared for. This bun has certainly found this with you. I hope for many long and happy years for you and your new little guy. He truly does seem meant to have found his way to you.
 
JBun, it is remarkable, isn't it? I should point out that none of this breeder's other bunnies are related to Tallulah. She had Basil's dad (Tallulah's great nephew) for just a year or so (he was not bred from her rabbits), and she specifically told me that part of why she had a hard time wanting to part with Basil is that she really loved his daddy and Basil was the last offspring from him that she had. So he is the ONLY Tallulah relative she owns out of about 30 rabbits.

I'm just amazed by how much he reminds me of Tallulah, even before I knew they were related. It may in part be because they're the same breed of course, but things with their personalities and how their fur feels is so similar! I was actually going to share this before we found out they were related because I found it so interesting. Bunnies can be such empathetic little creatures! Tallulah was very much like that, more than any other bunny I've had. If I was upset or worried, she would start getting antsy. She was sick much of her life, and I had to try SO HARD to keep my feelings under control around her so she wouldn't pick up on them and get worse. I was amazed to see Basil exhibit this exact same behavior. On Friday when I went to visit him at the fair for the second time- I'd first met him the previous Saturday, so almost a week before- he was very happy to see me and ran to the front of the cage to get attention (apparently not something he does for most people). I petted him and he rested his chin on the opening of his cage, and I took him out and held him and he snuggled into my arms with his eyes half closed. He clearly liked me pretty well. After spending a few minutes with him, his breeder came by and we talked for a bit. Basil continued to be friendly, but when his breeder was telling me about why she decided to give him to me, she got a little choked up with tears. This is a lady who loves her rabbits! When she got emotional, little Basil started thumping his foot! It was so clear to both of us that he was picking up on the heavy emotions she was feeling and could tell something was going on.

I'm so glad she decided to sell him to me! She told me that when she brought him to the fair, she had no intentions of selling him, but when I liked him so much, she didn't feel like she should get in the way of that. She told me that when she sold Kerensa to me 4 years ago, that was the first time she'd ever encountered someone feeling "love at first sight" with a rabbit, and when I felt it again with Basil, she didn't want to keep us apart. How wonderful is that? Plus she just felt that with his outgoing personality, he would thrive as a pet with attention heaped on him.

Basil is doing great so far in his new home! He is SO friendly. Runs to the door of his cage whenever I open it and he loves being petted and held. Seriously, I've never had a bunny take to me as quickly as he has. He'll even let me hold him on his back, cradled in my arms like a baby. Several of my bunnies allow that, but not this quickly! Even poor little Tallulah took at least a week to come around. She seriously hated me at first, wanted nothing to do with me and would run away from me. She was actually far and away the rabbit that liked me LEAST to start with, but came around and was lolling in my arms and following me everywhere I went soon enough :)
 
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