Ash - Phoenix Rising

[Toady]

I remember getting the email on January 14th 2012, saying that 5 little babies were born that day, 2 darker babies and 3 lighter ones, the darker babies turned out to be a black and an agouti... I decided to go with the black baby.

At about two weeks old I got sent this photo

And was instantly in love, what an adorable little baby!! I started ordering things ready as well as doing a lot of research into foods, cages and other bunny care things.

Then last Sunday I got an email... it's a girl! And the lovely breeder let me think up her name for the registration papers.

So I thought it over and came up with Phoenix Rising, to go with the mythological theme that includes my 2 angel named kitties. But to everyone she'll be called Ash, unless she's in trouble of course!!

Ash at one month old

I'm really looking forward to getting little Ash home and watch her grow.

 

[ZRabbits]

Congratulations! Know how you feel getting those e-mails. Been through that.

Sounds like you are prepared and knowledgable.

Love the name. Absolutely an adorable bunny.

Hope you keep us posted on your journey into Angoras. Would love to watch this sweetie into a Beautiful Mature Bun Bun.

Again, Congratulations. You must be so excited to get her home.

K

 

[Toady]

Ash was 6 weeks old on Saturday, in another 2 weeks she'll be old enough to come home and I'm a nervous bunny mum-to-be! Her cage is still empty but I hope to grab a few things during the week to make it look more homely.

I'm planning on getting a small amount of whatever food the breeder is feeding her at the moment and then very slowly start introducing the Oxbow/chaff blend I plan on feeding her (with some adjustments if needed), I'm also glad I know people who own a stock feed store and they're willing to make me up a smaller bag of chaff (because a 25kg/50lb bag would go off before I got to finish it all) whenever I need it, it's also a lot easier to store.

Still trying to work out what veges to start introducing first and figuring out what else I need to do to give little Ash the best start.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:inlove:

 

[LakeCondo]

Don't be in a hurry to introduce veggies into her diet. And when you do, do it with the smallest amount possible until she gets used to it.

 

[ZRabbits]

Wheat grass has always been our fist introduction of veggies. We do not introduce veggies until 3 months. After that your bunny's system should be mature enough to handle veggies at a small portion at a time. Always introduce anything new very slowly.

You must be so excited to get your sweetie home. It will go by so quick. Know about being nervous but it will be OK. Once you get your baby home and settled, just like everyone else here, will spoil the living daylights out of him.

K

 

[Toady]

Am organising with the breeder to hopefully pick her up on the 14th, she'll be just two months old by then. I've also asked what the breeder what she's feeding her bunnies and where she's getting her hay from to ensure that I don't upset little Ash's tummy after such a big stressful move (away from her litter mates and family). I will then slowly introduce my own hay and feed over the coming month/s, as well as slowly introduce some veges after a month.

I'm still planning on going ahead with my 'bunny gardens' but might just have a big foam box filled with cocksfoot/orchard grass, either trying her with a bit when it's at the small 2 or 3 leaf stage or wait until it's a big longer, cut it and dry it as 'fresh hay' for a bit of variety (plus my kitties love it) and grow my veges in pots until she's old enough to be introduced to them and then those she likes can be put into boxes to be grown for a near constant supply.

 

[ZRabbits]

So thrilled to hear! My breeder was very nice to give me some supplies (food) so that I could use it to then introduce our feed slowly. But also think about the water. I don't know how far your breeder is away from you, but we bought our own empty containers to request water from the breeder. We did the same thing with the water as we did the food. We introduced our to Neville slowly.

In the United States water condition and quality varies so we wanted to make sure that Neville, well all our bunnies were able to slowly be introduced to our Water. We have a whole house Reverse Osmosis system. We have tons of crap in our water so we filter it out very nicely with this system. It has proved it worth time and time again. Actually the wild life here love our water. When we put the sprinklers out in the summer, we have more birds and small creatures running about our lawn, its amazing.

Just something to think about.

Can't wait to see pics when you bring your sweetie home. I know it will seem like forever for the 14th to arrive. But hang in there.

K

 

[Toady]

I'm hoping that the breeder will give me a week or so worth of food to tide her over. Water-wise I'm kind of lucky that we've got a water purifier so all her water will be going through that before she gets it plus we don't seem to have many water quality issues up here than in the city.

 

[Toady]

Not long to go!! I picked up 2 big hay bales yesterday (they'd be about 30-40lbs each), it smells really nice and haven't seen any of the grasses (Paspalum/bahia grass, rye grass and kikuyu) on the bad plants list so can only see if Ash likes it or not. It's going to last her quite a while!

And this is the chaff (chopped hay) mix she'll be fed along side her Oxbow pellets.

Love how my house is smelling at the moment with the delicious smell of hay through the house

 

[candykittten]

Looks like your well prepared :biggrin2:She is an absolute sweetie! Have you picked out any toys for her yet

 

[Toady]

At the moment toys are mainly going to be home made, I've been saving paper towel rolls, egg cartons and anything cardboard and will be stuffing them with hay to serve not only as toys but as temporary hay holders.

Got some plastic cat balls with bells in them that I'll stick in Ash's cage to throw around if she feels like it... speaking of kitties I caught one of them trying to get into Ash's cage, I think he just wanted to see what was in the box in the corner.

 

[LakeCondo]

sounds good. Just out of curiosity, what's in the chopped hay mix?

 

[Toady]

The chopped hay is a mix of oaten and alfalfa (or lucerne as we call it) hays, looking at it there's more oat than alfalfa, it'll be interesting to see what Ash thinks of it.

 

[ZRabbits]

Toady wrote:

The chopped hay is a mix of oaten and alfalfa (or lucerne as we call it) hays, looking at it there's more oat than alfalfa, it'll be interesting to see what Ash thinks of it.

I really would be interested to know how Ash likes it and how she does on it. Really interesting mixture. Both very good for growing young bunnies.

K

 

[Toady]

I know most mixes are 50/50 oat/alfalfa but sometimes it doesn't look it... the idea is to put a small amount of Oxbow Young Rabbit Pellets in with this chaff, too many bunny mixes I've seen out there have too much alfalfa and things like corn in there so decided that I'd make my own... having a friend who owns horses and who's parents own a stock feed store comes in handy sometimes :biggrin:

 

[LakeCondo]

Can growing bunnies get too much alfalfa? I've never heard that. Corn, of course, is a no-no.

 

[ellay]

Can't wait to see Ash grow up :inlove: You better post lots of pics of this little cutie

 

[Toady]

Caught up with one of the vets at my job this evening and asked if the local surgery has a rabbit savvy vet, turns out she's the bunny vet and sees a lot of bunnies... she said to come down and grab a 'how to feed bunnies' fact sheet she does, when I said I was going to be feeding Ash chaff and Oxbow she was very happy, obviously a lot of people use the cheap and nasty supermarket stuff. I'll have to make an appointment after Easter to take Ash down for a check up and Calci virus vaccine. Just hope I don't have to take all my pets down on the one day; 4 cats, a dog and a bunny... a lot of expense too!!

 

[ZRabbits]

Toady wrote:

Caught up with one of the vets at my job this evening and asked if the local surgery has a rabbit savvy vet, turns out she's the bunny vet and sees a lot of bunnies... she said to come down and grab a 'how to feed bunnies' fact sheet she does, when I said I was going to be feeding Ash chaff and Oxbow she was very happy, obviously a lot of people use the cheap and nasty supermarket stuff. I'll have to make an appointment after Easter to take Ash down for a check up and Calci virus vaccine. Just hope I don't have to take all my pets down on the one day; 4 cats, a dog and a bunny... a lot of expense too!!

Congratulations on finding a Rabbit Savvy vet. And getting the Thumbs up on what you plan to feed Ash.

K