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Torchster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
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Location
, Maryland, USA
Well, I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a little while. I have no idea what I am doing – but I’ll learn as I go.

I’ll start, well, at the beginning and slowly go from there.

Last February, I looked again at getting a pet. I live in a condo, lived by myself, and sometimes work long hours. Growing up, my family always had pets. We always had a small dog, and for a while we had a couple of small birds. I am a very much a dog person. But I just don’t feel like I have the space for even a small dog. So I ruled out a dog.

I am allergic to cats, so that wasn’t an option.

Then I thought about fish, but to me, they are more like a plant. They really wouldn’t liven up the house much.

Birds…small ones are more like fish. The larger types can live for like 30 years, and they never leave and go to college or anything! Plus they can be very loud for a condo setting. Next.

I ended up in the same place as I had always ended up before. Couldn’t come up with a reasonable pet idea, something that had a chance of working out for both me and whatever critter I ended up with.

I can’t remember exactly how, but I was surfing the web for pets, and I saw a few pics for bunnies. At first blush, I kind of looked at bunnies, said that was nice, and went fruitlessly went on surfing the net. But some where in the back of my little brain, bunnies registered.

A couple of days later, I was searching online again, and thought about bunnies. What the heck, I wasn’t having any other luck, why not do a little research on bunnies – I didn’t think that they would work, but what could it hurt, right?

After watching some videos, I eventually ended up at the HRS. Hmmm, bunnies would be ok during the day while I was at work. They don’t need a yard. I’m not allergic to them. Bunnies could be happy in a reasonably sized cage during the day while at work – then I could let them out at night to get supervised playtime. They are social, they would liven up the house. Over the next few days I watched videos about rabbit care, building a cage, and about rabbits themselves. I read most of the HRS website, well, not the whole thing; but I did read a lot.

I read up about the work that the HRS does, what a rescue organization is, and the best way to go about getting a rabbit…
 
So, I decided to go with a rescue organization. Since I knew nothing about bunnies, why got to a breeder? I thought that I would give a chance to some bun in a rescue. I don’t need some pure bred bun or anything. Plus, a rescue organization could help me with getting the right bun for my situation.

Ok, I had a plan. Before getting a bun, I needed to get the cage thing taken care of before I brought home a bun. I built my own nic cage from plans from the web. It was kind of fun to build a cage. The cage squares will a little more expensive that I thought it would be, and I ended up spending more than I thought I would, but its ok.

Once I got the cage built, I contacted the rescue and started the paper work. I was only really looking for a small bun. I was worried about the size of my cage. I did 3 squares long by 2 squares wide, 3 squares high with two levels. I probably could have gotten a bigger bun than I did, but I wanted to make sure they had enough room.

So, once my application for a new bun was approved, I met the rescue at a local pet store. They had brought a number of buns for me to look at. I only had to look at three buns. I really don’t remember the first two. They seemed pretty darn scared – which is understandable. Then I picked up Bert. Now he is a pretty out going bun to begin with, but of course I didn’t know that at the time. He was just so cute and friendly. When I picked him up, I knew he was the one.

IMG_0005.jpg


At the store, I picked up some bunny pellets, some hay, a carrier and some other little things that needed, and I took my little boy home for the first time. I got very lucky with Bert. We bonded from day one. But I still took it easy. The first couple of days I just kept his cage closed and just stayed near the cage – but didn’t rush anything. Finally on Thursday I attached an xpen to the front of his cage so I could open up his cage but keep him a safe area. He came out rather quickly to explore.

By the weekend, I was getting in the xpen with him. He was pretty comfortable and would come out and explore me too. It wasn’t long before I had made the living room bunny safe and I would let him out to explore.

Then one day I had let Bert out of the cage in the living room, and I was lying on the couch watching TV. Out of the blue he just jumped onto the couch to join me. He just laid down next to me and quietly watched TV together. It was then, it was there, that I knew I had made the right decision.
 
So my first couple of weeks it was just Bert and I. I gradually opened up more of the house for supervised playtime. He liked to explore, and I made much of the house safe for him to explore.

I used to have an extra bed room where I had a computer. I would go on there and surf the web for bunny info, and Bert always came in to say hi. Then he jumped up on the bed in there, which was OK. Then I found him down between the comforter and the sheets. He just loved to burrow down there and explore. He tasted the sheets and comforter a few times, but that is OK, no major damage. Sometimes, I would crawl under the sheets with him and feed him hay by hand. Sometimes I would just pet him.

One day, I decided that I was tired and that I was going to take a nap. I got into bed and he jumped right up to join me. He just went down by my feet and we took a nap together. Of course, some time later, I woke to bunny wiskers tickling my nose, and Bert staring me in the eye about 2 inches from my face - saying, "you awake?"

It became our Saturday thing to do together, take a nap together in the afternoon; at least until he wanted to get up.

We were just a couple of bacholers (sp?) hanging out together on the weekend.
 
I knew that wouldn't be a single for long. The research I had done lead me to think that Bert would be lonely in his cage all day long while I was at work. So I needed to get him a girlfriend. I also had a work trip coming that would take me out of town for a week. So I gave the rescue a call. They would babysit him for the week, and find him a mate at the same time. The only thing I wanted was a small bun, because of the size of the cage, and a different color so I could tell them apart. That was it.

It was kind of hard to be away from my little boy for a week. I missed spending time with my little guy. The rescue sent me a few pics while I was gone, but I couldn't wait to get my little guy back. The updates weren't always encouraging. They were have trouble finding my guy a mate, and running out of girls. It was Thursday and I was coming back the next day and no luck.

Then I got this pic...

BertPlutonia.jpg


It was a pic of my boy and his new girlfriend. And I had two bunnies. Now granted, Petunia doesn't look too thrilled in that pic. And she has been slow to come around. She isn't too sure about me, even after all these months. But I think that she will come around.

Now I have two...where does it stop?
 
So I had to take my uncle to the ER...then I get home to see Bert is NOT himself. Ugh.

Some baby gas-x (can spell the big fancy word) and he seems to be doing better. Will have to separate the kids tonight, to see how how much he is eating and the like.

Before he was a big lump in the corner, not wanting to move or anything. No interest in food, or anything. One dose of the stuff and he is grooming himself, and Petunia. I saw him take a little drink of water and eat a little hay.

Too much excitement for one day...time for bed.
 
Bert is back to his normal self, although I don't think that he was happy to see the Yankee's winning. What can I say, my boy has taste.

I took down some of their cage complex. Some of the advice that I gotten was that it was too high. I had turned some wardrobe boxes into bunny castle on either side of the cage then connected them with a walkway above the cage, but perhaps that was a bit high. I took down the walkway, but I still have the boxes. Over all, its just not as high. They can still get in the boxes and climb some steps to get up to chest high, but I think it is pretty safe. I like to have something for them to get a little exercise in. I like their complex to be interesting and have some stuff for them to do. If they want to lie on the floor, they can do that. If they want to move up to the 'perch' and see things from a couple of feet up. If that want some quiet time to take a nap, they can go inside to get away from the 'busy world' around them, they can do that too.

I'm still thinking about getting a 3rd bunny, but I am also a little scared about how Bert would take to a new room mate. I guess I will wait a little while to decide.
 
I've been away from RO for awhile. Bert and Petunia are doing well. Currently Bert is vacumming the living room carpet. I got some new furniture and redid the layout of the living room. I have a recliner couch so I was always worried about the kids getting into the couch and not being able to get them out. I went to a storage place to find a new box for the kids to play in. The have these 'lamp' packing boxes. They are long to put a lamp into. Hmmm...they would make a perfect bunny tunnel. I got a couple and attached them together and I put them behind the couch, it covers up the back part of the couch so they can't get inside...and it gives them a tunnel to play in. Win Win.

Actually it works out pretty well. If they wanted to hide back there and stay out of reach they can. But my buns aren't free range buns, so that isn't a major worry. The are normally in their room (when I am not around) and I only let them out if they are doing OK. Plus, if I even reach into a Wheat Thin box, they come running, so things work out well.

Petunia does spend most of her time back there, but I'm not so surprised by that. I can hear her right now doing some remodeling. But I'd rather have them tearing up a box, then the new furniture I just got.
 
The kids are alright. Petunia spent a good part of tonight running around the living room. She only had one accident where she got a little loose in the corner and clipped the wall. I brought her in the pits and added a round of wedge and a pound of air in her rear tires and she seemed to handle better in the corners.

Bert went for a piggy back ride. He prefers to let others do the work. He was such a good boy that I had to give him a couple of raisins. I decided that we would groom my face instead of my shirt. It was too cute.

I put a bunch of hay in an over sized litter box I keep in the living room for them when they are out and about. Its cute the way they bury their heads in the middle of the stack to find the best bits. I big stack of hay with a bunny bun sticking out one end and couple of ears out the top.
 
I thought that I would put some new pictures in here. Granted I am not a photographer...and I only have an iPhone camera...but here we go.

Tried to get the kids...Just got Bert's best side burying his face in dinner.
IMG_0066.jpg


My baby girl...thinking that if I get any closer that camera she's gonna beat me with it.
IMG_0079.jpg


Hey, I'm trying to nap here.
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Sorry they are so grainy...but that is the best I can do with the old iPhone.

The kids are doing well! I love them so much. Petunia still is pretty shy, but I can give her a few head rubs some time. Its OK, she's still my girl.
 
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