Judy: Queen of the House

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EEEM

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Location
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
As some of you know we've had alot of change inour lives recently. A little over a month ago I moved withHarold and Judy into a new house. The bunny kids got therevery own room in the basement and started off the new chapter of theircollege bun life in style. They settled in quickly andenjoyed having 24 our playtime out of their cage. All wasgoing superbly.

Sadly, just a few days ago Harold crossed over the rainbowbridge. After another fight against his seizures he left Judyand I. So a new chapter is starting in our lives, one withHarold missing. This will be a place for remembering him, butalso moving on. Soon Judy will start "dating" a number ofeligible boy bunnies to find herself a new companion. Updatesare sure to come about that in short order.

We've also added a couple of new, though temporary, members to the household, so you can check on their progress here too.

But mainly, you can hear of Queen Judy's royal duties andadventures. She was always the ruler of the house aroundhere, and now she has her very own palace.



In memory of Harold:

harold2.jpg

 
First off, Judy wants to show you her newhome. She has a great big room all toherself. I would guess the room is about 10' X 12' and is theonly finished room in the basement of the house. It's thebunny basement. There's nothing down here that she can getinto trouble with so she gets to run free all the time.

Here's Judy's home base. She likes to hang out and sleep inher cage and is fantastic with her litter box habits. Shealso dines here every morning and evening. It's herrelaxation area when she's not hopping about.

cage.jpg


Though the rest of the room still belongs to Judy I decided to add somepeople friendly furniture to make it an inviting place to hang out andvisit with the Queen. She sometimes sits on the thrones aswell, but really prefers the cushy carpet floor.

basement2.jpg


There are a couple of new members of the animal family over here aswell. Judy has never met these individuals... She can't bebothered with such riff-raff.

This is Delilah. She has come to stay with us because anirresponsible breeder was not taking care of her properly.She'll be with us until she finds her forever home. She's notvery friendly yet, but does enjoy being a house bunny and having timeto run and play. As you can see, she's a lovelyLionhead. She has not yet met Queen Judy, and likely neverwill. With all the confusion around here lately I have beenkeeping them far apart.

DSCN1197.jpg


Another four legged furry that Judy will never bump into isStella. She's also a foster baby. She was hit by acar and rescued by a good samaritan. She'll be staying hereuntil she is adopted by a loving family. Though she's anamazingly good dog, very calm and gentle, she does have a love forchasing squirrels, cats, and the wild bunnies outside, so she and Judyare kept well apart. Neither is conscious of the other'spresence.

DSCN1187.jpg


As for Judy herself, she's doing swimmingly. Her appetite hasbeen great and she doesn't seem phased by Harold's passing. Ithink she sensed his illness and distanced herself to better preparefor his death. She's more affectionate with me lately which Ithink is partly lonliness. She doesn't have a little princearound to pamper her. So soon we'll start looking for asuitable bunny boy to keep her company. In the running rightnow, a duth named Mason, a dwarf named Pancho, and a New Zealand namedTwizzle. We'll keep you updated on those meetings when theyoccur.

Here's Queen Judy being stunned by the paparazzi.

judy3.jpg

 
Bless Little Judy for watching out for her Mom and comforting her in her time of grieving.

You're so kind and loving to take in the other two 'orphans'. I do hope you find great homes for them both.

Best of luck finding a new boyfriend for Judy. Keep us posted.

-Carolyn
 
EEEM wrote:
Thisis Delilah. She has come to stay with us because anirresponsible breeder was not taking care of her properly.She'll be with us until she finds her forever home. She's notvery friendly yet, but does enjoy being a house bunny and having timeto run and play. As you can see, she's a lovelyLionhead. She has not yet met Queen Judy, and likely neverwill. With all the confusion around here lately I have beenkeeping them far apart.

DSCN1197.jpg


I wish I lived close enough to take Delilah. She is gorgeous!I have found that with my lionheads - it takes them a couple of weeksto warm up to people - BUT - if they're petted on a daily basis andloved on....it can happen much sooner. Even Miss Bea - thewitch who attacked us all the time- took less than a month to tame andshe's now my favorite lionhead doe....she loves pets and comes to thedoor all the time to see if I'll play with her.

Judy really does look like she's the queen - I hope you find a good mate for her soon!

Peg
 
Where in Texas are you? I'm originallyfrom Tyler and if I can get a reasonable price for taking a bun with meit's possible for me to bring her in August when I'm planning a visithome. If you were really interested. ;) She'sspayed, however, so adding her to your herd wouldn't be possible.

It's good to know that she's not an atypical lionhead in hershyness. She was never aggressive in any way and is becomingmore and more curious, but is still shy of a hand pettingher. She's loving me more and more as I hand feed hergreens. She loves cilantro. :)

Judy is still doing well. I think she likes all the extraattention. My housemates who enjoy the rabbits but aren'tthat in love with them have even been spending more time withher. They feel for her loss. They all miss Haroldtoo. He was such a sweet and funny little guy.
 
EEEM wrote:
Judyis still doing well. I think she likes all the extraattention. My housemates who enjoy the rabbits but aren'tthat in love with them have even been spending more time withher. They feel for her loss. They all miss Haroldtoo. He was such a sweet and funny little guy.


Sounds like Judy doesn't necessarily care about having another bunnyaround, unless of course, you've got your heart set on it.Tucker was quite happy and content as the only bunny in thehouse. Although many think that they need the company ofanother bun, it's not always the case. No worries aboutrushing to get another little one if you are on the fence aboutit.

Poor Harold and Poor You. You remain in my prayers.I'm glad Judy is adjusting so well. I'd be willing to betthat her extra love towards you is because she can sense your pain andis reaching out to you. They're such sensitive littlecreatures; they're very in-tune to our emotions.

-Carolyn
 
I agree that Judy may be fine without acompanion, but she really does seem to crave extra attention now thatharold is gone... I fear that when school starts back up andI get busier again I won't have time to indulge her extreme need forattention as I do now. I will certainly always have time forher, but just not as much as lately. That's the main reasonwhy I feel a bunny friend would do her good. She was muchmore aloof with me when Harold was around. I think he did heralot of good. They were big cuddlers. So I'm hopingto find her a friend before the end of August so we can all make thattransition to a busier schedule together. But we'll see howthe bonding process goes. If it seems to make her uneasy orunhappy, we'll certainly hold off.

Also, I really do like the idea of having another bunny in the housewith Judy. I feel lonely seeing her alonesometimes... So it's partially for my benefit, and partiallyfor hers. :)
 
Not alot has been happening here in Judy'skingdom. She's been doing well this week, lounging in thecool basement. It's been extremely hot and the house doesn'thave AC so many people spend time in the basement these days coolingoff with Judy. She enjoys the company.

Delilah left us today. She's going to be housed at a Petcostore to get more exposure. In her place a little jerseywooly named Howie has come to the house. He was at a Petcobut started showing some signs of sniffling and sneezing so he's herenow getting his baytril and recovering. I was a littleworried having such a furry bunny in a room with no AC in this heat(the basement is Judy's territory and I don't want to confuse her,pluse Howie may be contagious). But he immediately took tothe frozen water bottle and the fan. He sniffed, licked, andnudged the water bottle then immediately flopped right on top ofit. And he, like Delilah, enjoys sitting in front of the fan.

Howie seems to be a pretty sweet boy, so once he recovers from hisillness we may try introducing him to Judy and then permanently adopthim. We'll see. :)
 
Judy is scheduled to meet Howietonight! Someone from the MCRS is coming over to help me dofirst introductions and talk more about the bonding process.I've been reading up but having an experienced bunny bonder there willhelp too. I just hope Judy seems to like him, because Icertainly enjoy his company! If she seems to have a strongdislike for him we'll be taking her on more bunny dates this weekend.

This is Howie, he's a purebred Jersey Wooley from a recentconfiscation. I've had him for almost a week now.His sniffles have cleared up and he's really becoming quite the activeboy. I think he and Judy could be a good match.

howie.jpg

 
What a doll!
howie.jpg


Here's to love at firstsight!

-Carolyn
 
We may just have love! The firstbonding session went unbelievably well!! I was so impressedwith Judy. She was always the dominant one with Harold and Iwasn't sure how she would react to someone new, but she was a perfectlady. Howie, however, wasn't the nicest boy some of the time.

A very nice woman from MCRS with some bonding experience came over towalk me through and help me recognize things I should note.She also was amazed by how smoothly the whole process went.

We put them both on the dining table and for the first minute or sothey totally ignored each other. They didn't act afraid,actually curious about the people around the table watchingthem. Both hopped around back and forth past each other toget petting form us. Finally they took an interest in eachother. There was some sniffing, then some moreignoring. Howie dropped a couple of pellets and chinned thewater gun we had on hand to break up any fights. Judyapproached and stuck her head under his chin to ask for some groominglike she always used to do with Harold. Instead Howie decidedit would be a good time to hump her. She tolerated it fairlywell, but eventually backed up and they circled each other alittle. No biting or growling though.

We seperated them to calm them down and they started ignoring eachother again. Soon they were sitting right next to each other,very calmly. Judy gave Howie a kiss! She groomedhis ears for a few seconds before he thought he needed to head butt hera little bit and try humping again. But we think between thehead but and the humping he actually groomed her a little, though maybea little violently. I was very impressed with Judy toleratingthe humping. She just stayed still until he wasdone. Then they laid together again. We decided toend it on a good note. And put them back in their seperaterooms.

All in all it went very well. They were both very calmthroughout and though Howie felt the need to assert his dominance a bitthere wasn't any fighting or real moodiness. I think it maywork out very very well! I'll be working with them more everyday. Tonight I plan to switch out their carpet squares to getthem both used to the other's scent. We'll do some litter boxtrades and such. I'm hoping by sometime early next week I'llfeel comfortable putting their cages in the same room. Andeventually, hopefully, we'll be able to combine their households andhave a happy bunny family. :)

I'm excited! Looks like Howie will be joining the family.
 
I'm glad you all like him! He's a sweetheart.

I have a question for you guys... I'm trying tothink ahead to the time when I move Howie down to the bunny room withJudy. How do you suggest sanitizing the carpet to minimizethe urge for him to mark since it smells of Judy (and probably stillsome of Harold) down there. Have people had luck with thosepowders you sprinkle on and then vaccuum up? Or some kind ofsprays? When Harold died I vaccuumed really well andfebreezed the carpet, but I don't know if that's sufficient forintroducing a new rabbit down there. Especially since he isjust getting good at his litter box. I don't want to ruinthat progress! Any suggestions would be great.
 
Wonderful news - that first meeting went reallywell. As to getting rid of other bunny scent on the carpet, I steamcleaned mine after Fudge died, but that may not be practical. I haveheard that sprinkling bicarb. of soda then vaccuuming works quite well.

Jan
 

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