MyRabbits' Warren and Cat Haven

[MyRabbits]

Well, I think November 5 was a self-declared holiday. I know we weren't the only ones who seemed to have trouble making ourselves get anything done. Today things pick up, however. Shortly I will be driving a few miles down 340 to pick up some orchard grass hay from a local producer. What a relief no longer to have to order through Oxbow and pay their inflated prices and exhorbitant shipping fees! Last time I order from them, I spent over $75 on a large box of orchard grass and a large bag of oat hay. Today I will be paying only $14 for two square bales of late-cut orchard grass. I like bargains like that.

When I took Jemimah into the vet the other day for her annual blood tests, I learned that the vet had taken kale and parsley and dandelion greens off the recommended rabbit foods list. They are all apparently too high in calcium. As kale is very good and cheap at SuperFresh, far cheaper than any lettuces, at about half their price, and the rabbits are so enthusiastic about their daily kale, I was quite disappointed to learn that we needed to make a dietary and shopping switch. The vet did point out that Costco has romaine for very cheap and that local farmers' markets would be good cheap sources when the produce is in season. So yesterday I got my Costco card. Indeed, they do have affordable romaine. What a relief! It's a longer drive than it is to SuperFresh in Brunswick, but since Costco carries such a variety of inventory, I am sure we will make up for the added gas mileage in just a short while.

Tonight is our monthly rabbit club meeting. How time flies -- in about a month we will also be having the annual Christmas party for the club. Scott and I are really looking forward to that. The party has a Chinese gift exchange, just like we do every year up at Scott's ancestral home at Christmas. Last year we ended up with a bizarre, massive potato peeler. Maybe we can offload that white elephant from Scott's family into the crew of the rabbit club!

The rabbit show is not until Sunday, and yesterday I was able to get Sam an appointment at the groomer's for early Saturday morning. It's a good thing. While I clip the girls' nails myself, Sam's dark nails leave me lacking confidence that I won't cut them too short and hit below the quick. The groomer is far more confident with that operation, and it definitely is time for Sam's nails to be clipped. Whenever I go into the kitchen now, he stands up on his hind feet, placing his front paws on my legs, to beg for shredded miniwheats. If I am not yet in my jeans for the day, it really makes for a lot of uncomfortable scratch marks on my legs. . .

We did receive Suzette's pedigree from her breeder in yesterday's mail. I guess I still need to light a fire under Sam's breeder to get his. It won't be that much longer before the litter arrives. I will be able to place the nestbox in with Suzette on December 2nd, but I hope to be able to hear the heartbeats of the kits in her womb with my stethoscope long before that.

Have a good day.

 

[MyRabbits]

The good news is that yesterday I interviewed for a job and this morning received and accepted an offer of employment. The bad news is that I first have to undergo and complete a background investigation, which could take 60 to 90 days so it will be awhile before the first paycheck comes in. Oh, well, that means I will still have plenty of time at home when the kits arrive in early December. I am looking forward to being able to give them significant attention.

The other piece of bad news is that today I was banned from Bunspace.com for showing and breeding rabbits. That's too bad because I really liked the way that site had things set up so each bunny could have her/his own blogspace, and we did enjoy meeting many bunnies and their owners through there.

But back to news of the rabbit world. We're still not sure whether Suzette is pregnant. We do have a stethoscope, and last night my husband listened at Suzette's lower belly while I gently held her. He didn't hear any little fast hearbeats but maybe the stethoscope isn't very sensitive, and maybe it's too early to hear (only 8 days) anyway. Of course, since we had that cold snap before breeding Sam and Suzette, it's entirely possible that it effected Suzette's fertility and that she isn't pregnant at all. That would be disapointing. We are really looking forward to the fun of bouncing kits.

The show last Saturday was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Sam was disqualified for being a few ounces underweight, and Suzette only won Best Opposite of Variety (sandy), but Sam and Suzette seemed to enjoy the excitement of being in a large roomful of other bunnies, and Scott and I certainly enjoyed talking with old friends and making new ones. We also invested a little, buying a two hole carrier for taking some kits up to Cortland with us in the spring. There's another show a week from Saturday, and we are looking forward to that as well.

Suzette is really developing a fun personality. When she is down in the living room with us in the evenings, she herds the cats around the large rug. That's her territory and by gum! is she ever in charge of it. She is always so alert and active too, doing numerous large binkies, etc. How much joy she brings to our life!

What's your news?

 

[JadeIcing]

MyRabbits wrote:

The other piece of bad news is that today I was banned from Bunspace.com for showing and breeding rabbits. That's too bad because I really liked the way that site had things set up so each bunny could have her/his own blogspace, and we did enjoy meeting many bunnies and their owners through there.

Did you mention that you breed and show?



Any new pictures? I need more of this.

 

[MyRabbits]

In answer to JadeIcing's question, I did have Suzette in her blog mention that she and Sam got "married" and were expecting kits. I may also have mentioned that I did take them to a show the preceding Saturday. I don't remember, and I can't access the blog to check because, of course, I have been banned. The interesting thing is that they clearly have not pulled each of the rabbits' profiles, as they really ought to have. I keep getting email notices that other rabbit/owners have visited their sites and left comments and that various bunnies want to be "Bunny Buddies" with my crew. Oh, well. Of course, I appealed the determination and asked that if they do not lift the ban that they refund a prorated portion of my 1-year subscription. Somehow, since they seem not to believe in resolving differences through communication, they have not emailed back and they have not so far honored my request that the refund the prorated subscription amount. Oh, well, there are fanatics and then there are fanatics . . . I guess rabbitsonline.net is my better home base for talking bunnies. Thank you for being there.

In other news, last night in the dark, I did not apparently properly latch Suzette's hutch. This morning, when I was still lounging in bed, I heard quite a ruckus coming from the second storey porch where her hutch is. I went to investiage, and as soon as I laid eyes on the hutch I also laid eyes on an escaping Suzette. She does get very lonely out there, which is why I usually place Jemimah in another hutch right beside her during the daytime. Jemimah is such a smooth and well-behaved bunny. She gets along with all other bunnies; it's just amazing. Anyway, I guess just like Seabiscuit the racehorse had a companion horse, Pumpkin, next to him in the stall, Suzette as a high-maintenance show rabbit requires a bunny companion just like Jemimah. Jemimah is a thoroughly trained house rabbit so I don't particularly like putting her in a hutch, but then I rationalize that during the daytime she isn't doing much but sleeping anyway. At any rate, I am very greatful to her for the way that her presence seems to soothe Suzette.

Well, the next show is a week from yesterday. We are looking forward to it. Another thing I am looking forward to is doing "therapy bunnies" at nursing homes through our rabbit club. Jemimah is perfectly suited to something like that, and I think even Dorcas and Maddie have contributions to make in that area.

I haven't been a member of the rabbit club for long, but I do like the people I meet there very much. They are so civically minded and eager to educate the public about rabbits -- it's not all about winning at the shows. We have our Christmas party at our next meeting the first Thursday evening of December. At that meeting, various individuals will present local families for the club to give a Christmas gift of a $50 gift certificate from WalrusMart. It is a small club, and yet we will give out four such gift certificates. I am really impressed by that. When I worked for Customs down in DC, every year our medium-sized office of 30 attorneys plus about 10 support persons found a family through a non-profit organization that I have since forgotten the name of and bought gifts to fill their Christmas list. Given the relative sizes of office and rabbit club, I think the rabbit club is actually making the bigger contribution. I am proud to be a part of that.

I'll work on getting a few more pictures posted. I need to get on the ball with that. In just over two weeks, the litter is due and then I really want to share pictures. We have no children and are too old to start so we are really looking to celebrate the miracle and mystery of life with the arrival of these kits. It's somewhat interesting -- my vet voiced his strong ethical disapproval of my breeding any Flemish Giant, but then he himself became a father for the first time. The last time I saw him, he was just back from having two weeks maternity leave with his wife (she had a Ceaserian) and overflowing with joy and pride as he showed me pictures of the infant from his iPhone. I chose my moment and commented, "I can see that Jacob is almost as much fun as a litter of kits." The comment really took him by surprise; he did a doubletake, but I think I made my point. We are not breeding to make money (few people do at that); we are breeding because we really adore having a litter of kits around and we also like the opportunity to spread the love to new Flemish Giant rabbit owners.

Scott set up a website for our "rabbitry", South Mountain Rabbitry, which is now registered with ARBA -- http://www.southmountainrabbitry.com I like that he wrote out an informative piece on who are are as breeders -- two middle-aged people who have a small rabbitry and who are concerned about what happens to the kits we give away. It has quite a bit for the reader to consider in light of what living with Flemish Giants is iike so that they can determine whether a Flemish Giant is really suitable for their home. Among other things, we will be instructing prospective owners that if they have any trouble with their new rabbit, that for some reason it doesn't fit into their household, to bring the rabbit back to us, not to try to find another home for it and not to dump it at an animal shelter. If worst comes to worst, we will have substantially more house and pet rabbits than we have now, but we have plenty of space out here in the country and we are committed to taking good care of all of Sam and Suzette' offspring.

Anyway, like I said, in another couple of weeks, I should have a substantial number of pictures for you.

Take care.

MyRabbits

 

[MyRabbits]

I hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving. For us, it was just me and Scott (my husband), the cats and rabbits. We had Suzette, our expectant Flemish Giant doe, down with us in the living room as we dined. She was thoroughly amazed to see us eating at the dinner table -- she didn't realize that was what it was for, as usually we eat our dinner seated on the loveseat in the living room, in front of the TV. (Yeah, I know, TV junkies, mainly my husband's issue.)

Suzette is due toward the end of the coming week. We really HAVE to finish the nestbox this weekend. We have a great design from our National Federation of Flemish Giant Rabbit Breeders Handbook. It features a totally enclosed nestbox with a round hole for the doe to come and go and a little door for us humans to open up so we can inspect the kits, etc. I'll be so excited when they get here.

In other news, last weekend we took Sam and Suzette, our two Flemish Giants, to a rabbit show in nearby Howard County. It was the first time we showed Suzette as a senior, and we just assumed that because she weighed substantially more than Sam, that she would make the greater weight minimum standard for does. Sadly, she was DQ'd for being underweight, but we learned from other, supportive breeders that being underweight for the category is not unusual at her age: some Flemish Giants don't fully mature in weight until month 16! One of the breeders shared that she fed her FG's some sweet potato to help them put on weight, but Suzette didn't want to have anything to do with the sweet potato. Even Sam was a little bit underweight and was also DQ'd. At least he loves the sweet potato -- while he's eating one chunk he lays down on the other ones so that Maddie and Jemimah can't have any. What a clever boy! Maddie and Jemimah are plenty big already for their respective genes so I think this is a real blessing.

Anyway, we'll keep you posted with pictures of the kits once they arrive.

 

[MyRabbits]

As some of you may already know from the thread my husband posted which ended up in The Infirmary, we had quite an eventful weekend. Suzette kindled her litter on the evening of Saturday, December 6, while Scott and I were out to dinner. We were so proud of her, and she looked so pleased with herself! What a delight -- eight very healthy and seemingly happy kits. I can not describe the pleasure we felt in this miracle of new life. We handed out banana slices all around to the other rabbits to celebrate (I don't think cigars would have quite been the thing!)

Our joy ended in sorrow Sunday morning when Suzette died suddenly. She died in Scott's arms. We weren't even able to get her to an emergency vet. Even if we had, they probably wouldn't have been able to do much for her. As nearly as we can tell from consulting with BlueGiants, Suzette probably died from going into shock from having too low a calcium level.

We only had Suzette three months, but how we delighted in her! We had gotten her just before her six-month half-birthday at a show in Cortland, New York. She did very well there, but it was not just that she was a beautiful bunny. Every evening we would bring her down into the living room to run for several hours. We loved watching her; we loved interacting with her. She was cute, alert, quirky, good at binkies, very interested in her mate Sam, and quite intelligent. We will miss her terribly. We took her to the vet's for a private cremation, and Scott is choosing a special urn for her. Private cremation is expensive, and we will not do it for every rabbit, but Suzette really was very, very special to us.

The silver lining in that great cloud is that we were able to find a Californian doe who was lactating and able to take on all 8 kits. The wonderful man who made the doe available was Suzette's breeder. So we had a long drive from central Maryland into northen Pennsylvania, but at least all this happened on a Sunday so that we did have the time to do something like that. I must say it was good to see Suzette's breeder again. He is such a nice man, a fine Christian who gives me hope in the faith again. Interestingly, Suzette's sister who beat her at the Saturday show at Cortland but whom she then beat in the Sunday show, is having her first litter in another few days. I hope she does not encounter Suzette's difficulties. The breeder is really nice and has let us know that all the kits are doing well. Probably in a month we will drive back up to Pennsylvania and bring the doe and kits back down here, returning the doe after another 4-5 weeks after that.

Anyway, let me try to load a few pictures here. First, there's Suzette by her new nestbox, which she made a great nest in:

Well, let me go back to my Flickr site to upload a few of the kits so I can load it from there. Okay, here is a picture of the kits, taken the morning after they were born:

 

[MyRabbits]

Christmas is coming and so my husband and I, the cats, rabbits and kits all wish you the Happiest of Holiday Times and a Joyous and Peaceful New Year!

Tomorrow we will celebrate our home Christmas, making it Sunday so that we have time to roast the turkey breast and have our traditional meal. Based on Sam's recent unrequested performance in unwrapping my parents' present to my husband, we anticipate that the rabbits, if not the cats, will enjoy the challenge of unwrapping the presents that Santa will bring.

The latest news on the kits is that they are all healthy and doing well and starting to distinguish themselves in terms of size, with 3-4 of the 8 being rather large and one wee one being a bit of an albeit healthy runt. They are two weeks old today, and we wish we could see them but we are having them foster nursed by a doe up in Pennsylvania. The good news is that on the way back from our Christmas trip to western New York, we will be able to drop by the foster doe and see our delightful kits. At any rate, their eyes should be long open and they should have quite nice fur by now. By the time we see them next Sunday they will no doubt be bounding regularly out of the nestbox.

We still miss the kit's dam, Suzette. On Wednesday I picked up her ashes and urn from the vet's. It was a somber experience, but having her remains back with us, on display on the dining room mantelpiece, helps begin to give my husband and I a little closure. Some days ago I transferred all the photos we have of her onto our digital photo frame. Several times I have just sat before the frame and let it do it's one-hour show for me. That quiet hour gives me plenty of time for nurturing reflection.

Today the December issue of the National Federation of FLemish Giant Rabbit Breeders Association newsletter arrived. Time to start planning all those shows for the spring and summer! We still need to get Sam up to weight as a senior, but even if he does not make it, we will probably still go to the Lebanon show. We have heard so much about it.

May your rabbits and you be happy and healthy throughout this holiday season.

 

[JadeIcing]

*hugs*

I am glad your babies are doing well.

 

[MyRabbits]

Well, here we are at the Comfort Inn in Batavia, New York, with Sam and the three girls, our four house bunnies. They are all very well behaved. Christmas with Scott's family was really nice. We even took Sam and Dorcas with us, and both seemed to enjoy the variety and the excitement. They were such good little/big bunnies.

We did have a bit of a scare earlier in the week, as I posted on the Infirmary forum -- Sunday morning I noticed that Sam had a tiny spot on each hind hock which was not covered with fur -- the dread beginnings of sore hock. Fortunately, the skin is not broken, but he has developed callouses in each spot so I imagine it will be a while before we can coax hair to grow back there. At any rate, I am sure the medicine the doctor gave us will help, as will the new rug in the rabbit room and the new resting racks that we have for the litter pans. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Fortunately, Sam does not fuss at the wrappings we put on his hocks, but I am still not perfect at wrapping them and sometimes the VetWrap bandages twist around, at which point I just take them off.

Today we will be going to visit friends who have dachsunds which they show and train, so we will not be taking the bunnies with us. That's okay. They seem to enjoy lounging around int he hotel room just fine. Then there's Dorcas who loves lounging on the other bed in the hotel room. These beds are lower than ours and she can actually hop up herself, something she can't do with our bed at home. She just seems to feel like the queen of the place.

Finally, Sunday we will head back home, to stop by the kits in Lock Haven, PA along the way. I can hardly wait! Should have pictures and videos for you soon.

Have a good week.

 

[JadeIcing]

Hope you have fun.

 

[MyRabbits]

Well, we are back from the trip, and, boy, did we bring a surprise home with us! We thought we would just drop by to see the kits, but Wayne didn't need the doe for anything further and the kits were pretty strong so Wayne suggested going ahead and taking doe and kits home with us. He even lent us a carrier. As we cannot predict what the weather and roads in mountainous PA will be two weeks from now -- when we had planned on bringing them home -- this was a great idea! We will return the doe and carrier at the Lebanon, PA show in early February.

So we drove home with a total of 13 rabbits in the car. That's the most we have ever had at one time. The kits were three weeks and a day. Now they are three weeks and two days. They are just amazing, as is this wonderful doe who has managed to keep them all alive and well.

Today I got a postal scale and this evening my husband and I will weigh them, marking the ear of each with a sharpy, with a number, so that we can keep a record of their development. I am still so awe-inspired by the kits that I am a little hesitant to pick them up. Most of them seem to enjoy just being petted so thus far today that has been all I have done.

Fortunately, the doe seems to have settled in pretty well. They are going through a lot of water, a fair amount of hay, less feed than I expected. I have not yet seen the doe eat and do hope that the trip did not upset her into going off her feed. We are feeding her what she had up at the breeder's.

I should have some photos posted soon.

 

[MyRabbits]

Happy New Year!

It's been an eventful week. Originally we had planned to drop by and visit our kits and their surrogate mother on our way home from the Christmas trip in New York state. But we actually got to bring the foster mother and kits home with us! It has been so wonderful for us. The kits -- all 8 -- are healthy, alert and very active and hoppity. They love their hay, pellets and water and are "wide eyed and busy tailed". On Monday we weighed them with a postal scale and marked them with numbers in their ears to tell them apart, to start getting to know them as individuals. They vary in weight from 6.2 oz. to a whopping 10.5 oz. Tuesday we had them out on the bed in the guest room as I cleaned the hutch, and we were finally able to get some good pictures. So here's the crew (a Blackberry in its holster is included for scale):

Anyway, we're just in love with the kits. It's hard to believe that we will only have them for another 7 weeks before others will be taking them to their homes. All the prospective owners we have talked with so far have been prior owners of rabbits so we feel very comfortable with having our kits move to their homes.

Today we dropped by PetsMart and bought a small animal pen for the kits to run around in. We felt that it would be especially useful when the prospective owners visit -- watching and interacting with the kits in the pen, they will have a better sense of which rabbit has the personality most suited to them. They really do already have seemingly unique, individual personalities. It is really pretty wonderous.

Have a Happy and Healthy 2009.

 

[JadeIcing]

AWW! I love them. I want one. :shock:

 

[MyRabbits]

January 1st PetsMart was open, and we dropped by and picked up a small animal pen with floor covering so that, when prospective new kit owners visit, they can choose their rabbit from watching them hop and interact. It is not so big, but not so little either. I set it up yesterday in a corner of the living room floor. Sam and Jemimah and Maddie were quite curious about it. Since I put it up right near where they love to lounge, they now lounge leaning up against it. How surprised they will be the first day we fill it with rambunctious kits! We are expecting our first visitors a week from tomorrow, and I am very excited about it. The kits will be just over five weeks (they are four weeks today). The visitors will not be able to select their actual rabbit that Sunday -- we have first pick and won't exercise that option probably till about week seven or eight, when we sex them).

Today is Saturday, which means we will weigh the kits. Last time, I marked each rabbits ear with a sharpy, with an identifying number, something I needed to refresh yesterday. I think the weighing exercise will hold a few surprises this week. No. 5 kit was the second heaviest last week, but I am thinking that kits Nos. 4 and 8 may have overtaken him for size. We are recording all these weights on a NeoOffice spreadsheet so at some point will be able to generate graph lines showing the relative development of each kit. The more data we can generate from our breeding program and use, the better breeders we will be.

At any rate, all the cats and rabbits seem to be doing very well at present. Sam's hocks are looking better all the time, and I dont think we will have any problem showing him at the shows in Lebanon, PA in early February. I admit that we are having quite a difficult time administering his oral, banana-flavored baytril. He just hates it when I try to stick that syringe in his mouth, but then when I end up getting it all over his coat instead, he doesn't seem to mind licking it off himself!

I am about to write out the entries for the Lebanon show today, too. It will be a little sad going to the show with just Sam, not having Suzette there in here carrier as well. I do miss her. Yesterday I made a picture of Suzette the background picture for my new Blackberry. She was such a good rabbit!

 

[JadeIcing]

*hugs* It is hard to lose your bunnies.

 

[MyRabbits]

It is sad to lose one's bunnies. I am touched by how many of the people who have contacted us about these kits have been people who have recently lost a beloved bun and find that life is still not quite right without any rabbit at all around. I have many pictures of both Suzette and Ben, the Flemish Giant we lost last winter, on my Blackberry and iPod. Suzette is the background screen for my Blackberry, too. I love sharing pictures and videos from the Blackberry and iPod with just about anyone I meet. I suppose I am a bit boorish in that, but people tolerate it, and it is important to me to continue viewing photos of these darling rabbits that I miss so much.

Last night the kits were 4 weeks old so we got out the postage scale to weigh them again. Amazingly, in just 5 days, their weight increased by an average of 56%! It's so noticeable when we compare video shot at 23 days with video shot yesterday. They just grow so quickly. Our darling runt, No. 6, gained the least weight but still as a proportion of her last weight she gained nearly 50%. Right now she weighs just 9.7 oz, whereas most of the kits weigh in at 15 oz., and No 1 weighs in the greatest at 1 lb. 3 oz.

This morning we went out to make an assessment of how much work awaits us in the barn. The floor is more uneven than we remembered so we will need to get quite a bit of gravel, sand and soil to even it out. We did even out the soil in one of the stalls and laid the cinder block over a piece of plywood there and moved our one large hutch in there. The stalls are so spacious. We really do have room for a sizable rabbitry in there. I am so excited. It feels good to have the hutch moved in there, but we will not transfer the rabbits there until next weekend. We need to wire in a few more lightbulbs and also an electrical outlet so we can enjoy Wabbitcam! as we do from their indoor location.

Thanks for dropping by.

 

[fuzz16]

i just found your blog and have fallen in love with your beautiful giants and your stories. look forward to more

 

[MyRabbits]

Wow. It's been a long time since I updated my bunny blog. Thanks for dropping by. We now have 12 Flemish Giants -- nine sandies, a breeding pair of whites and one black buck. We just love them so much.

Last summer another relatively new breeder who had decided they couldn't continue with breeding and showing, called me up and offered me, as a gift, one of their does. I had fallen in love with that doe earlier that summer when they showed her for the first time. Of course, we eagerly took her. Her name is Dolly, and she is a beautiful rabbit. This past weekend we took her to Cortland, a very important specialty show for Flemish Giants, and she won her third leg and also Best of Breed. I am still on Cloud 9 from that. But more importantly, the victory did not go to her head. Instead, somehow, on the trip she seemed to bond with us more. Where before she was somewhat reserved and after a certain amount of petting would hop to the rear of her hutch, now she is all affection and cannot get enough petting. It is really neat to see. Maybe over the trip she decided that she belonged as much as the other bunnies traveling in the car. I am not sure. But I sure am happy.

How are your bunnies doing?

Nora

 

[MyRabbits]

Well, an update is in order. I haven't blogged in a long time. We are now 12 Flemish Giants (9 sandy, 2 white, and 1 black) plus four other house rabbits (2 Dutch, one small Californian, and a Holland Lop).

In May we drove out to Flemish Giant Nationals in Michigan, at the gracious home and show barn of Lynn and Bob Bolyard. Much to our delight, Guenther, a sandy senior buck that we got from the Welch's in February, actually placed 2nd in his class of 27. We were so thrilled! It was also a wonderful opportunity to grow in friendships and make some new friends. We also acquired another 6/8 sandy doe whom we named Bess Truman, Bessie for short. She is a very stylish doe. We will breed her with Guenther in another few weeks.

Over the summer, we acquired two darling whites, a breeding pair London and Cinderella, as well as Dolly, a glamorous senior doe. Sadly, Cinderella died about a month later. We had loved her so much. She had big leafy ears, loved to play on the stairs, and was incredibly outgoing and curious. She was always hopping up just wanting attention. We still miss her even though this weekend we acquired another white doe as a breeding partner for London. The new doe is quite young -- 3 1/2 months -- and we haven't had her long enough to decide on an appropriate name for her. She is very snuggly and sweet.

The slow summer off from shows gave way to a flurry of activity on Labor Day weekend, when we took 8 FLemish Giants first to a double show in Bucks County, PA on Saturday and then an open show plus Flemish Giant specialty show at Mill Hall, PA on Sunday. It was so amazing! This was the kits last weekend to show as Intermediates (6/8). Samantha, our rather tiny doe, took Best of Breed both times at Bucks County, surprisingly beating out the glamorous Dolly. We were so pleased and happy about that. Then Sunday at the open show, Dolly turned the tables and won Best of Breed! So then both of them had two legs, equal with Bessie, whom we had gotten at Nationals. At Mill Hall we also got another rabbit, a sandy senior buck named Max, from the same breeder who gave us Dolly. We will be breeding Max and Samantha in another couple of weeks. Hard to believe that our little kit Samantha is actually going to have litters of her own!

The Turtle's, my husband's, birthday was the next day, and he gave himself quite a present at Mill Hall -- he won a Holland Lop at the Raffle. As he explained to me, we have "our" rabbits (the Flemish Giants), I have "my" rabbits (the house rabbits I have had since before we met), but he didn't have HIS OWN rabbit. So the new rabbit, Mr. Fred, has now joined the pack of house rabbits. He is a very sweet 2-year-old buck with a thoughtful look to him.

This past weekend we took 7 Flemish Giants up to the double specialty show in Cortland, NY. Our car only holds 9 carriers, and we knew we would be coming home with the new white doe and also a 5-month black buck kit. Saturday, London, our space-cadet white buck, took Best Opposite Sex of Variety--white. It was so funny when he was up for Best of Breed. After it was over and he was not picked, he lodged his hind feet against the little show table stall and refused to let me get him out, as if to say, "I'm staying here till they pick ME!" Then Sunday Dolly wowed us all by not only winning her class, and thus her third leg for Grand Champion, but also Best of Variety -- sandy and then on to Best of Breed! That is a real accomplishment at Cortland, against 212 other rabbits. The whole time she was being judged, I was just holding my breath. It was such a great relief to finally exhale when they announced her as Best of Breed. Really, since we are so inexperienced, we expected nothing at Cortland. The other breeders there are so expert and experienced. But Dolly was a real gift to us in so many ways. Nicely, since the trip, Dolly has given up her reservedness and now likes to be petted and handled all the time. I guess she finally feels like she really belongs after all that traveling with the other bunnies.

We are still trying to think of names for the white doe and the black buck. It always takes us a while as we get to know the rabbits' personalities. I am just so filled with love for my rabbits. It seems the more we get, the better I am able to love all of them. It is an amazing experience.

 

[fuzz16]

It really makes me happy to read about someone who loves thier rabbits so much, ecspecially when they have so many rabbits to love!!

congrats on the new bunnies and thier wins and good wishes to London for next time!!! Glad you're doing so well with the shows and your bunnies

pictures please??