Nelson's Nest

[Nelson_is_mine]

I've been thinking about starting a blog for Nelson ever since I got him (nearly two years ago) I think I even might have on the old old old site. (The one that was called something else, but I can't remember.) But anyway, that's not important. And last week when we decided that the former foster girls were staying forever, it sealed the deal. And since this paragraph is really no way to start a blog, I consider it an introduction. Those are allowed to suck. C:

Nelson was about six months old when I got him (two years ago in may). My local feed and farm store sells rabbits and other small animals. Some are surrendered to them and some they get from breeders. Nelson was a case of surrendering. When I got him, he was an estimated six months old. At the time I met him, I was fairly set on getting a lop. I had done four months worth of research to decide if a rabbit was really my thing and to prove my dedication to my parents. But I walked into the small animal room and it was love at first sight for Nelson and me. And now that I've expierenced the joy of owning a lionhead, I can't imagine living without one.

EDIT: I forgot to say that he was my sweet sixteen present! I got him a week before my birthday, which was the week after I met him. I went back to the feed and farm store three more times that week just to see him.

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(this is one of my favorite pictures of Nelson. Unfortunately, it's from my cell phone. It was taken in Janurary of 2008, before he had free run of my room)

I had Nelson for about a year when I came across two baby jersey woolies in the same feed and farm store. They were left over from the easter rush and from a bad breeder,from whomthe store no longer buys. I think that the babies were seperated from mom too early and had some GI issues. Their poop resembled that of a goose. I immediately took them under my wing as fosters (well, almost immediately. My father needed some convincing). Because I did not know their sex at the time, I just named them Big One and Little One, figuring their new owners would name them properly. I got them spayed and worked with a local rescue to get the girls up on petfinder. I was told that they must have "people" names to be listed, so I let my friend, who was sitting next to me pick two girl's names and they were christened Shirely and Marlene. And while I do like these names, neither really fit them. I still called them Big One and Little One at home. When we decided that we were going to keep them we figured we would be the ones to name them properly. Big One is now going by Bertha (or Big Bertha Bunny, as my mom likes to say) and Little One is now Lil, which evolved from Little One over the past few months.

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This is one of my favorite pictures of Lil from a day last spring

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This is the most full on picture of Bertha I could find from the same day.

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Lil grooming Bertha that day.

 

[Nelson_is_mine]

A big part of wanting to keep Bertha and Lil was the idea of bonding them with Nelson. Of course there were other factors, but this was a major one. My mother and I both want Nelson bonded before I leave for college in the fall (go Indiana University of Pennsylvania) and getting another rabbit to bond him with will be leaving my mother and sister with four rabbits to care for in my abscence when I'm in the dorms my freshman year. So the girls seemed like the perfect solution (not that I would reconsider my keeping the girls if it didn't work out). In order to start the bonding process, I moved the girls up to my room (which Nelson perviously had free run of) this past week.

Moving day was quite an ordeal! It required me to move my desk and dresser so that there could be room for the girls' pen. In order to move my desk, I had to clean out its drawers. In order to have a place to put the stuff I was keeping from the desk, I had to sort through my bookshelf. I could then move the desk out of my room. In order to move the dresser I had to go through its drawers. And then I had to go through my closet in order to make room for the dresser in there and move my remaining clothes back in. Then I was free to vaccuum and set up the pen. It was an all day ordeal (thank goodness for snowdays) and the Good Will got a car full of donations. Oh what we do for our bunnies!

Anyways, I have pictures to document the day.

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This is where the girls used to live. (Pardon the mess).

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This is the space where they would be moving to. (Again, pardon the mess...I'm pretending that this picture is clear, too, except for the bra part. That's still blurry.)

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After I moved the desk.

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The closet post sorting.

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Closet with dresser inside.

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Empty space.

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The girls' new home. I got the flooring from Home Depot for under $25 (like $23 something). I thought it was a good deal. I thought I would be spending a minimum of twice that for a six by eight foot sheet. I cut it with an exact-o knife to fit.

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Furnished pen.

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Whole view of the bunny area (so kind of them to at least let me keep a bed and a bookshelf)

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I modified Nelson's set up the next day because I woke up a few times in the night with him in my bed. He can jump the gate easily, but now that I fixed it there is nothing that he wants on the other side. (Again, Pardon the mess.)

 

[Nelson_is_mine]

I have a few pictures of the girls when I brought them upstairs to see their new abode.

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Bertha's first look.

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Lil checking out her new crib.

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I awoke to this the next morning. I know it's blurry, but it's Bertha and Nelson laying next to each other through their gates. They lay next to each other constantly and check in on each other every ten minutes or so when they are not. Lil seems interested and receptive, but not to the point that Bertha is. It seems like this bond might be a breeze (knock on wood). I sing "womanizer" to Nelson in hopes that it might incourage him if he doesn't listen to the lyrics too closely. C:

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I know what you mean, when I got my last three buns, I had to rearrange the room to accomodate all the cages. Spent the better part of the day setting up the additional cages, vacuuming, getting toys, etc.

Very nice set up! I am glad the bunny's are letting you share their room. Did they place any restrictions on you, like not playing your music after 10pm?

Thats great Nelson and Bertha are getting along, I have two does that do something similiar. Grooming each other through the cages. If one gets mad at me and thumps the other does it too!

Indiana Univiersity in Pennsylvania? I didn't know they had a campus there. I am a IU graduate, a very long time ago, eek! I'm getting old.

 

[Nelson_is_mine]

Indiana University of Pennsylvania isn't actually a branch campus of Indiana University (which I didn't know until I applied there). It's in Indiana County. It's where Jimmy Stewart is from. They have a museum for him in their public library.

About the restrictions, I am allowed to be up as late as I want, I just have to get up early. Nelson is quiet and I could probably count on one hand the amount of times he as ever woken me up. Bertha and Lil on the other hand, are a different story. They make sudden noises in the night, but are really persistant around five. Running around in circles, tearing things up, jumping on and off of the top of their box. I know their most active in the early morning and around dusk, but really! Maybe Nelson's just weird, he usually isn't ready for the day until at least six fifteen. And he's quiet about it.

 

[Becca]

Awwh they are gorgeous!! More pictures please

 

[Nelson_is_mine]

Well this week has been quite an adventure so far!

On Saturday I noticed that Nelson hadn't eaten all of his dinner from friday night when it was time to feed him again (although he did eat some).For him, it was pretty unusual. So I changed the pellets and decided to keep an eye on him. Sunday came around and he still hadn't eaten anything. I was getting very worried and fed him some treats so he would at least have something in his stomach. That night he wouldn't even accept a treat. Now I was really worried! I kept having my mom check to see if he had eaten anything while I was at school on Monday and when she told me that he hadn't, she offered to make an appointment at the vet.

The appointment was for five thirty, but I didn't get off work until six. Panicked, I did a mad text to all of the "after school" people who weren't already scheduled. None of them could trade days with me on such short notice (which I don't blame them for in the least...they can't drive). So I went to work and asked my boss if I could leave at five to take him and she said yes. My mom would have taken him alone if I couldn't go, but I was so glad I could.

When the doctor checked him out, she said that his teeth were fine and it was most likely an impaction of some sort. He just started his molt, so it could be a hairball, or he recently started pulling up carpet under my bed (which is now blocked off). Neither situation looked good. The vet was really happy that I had brought him in so early. She said that she has some people come in complaining that their bun hasn't eaten for nearly a week and by then it is too late. She gave us instrutions to force feed him (which he did not like) baby food and Oxbow's Critical Care. (We had to call over twenty places to track the latter down. She said that usually people just do baby food and yougurt while they overnight the Critical Care to them, but why do that if someone else had it, you know? It was their only bag.)

So we force fed him while leaving a bunch of hay, pellets, spring mix, carrots, and apples available. Yesterday my mom texted me at school to say that he had been eating some carrot and apple all on his own! I was so relieved. And when I got home, he casually ate a pile of spring mix. And he ate yet another before bed, along with a few pellets. When I woke up this morning his hay looked disturbed as well! I'm so relieved.

He's still not producing as much poops as he should be, but he is eating so I am sure that that will come in time.