Rebirth of the Phoenix from Ashes

[Ilovemyrabbit]

I'm just getting to know this new software... it is definitely different! do you like it?

 

[holtzchick]

Ah personally I don't like it.. I think it's just because it's hard on the eyes for me. The other one was so clean and easy to spot what you needed to. I guess I have to get used to it though... I do also have some plant updates after since all of them grew a whole lot I think I will be replanting them into bigger pots this weekend!

 

[holtzchick]

I feel absolutely horrible today! I forgot that I ran out of veggies yesterday and now I have to wait till tomorrow morning to get veggies for Phoenix. In the meantime I just gave her a little more pellets than I normally would, she should be okay for today.

As for Hippogryff's playpen, Phoenix will now jump on the Christmas tree stand and just hop right in so I guess I have to move that tonight. It was actually kind of funny because I was getting ready to leave upstairs and I heard a noise and when I came down Phoenix was locked up in his pen.... Yeah I really hope that doesn't happen again since he's coming home tomorrow night! I'm so excited

He will be here just in time for their veggie garden to be ready (I think)... Here are some pictures! I can't believe how unbelievably quickly they grew. Oh, and in terms of the bamboo plant, it turns out the leaves will wilt and turn yellow from too many nutrients! No more nutrients for lucky bamboo !! Anyways, here are some pictures!

Basil and Parsley

Dill and Marjoram

Chives and Cilantro

 

[whitelop]

WOW! Your plants look great!

I'm SO excited for you to get Hippogryff! That is awesome! Post lots of pictures, I want to live vicariously through you getting another bunny!

 

[agnesthelion]

Omg your garden did grow SO fast! I'm so excited for you to get hippogryff. You know we will all be anxiously awaiting announcement and pics of his arrival!

 

[agnesthelion]

Sooooooo.....is he home??

 

[holtzchick]

SOOOOO....

I am so excited! Boyfriend and I CANNOT sleep for the life of us! When we went to see him we didn't think he was going to be that big! He's about 6 and some ought lbs.
He is very calm, yet friendly but he seems shy in the sense that he will not come to you so some training will be in order (with lots of love and treats of course!). He was only at his foster home for 2 months and so, since the day he was there, his foster home had been given a big box that he likes to chew on from his original home. He feels safe in the box so I also took the box home with me. For the first hour, he didn't do anything but sit/lay in his box, I thought maybe he had a tummy upset since I had offered veggies/pellets/hay and he didn't take. I then tried to give him a banana slice and he nearly took my finger off from excitement!! That brought him out of his shell and had him exploring in no time! He's a Californian REW on the small side and he's as sweet as can be!

All nommed out... (yes, he does an awesome DBF :biggrin2

Surprisingly, the buns reacted very well to eachother, of course only through the cages so far! Hippogryff was very calm and laid back and Phoenix was very excited and she just wanted to check this new guy out! I couldn't help but let Phoenix out since I was busy the entire day and felt bad because she was chewing the bars of the pen. I let her out for a little out time and all she wanted to do was run around, though she did stop a few times to check Hippogryff out. I was there to make sure no biting happened through the bars and at one point, he just flopped next to her!! I think she's just too excited for now, she will settle down eventually.

My little princess nomming on salad since I was a bad mommy yesterday and didn't give her any!!

I also caught her doing something funny this morning and had to take a picture!

I think they will do well together! I can`t wait to get to know him more!
More updates will follow. He will get his out of cage time tomorrow morning and she will follow in the evening when I get home from work. In the mean time, I put an extra gate in between their two playpens to prevent any moving of the pens or biting through the bars

Thanks for reading all, sorry it`s long!!

 

[JBun]

I'm so excited for you and Phoenix! I can't wait to see how they get along. He's such a cutie That's pretty good to get a dbf on the first day. He must be feeling pretty comfortable. You must have won him over with the nana. That's funny how exited he all the sudden got about having a treat.

Lol, Phoenix is too funny. I can't believe she climbed into her hay bin. I hope my own rabbits don't get any funny ideas about doing something like that

 

[whitelop]

AHHHH! I'm SO excited he's home! Like spilled my coffee on me excited!
He is GORGEOUS! Or should I say handsome because he's a boy?! haha.

Aww, he does a really good DBF! I love his color points and his little tail because its darker. I really hope they do well together and I'm sure they will. If he is already that comfortable to flop out you must have a 'made-for-bunny-house' lol.

I can not wait to see updates on them! And more pictures! hahah. You know I love me some Phoenix ears and now some Hippogryff points! lol. (I've already had too much coffee and its only 9am. Sorry, I got a little excited.)

Your name is Michelle isn't it? Do you mind if I call you by your first name?

 

[agnesthelion]

Omg yay!!!!! He's home! I checked your blog first thing to see if he was.
What a great DBF!! He's a pro seems to be pretty comfortable already. And what a big guy!! It sounds as though Phoenix is reacting pretty good. Can't wait to hear more! Don't apologize for the length....I love reading about bunny love stories
Congrats!

 

[holtzchick]

Haha thanks all... And yes my name is Michelle please feel free to call me by it as its better than holtzchick

Ahhh well Phoenix is being VERY territorial and anytime he goes near her cage she stops what she is doing and runs back and forth and will grunt. He is more calm although when he approaches her through bars, he will also lung forward. I made a cover to go on her cage and now I need to make one for his because they definitely cannot be out even one at a time. It stresses me out only because I don't like seeing either of the reactions. I know patience and very slow steps are the way to do it though!

By the way I really do appreciate that you were so excited that Hippogryff is here I love blogging here on RO everyone is super awesome and friendly!

 

[agnesthelion]

Haha thanks all... And yes my name is Michelle please feel free to call me by it as its better than holtzchick

Ahhh well Phoenix is being VERY territorial and anytime he goes near her cage she stops what she is doing and runs back and forth and will grunt. He is more calm although when he approaches her through bars, he will also lung forward. I made a cover to go on her cage and now I need to make one for his because they definitely cannot be out even one at a time. It stresses me out only because I don't like seeing either of the reactions. I know patience and very slow steps are the way to do it though!

Hmm, I never had any lunging or grunting from my two. Did they date at all before you brought them home?

I would keep an eye on that behavior. If it seems to get worse you might want to keep them in different rooms. Reason being is they could develop a distaste for one another before they officially meet. If it continues to get worse, then once they do meet it's like they say "hey your that bunny i don't like!" and a fight could happen. I'm not saying it will for sure, I just want everything to go as good as possible for your two
Hopefully it stops though and they start getting used to each other. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and watching for any updates! :clapping:

 

[holtzchick]

Updates!!

I have since decided to put cardboard up on the buns' playpens especially Phoenix's playpen since yesterday she almost hopped out by gripping onto the bedsheet I initially tried.

My neat freak self is going nuts because its not a very pretty sight!

I must say though, it definitely worked! Neither of them seem to be too bad. Phoenix is not going crazy inside of her cage anymore when I let Hippogryff out!! I've never noticed how much energy she has though! Hippogryff is both bigger than her in size and weighs more but he eats less than she does! She just burns everything up her energy is crazy high. He's fine with 1/4 pellets a day and will still have some left over, Phoenix will eat 1/4 pellets a day, 2 cups of greens and still have room for all of her hay! (Seems she's taken to eating hay since Hippogryff's arrival.

I do keep a gate in between the two pens when one is out of their cage but when they are both caged, I remove it so they can see each other and they don't really react at all and they sit near each other. I also noticed that when Phoenix nipped at him through the bars before the cardboard was up, her ears were not back she was not in attack mode but when he nipped back it was because he didn't like her reaction to him.

I will be leaving them in this set up for atleast 3 weeks, just to test it out. I have the next 2 days off so I will be giving lots of out of cage time for both and lots of petting to help mix their scents!! (treats don't hurt either!)

Hippogryff is very protective of his box as it is his safe space. I went to reach in there earlier to pet him on the head as I spoke softly to him and he kind of jumped forward and grunted at me! After he did come out though and receive some pets

Here he is nomming some hay!

I also caught Phoenix mid run and thought it was cute, came out a little dark though!

This experience makes me realize how bonded she is to me. When my boyfriend walks by her play pen, she normally just goes about what she is doing, when I walk by, she follows me step for step. She loves the crap out of me. I'm hoping in time she can give her love to Hippogryff! :bunny24

On a personal note, this week I feel like I've been working non-stop and haven't had time to sit down. I do feel better though since i've started running every other day and eating regularly. I started taking a pre-workout energizer and a post work out energy stabilizer called Vega Sport and it's been amazing! I feel like a million dollars. It's basically all natural "vegan" grade shakes with no dairy, soy or anything artificial and I can run like crazy with them. Anyways, had to get that out there since not many people are a fan of the line since they say that these aren't strong enough, they don't work, blah blah blah. I am a HUGE fan of these and now my boyfriend is too ...

Goodnight, and thank you for those that have been following and sending helpful advice/replies.:wiggle

 

[whitelop]

I'm glad that they've kind of calmed down, or at least Phoenix has calmed down a bit!
The cardboard isn't pretty, but hey, whatever works! lol.

It sounds to me like Hippogryff has a little bit of hutch aggression. That is a difficult thing to deal with, Foo has major hutch aggression and has bitten me twice. Once through the middle of my thumb nail and the second time not to long ago and she did serious damage to my index finger. There are ways to deal with it, but I don't know how soon to start that since he just got to his new home and he's probably still just a little nervous. Maybe that was a one time thing and he won't do it again.
But if he does, press his head and shoulders down to the floor for a few seconds and he'll understand he is being disciplined. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though!
They're both so pretty! :rabbithop

 

[JBun]

You could try treats too, to try and train his initial response to something positive instead. Try luring him out of the box with a treat and then pet him.

I used to think the pressing the head down discipline would work to teach my cage aggressive bun that she's not allowed to do that with me, but it seems to be freaking her out even more, so I'm having to rethink my methods.

 

[tmaddox9]

Great setup! Harry Potter fan too so love the names and Phoenix is gorgeous! Good luck with those herbs. Mint grows very easily too and buns love it. Just no chives for the bunnies, it's not a bunny safe food being kin to garlic and onions. I grow basil in the summer and parsley but I have five buns and two are Flemish Giants so its hard to grow enough for everyone. In fact I go t rough an amazing amount of greens and hay in a week!

 

[whitelop]

You could try treats too, to try and train his initial response to something positive instead. Try luring him out of the box with a treat and then pet him.

I used to think the pressing the head down discipline would work to teach my cage aggressive bun that she's not allowed to do that with me, but it seems to be freaking her out even more, so I'm having to rethink my methods.

Thats kind of good to know that it isn't working. I think I've tried it like one time with Foo and she is still aggressive, but I wasn't very consistent. It always freaks me out when she lunges at my hand and I just walk away from her and don't do anything about it. haha. Thanks for sharing that Jenny!
I think a lot of people suggest that method for hutch aggression, even for me, so thats why I suggested it.

So Michelle, don't listen to me! lol. It may freak him out more instead of 'fix' the problem!

 

[tmaddox9]

If the cardboard bothers you try corrugated plastic. It comes in sheets from your local mega hardware store or hobby shop and can be cut with a box cutter. Bunnies don't usually like to chew on it like cardboard. Poke a hole through it with a screw driver and use cable ties to secure it. And it's white so it looks nicer than cardboard and its water proof so it wipes clean with a damp rag. I am using it on my head tilt bunny's pen so he doesn't scatter stuff all over the room when he rolls. Hippogryff is adorable. I love ruby-eyed bunnies!

 

[holtzchick]

I'm glad that they've kind of calmed down, or at least Phoenix has calmed down a bit!
The cardboard isn't pretty, but hey, whatever works! lol.

It sounds to me like Hippogryff has a little bit of hutch aggression. That is a difficult thing to deal with, Foo has major hutch aggression and has bitten me twice. Once through the middle of my thumb nail and the second time not to long ago and she did serious damage to my index finger. There are ways to deal with it, but I don't know how soon to start that since he just got to his new home and he's probably still just a little nervous. Maybe that was a one time thing and he won't do it again.
But if he does, press his head and shoulders down to the floor for a few seconds and he'll understand he is being disciplined. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though!
They're both so pretty! :rabbithop

I dont think he has any sort of hutch aggression since when I clean his cage or pet him he is fine... Also no litter box aggression either

I think he just needs to adjust to us becoming his new home (bribery will help) and this little guy is a huge sucker for toys he just loves them which is great because I have a ton that are not even touched since phoenix doesn't bother with toys.

 

[holtzchick]

Great setup! Harry Potter fan too so love the names and Phoenix is gorgeous! Good luck with those herbs. Mint grows very easily too and buns love it. Just no chives for the bunnies, it's not a bunny safe food being kin to garlic and onions. I grow basil in the summer and parsley but I have five buns and two are Flemish Giants so its hard to grow enough for everyone. In fact I go t rough an amazing amount of greens and hay in a week!

Hahha thanks yeah we've been going through potter fever lately or so it seems. As for coroplast, I did think of that but it is really just for a few weeks so I can deal with the cardboard because the nearest home depot is a little far from me and since I live right in downtown Mississauga I don't have a vehicle.

Thanks anyways for the pictures. I hadn't realized how many people read this blog and this morning I was overwhelmed with posts :wiggle