The Bunhalla Bunnies 2011

[Dragonrain]

[align=center]

[/align][align=center]Happy 2011!![/align][align=center]Welcome to my 2011 blog! Here are links to my past blogs:[/align][align=center]The Bunhalla Buns 2009[/align][align=center]The Bunhalla Bunnies 2010[/align][align=center]Sorry about any broken links/missing photos in my old blogs - at the end of every year I sort through and reorganize/back up my pictures and clean through my photobucket account.

Here is a link to my personal blog, where I usually post copies of my pet articles that I write for Examiner.com, as well as occasional updates on my life and/or my pets. It's a work in progress right now, the layout will eventually be overhauled, but this is where I'll probably be doing most of my blogging now:
Paw Print[/align][align=center]Most people reading this probably already know all about me and my pets, but I'll reintroduce everyone for any newbies! My name is Michelle, Chell or Chelle for short. I have a bachelors of science degree in biology and concentrated in wildlife and environmental management. Since Oct. 2010 I've been working as a freelance writer, mostly writing articles about animals and pet care, and am also working on writing what will hopefully eventually be my first published book. I live with my fiance Chris! We've been engaged for a bit over a year now, dating for almost 10 years! I met him when I was only 15. He's a great guy. He works as a video game designer/art directer/artist.

Chris and I live in northern NJ, right outside of NYC, with our small zoo! We currently have 9 very spoiled pets, who I will introduce here. We unfortunately had two casualties in 2010, Rolo our Japanese trapdoor snail passed in the beginning of the year, and our 3 year old comet goldfish Ike passed away on Nov.26th, 2010.

I'll start by reintroducing my rabbits, since this is a rabbit forum afterall! These are the inhabitants of Bunhalla, aka our bunny room! Yes, my bunnies have their own room. They have a 3 story cage, but the doors are always open and they have free range of their room, as well as our apartment when I'm home to keep an eye on them.[/align][align=center]

[/align][align=center]

Birthday: Nov.26th, 2006
Adoption day: Aug. 13th, 2007[/align][align=center]Barnaby is a 4 year old neutered male tort lionhead. We adopted him in 2007 when he was only 8 months old. He was very shy and timid, and wasn't in very good shape when we adopted him, but now he is happy and healthy, and will even run up to me to beg for treats. He's a complete different rabbit then the shy guy he was when we got him - it took me over a year just to convince him to trust me enough to take treats out of my hand. Barnaby is only about 2.5 lbs, but his long fur makes him look a lot bigger! Barnaby is an old soul. He is calm and very smart - a perfect little gentleman. He has learned to trust me and my fiance, but still prefers the company of rabbits and other animals over that of humans. He gets along really well with our dog! One of Barnaby's favorite things to do is to lounge on our couch and watch TV. He is a really picky eater, but seems to be getting better with that. We got through 2010 without him having a single bout of stasis! He likes playing with toys, especially stuffed animals (his favorite toy is a stuffed animal lobster), unpeeled willow toys, and box forts!

[/align][align=center]Birthday: March 1st, 2007
Adoption Day: Jan. 18th, 2009
[/align][align=center]Berry is a 3 year old spayed female broken black holland lop. I adopted her and her brother Ziggy on Jan.18th, 2009, from a women who posted about them in the rescue section of this forum! Berry is the only female rabbit I've ever owned. I was always afraid to get a female, because I had heard stories of them being moody and not as friendly as males. Boy has Berry proved that stereotype wrong! Berry is such a sweetheart. I'd say her most distinguishing feature is her ears. She has ear control, so she can hold her ears up, to the side, or have them floppy. In Jan. 2010 Berry had a stroke. We thought for sure that we where going to loss her, but she proved to be a fighter. Looking at her today, almost a year later, you wouldn't think anything was ever wrong with her. She is slightly unsteady on her left front leg, and is now blind in her left eye, but she doesn't let any of that bother her one bit. She is a sweet, happy, binky bunny who loves snuggling with me, our dog, or either of her bunny brothers. She is very girly and enjoys being brushed and groomed. Berry is our miracle bunny and we are so happy to have her here with us.

Birthday: April 1st, 2007
Adoption Day: Jan. 18th, 2009

Ziggy is a neutered male 3 year old broken blue holland lop. We adopted him with Berry, they came as a bonded pair. He loves his sister Berry but can be a bit cranky towards Barnaby at times. Ziggy is my trouble maker. He commonly finds ways to escape from our bunny room so that he can run around the apartment. He loves chasing our dog (the dog isn't afraid of him, it's a game to them both)! He's my most photogenic bunny, often making funny faces and posing for the camera! Ziggy has some litter box issues that we've been attempting to work on. He's really a rather (or I guess I should say VERY) messy rabbit. It seems like everywhere he goes, he leaves a hurricane of mess and destruction behind him! But he's friendly (although he despises being picked up), adventurous, and fun. He loves toys! Especially things he can pick up and throw around. Ziggy even plays fetch, and catch with small toys, and always seems to be inventing fun little games of his own.
[/align][align=center]
[/align][align=center]I'm going to split this up and introduce my other pets in another post, this one is getting long![/align]

 

[Dragonrain]

[align=center]Here is a bit about all our other pets!!

[/align][align=center]

Hatch date: March 23rd, 2007

Pez and Starburst are both 3 year old female african clawed frogs. They are sisters. Not the prettiest of creatures I know, but I am pretty fond of them. I use to work in a research lab taking care of all the aquatic animals. Pez and Starburt's froggy parents lived in the lab. When the female laid eggs, I was told to get ride of them. Instead of doing that, I put the eggs in an old water bottle and carried them home in my purse! I thought it would be fun to try to raise them. 7 of my eggs hatched into tadpoles on March 23rd, 2007. A few of the tadpoles survived to become frogs, and 3 years later Pez and Starburst are the only 2 survivors. I think the froglets inherited a genetic defect from their parents, which is why so many of them passed young. Pez actually has damaged kidneys and requires special attention on her diet, but other than that she's happy and just as active as her sister. Pez and Starburst lived with my brother for a year while I finished up college, but then moved back in with me when my brother started college. They are here to stay now![/align][align=center]

Hatch date: July 17th, 2008

Haku is a male snow blizzard het. diablo blanco leopard gecko. I got him from a breeder in 2008. He loooves food! I have to be careful how much I feed him, because he will just eat and eat and eat if I let him! Haku is pretty friendly and tolerates being held without any problems. He's an awesome little lizard.

Hatch date: September 20th, 2008

Aurora is a female tremper albino het diablo blanco leopard gecko. I got her in the summer of 2009 from a breeder. I got her originally to breed with Haku. She laid a few infertile eggs during the 2010 breeding season. I'll probably try again with her this season, but retire her from breeding if she doesn't produce any fertile eggs this time around. No matter what, she'll always have a place here with us. Aurora isn't very friendly and doesn't enjoy being handled, so I leave her alone as much as possible. She's a beautiful gecko though. She has a perfect circle design on the end of her nose. Everyone who sees her in person comments about how pretty she is, even people who aren't really fans of reptiles.[/align][align=center]

Adoption date: July 10th, 2008

Courage is a betta fish! I've kept at least one betta fish, usually more, for probably over 10 years now. My dad got Courage for me from Wal*Mart (ack!). My dad was watching one of my betta fish for me for the summer while I visited Chris, this was when I was still in college before Chris and I moved in together. Well my fish died during the summer, which also happened to be the summer my heart rabbit Zeus passed away. My dad didn't have the heart to tell me that my fish had died, especially when I was so upset about Zeus. So instead of telling me, he just bought me a new fish. The funny thing is, Courage looked nothing like the fish that had died! I named the new fish Courage, because he had to have a lot of Courage to survive living at Wal*Mart! He looked awful when I first got him, but now he's 2 years old and a beautiful healthy fish. He has a lot of personality for a little fish - he can even recolonize me from other people and he always gets all excited and begs for food when he sees me near his tank.

Birthday: Dec. 26th, 2008
Gotcha day: March 3rd, 2009

Kitsune is our 2 year old papillon, currently our youngest pet. We got him from a breeder, and brought him home on March 3rd, 2009, when he was 9 weeks old. He was my late graduation present, early birthday present that year. I had been wanting a puppy for a long time, but did the responsible thing and waited until I was finished with college and in a more stable living situation to get one. We got him from a breeder who breeds and shows papillons. We got Kit on a pet contract because he's a "reject", as his breeder put it. He has one floppy ear, and is about 5 lbs bigger than what's normal for his breed. He would never had made a good show dog, but he's an amazing dog and is perfect for our family! Chris and I love him so much. He's really really hyper and playful, but has a sweet snugly side too. He can be a bit much at times, but I wouldn't want him any other way. He's so much fun, and is amazing with all of our other pets.

So that's my family! Sorry for the long opening posts...I could talk about my pets forever! I've always had a passion for animals as long as I can remember, and love sharing my life with my pets. I can't imagine life without them!
[/align]

 

[Dragonrain]

I don't know why my new years always have to start with bunny health problems. It seems like a unfortunate trend, since January 2010 we started off the year with Berry having her stroke, and this year Ziggy is having some issues.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=62869&forum_id=16

Zigs is doing okay but his mouth is still all lop sided. His vet appointment is tomorrow morning. We'll get Xrays taken to check his teeth and all that. Hopefully we find out what's going on with him...I don't like not knowing. But, thankfully, he's still eating and acting like his normal self.

I took some picture yesterday to compare to when I first noticed his weird, lop sided grin (it's stuck that way!) and I think he looks a bit better, but it's hard to tell. It's hard to get good pictures of his face too, because every time I go near him he gets his face right up in the camera to beg for treats lol.

Here's him yesterday...

Compared to what it looked like last thursday...

I really do think I can see a difference. I'll have to see what the 2nd vet says about things tomorrow.

Chris went back to work today, after having over a week off for Christmas and New Years. It's quiet in the house today without him. I'm having a hard time getting back into my writing, since I also took time off for the holidays. Kind of sad that Christmas and New Years are both over. Ah well...hopefully we have a lot to look forward too this year!

 

[JadeIcing]

Ah poor Zig. Give him a kiss for me.

If you breed the leos I may be intrested.

 

[kirbyultra]

Oh my! Zigs looks a bit worse than before. I hope you find out definitively what the matter is. I hope it is not an abscess. Good vibes your way... :hearts

 

[Dragonrain]

Ah poor Zig. Give him a kiss for me. If you breed the leos I may be intrested.

Aw thanks I will!

I'll keep you updated about the leos. I haven't decided for sure what my plan is for this season, if anything. Last year Aurora's eggs where infertile. I think I'll try breeding her one more time and if it doesn't work out I won't ever try again with her. Whether I try again with her this year or not is something I haven't decided yet. I have my eye on another little female that I'm thinking of buying if no one else does when the weather warms up some - but she's young and wouldn't be ready to breed for at least another year.

Hey I'm rereading The Vampire Chronicles and it made me think of you because of your dogs name! I'm almost done with "The Vampire Lestat". Ohhh Lestat :hearts Lol. It's been awhile since I last read these books so I'm really enjoying myself...Chris got me the whole set for Christmas!

Oh my! Zigs looks a bit worse than before. I hope you find out definitively what the matter is. I hope it is not an abscess. Good vibes your way.

Thank you!!

He looks worse? I think he looks a bit better lol. Maybe my pictures aren't that good so it makes it harder to tell. Last week I think his lip was more pulled up looking than it is in the more recent pictures.

Anyways we are back from the vet. Ziggy was a little terror just like I expected he'd be! But the vet checked him out and took Xrays and the whole 9 yards. Okay so...his teeth look fine! No dental abscesses, no overgrown teeth...which is what I was kind of expecting by the way he's been eating lately...I think he's half piggy.

But he does have a middle ear infection...poor baby. Apparently there is a nerve that runs through the middle ear. The infection and inflammation is putting pressure and possibly caused damage to that nerve, which is what's going on with his crooked looking lips. I found this info on the House Rabbit Website, I think it describes pretty well what he has going on...

"Middle Ear - This area includes the tympanic membrane (ear drum), Eustachian tube, three auditory ossicles (tiny bones), and the tympanic nerve (a branch of the facial nerve CN VII). All of this area is protected by the tympanic bulla (a bony shell attached to the skull). Infectious organisms can enter this area one of three ways: (1) through the external ear, (2) from the pharynx up through the Eustachian tube, and (3) through the blood. Disease of the middle ear can cause head shaking, drooping ear and pain as well as deafness but does NOT cause a persistent head tilt. As with external ear disease there may be a temporary head tilt due to discomfort but no loss of balance.

If the branch of the facial nerve that passes through the middle ear is damaged it can cause a drooping lip and ear, drooling and a decreased or no eye blink reflex. If the cranial nerves CN III, IV or VI are damaged, Horner's Syndrome results. Horner's Syndrome is characterized by a drooping eyelid, sunken eye and relaxed third eyelid (where it stays "up" over the corner of the eye and can't retract) and a pupil that is more constricted than in the other eye. In some cases the eye becomes very dry because of loss of the ability to blink and replenish the eye with tears or because of damage to the nerves affecting the tear duct. Occasionally, the drooping eye and ear from facial nerve damage might mimic a mild head tilt. However there is NO loss of balance."

Source: http://www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

The vet thinks that the metacam the first vet gave us helped reduce some of the inflammation around the nerve, which is probably why I saw a mild improvement the past couple of days. However, depending on how badly the nerve is damaged, his face may not go back to normal even after the infection is cured.

So Zigs in on antibiodics now and metacam still. The vet tried to take a culture of his ear but said it probably won't reveal much since his outer ear is not infected, and the infection in his middle ear wasn't accessible. So we might need to play around with antibiodics a bit to find out what will work against his infection.

Ziggy in himself is doing fine. He's still acting normal. I would never have known something was wrong with him if he didn't get the weird lop sided face. I'm glad he's in good spirits and that we know what's going on now.

 

[kirbyultra]

Wow, that is something I never would have guessed. Great job done by you and your vet finding this out. I hope he doesn't have to be on antibiotics too long. Make sure he eats and poops normally as his course of antibiotics goes on and/or progresses to other kinds of meds. I heard certain types can cause unintended issues killing off too many good bacteria in the gut. It sounds like Ziggy is going about his business so hopefully he won't miss a beat.

 

[Dragonrain]

Yeah so far so good...I think I've said this before but Ziggy and Berry are huge foodies, I think they'd have to pretty much be on deaths door to stop eating. I mean seriously, Berry still wanted to eat eat eat even right after her stroke, and Ziggy has been eating normally despite having an ear infection.

But I will of course be keeping a sharp eye on him. I have some experience as Zeus was on antibiotics for awhile before he passed...so it's not something terribly new to me dealing with the tummy issues they can cause. I have probiodics for Ziggy and a good relationship with his vet so I'm sure we can work things out if the antibiotics start to bother him. He's in good hands

 

[JadeIcing]

Dragonrain wrote:

Ah poor Zig. Give him a kiss for me. If you breed the leos I may be intrested.

Aw thanks I will!

I'll keep you updated about the leos. I haven't decided for sure what my plan is for this season, if anything. Last year Aurora's eggs where infertile. I think I'll try breeding her one more time and if it doesn't work out I won't ever try again with her. Whether I try again with her this year or not is something I haven't decided yet. I have my eye on another little female that I'm thinking of buying if no one else does when the weather warms up some - but she's young and wouldn't be ready to breed for at least another year.

What is the female you have your eyes on?

Hey I'm rereading The Vampire Chronicles and it made me think of you because of your dogs name! I'm almost done with "The Vampire Lestat". Ohhh Lestat :hearts Lol. It's been awhile since I last read these books so I'm really enjoying myself...Chris got me the whole set for Christmas!

Teresa's middle name is Mekare. Kashi is Akasha Maharet.

Glad you have Ziggy on meds.

 

[Dragonrain]

The female gecko I have my eyes on is a diablo blanco But I'll have to see what happens. I'd have to have her shipped to me, and there's no way I'd do that until it warms up. But I'm not sure if anyone else would buy her before I do.

Finished "The Vampire Lestat" last night and now I'm on to "Queen of the Damned".
:biggrin2:
I like a lot of the names in the books. I've wanted to use a few of them for awhile now, since I first read the books in high school, but I've never really had a pet that the names fit yet.

If anyone looked at my post about Ziggy in the infirmary... I got kind of freaked out yesterday morning because Kit was acting weird about his ears. He was scratching at them a lot and shaking his head, which in a dog can be a sign of an ear infection. So I got all paranoid that somehow Kit had an ear infection too!

Took him to the vet (his vet is right around the block from where we live and has walk in clinic hours, so it's easier for me to get him seen quickly than it is with the rabbis) yesterday. His ears are fine, no infection or ear mites or anything like that. His vet said it's probably just his allergies acting up. He of course stopped scratching his ears after yesterday morning, so I feel like the vet trip was for nothing now.

Kit has been driving me a little crazy lately. I think he's upset that Chris had to go back to work. For nearly 2 weeks Kit got used to having both me and Chris home with him all day. But now Chris is back to working and Kit has been all upset about it. On top of that, he randomly decided that he doesn't like his new food anymore and stopped eating it. Now the only way I can get him to eat it is if I mix in something tasty with his kibble. I have to think about what kind of food I should try with him next now, or if I should just go back to his old food again.

 

[kirbyultra]

Oh your animals have you on super high alert, don't they. Sheesh I am still thinking of you and Ziggy, hoping for a speedy recovery. :hearts

I started The Vampire Lestat a long time ago and I forgot why I never finished it... :/ Did you like it?

 

[Dragonrain]

Thanks Ziggy is doing good so far. He has another vet appointment soon (I forget when exactly) so they can take a look at his ear. It's hard for me to tell if the antibiotics are doing anything for him because he barely showed any symptoms in the first place. And since the vet said his face might never go back to normal now, we can't use that to judge how his ear is doing. But he's still acting normal. Him and his partners in crime woke me up like 12 times last night, lol.

Yeah they do have me on high alert! When I saw Kit scratching at his ears it just made me really paranoid after everything with Ziggy. But poor Kit has allergies, I should have realized it was his allergies acting up because his eyes have been really itchy and stuff lately too. I have a feeling he might be allergic to something in the new food I was trying with him. At least Kit's vet doesn't charge me an office visit fee anymore! They know they'll make enough money off of me even without it lol.

I like The Vampire Lestat and all the other books in The Vampire Chronicles. Lol I like how RO, or a mod or something, changed the book title to "Queen of the DARNED". That made me laugh for some reason.

I'm on the third book in the series now and even though I do like all the books (I've read them before) I kind of feel like I want to take a break from them for awhile. Maybe read something else to break things up a bit then go back to the vampire books. I'm not usually a huge vampire fan or anything, I just like Anne Rice's books for some reason.

Snowy day today! I was hoping Chris would get to work form home today but he had to go into the office. The snow isn't suppose to be to bad today...not like the last storm.

 

[JadeIcing]

Have you read her new series? I like it.

 

[Dragonrain]

No I haven't! I'll have to check it out sometime. I have a ton of books I got for Christmas to get through first though.

I got the bunnies another one of those water bottle/bowl things. I forget what they are called...they are a bowl attached to a bottle so when the bunnies drink from the bowl it refills automatically with water from the bottle. I think it's the best solution I've found so far for the bunnies water. They like bowls better than bottles, but three bunnies can drink a bowl of water pretty quickly. I was constantly having to refill their bowls, and I was always worried when I went out and stuff that they might run out or spill the water and have to go awhile without any. This way I don't have to change the water as often but I also don't have to worry as much about them running out of water.

Berry has just been making my heart melt lately. I love her so much! Yesterday I went out for the afternoon and didn't end up getting home until after 10. First thing I did was to go check on the bunnies...and Berry was right at the door of their room waiting for me (she must have heard me come in). As soon as I got into the bunny room, she started tossing her head around (head binkies lol), then she started running around me doing full blown binkies. Aw it made me feel so good that she was so happy to see me that she did binkies!

:inlove:

Then last night she was going crazy! Running around, shredding paper in their dig box, doing more binkies. She kept me up a lot last night but that's okay.

Barnaby is doing well. His colors are changing! He changes colors a bit sometimes when he sheds...his fur is getting darker now which I like because you can really tell he's a tort when his fur is darker, more of the black comes out in his fur and he looks more colorful. I'll get pictures soon.

Ziggy is doing well although he's not very happy with me lately. All the vet trips and having to give him meds, he hasn't been running up to me like he use to anymore. It makes me sad but I know everything I'm doing is with his best interest in mind. Did I mention before that one of his antibiotics is an injection? Yeah....he's not happy with me to say the least. Oh he doesn't care about the injection itself, doesn't even seem to realize when I give it to him. But I have to catch him and hold him to give it to him....he HATES despises loathes being held.

Ah well. I guess he'll just have to hate me for awhile, until his ear gets better. After that I can try to earn his trust again. Poor Zigs. At least his sister seems to be making up for his lack of attention by giving me extra love and attention lately.

 

[Dragonrain]

Picture time!

Ziggy doing his favorite thing, eating!!

A few of Barnaby, I think his changing color is pretty noticeable in these pics...

My only bunny who loves me lately, the beautiful Berry!

Berry flopped out sleeping and Barnaby grooming her...

That's it for now. I took all those this morning

 

[JadeIcing]

Sweet looking bunnies.

I am in talks about maybe getting leo soon.

 

[Nela]

I love the pictures, especially the first in your intro. Ziggy is just adorable as always. :biggrin2:

 

[Dragonrain]

Thanks Nela! I tried to pick cute pictures for my intro post.

Ali that's awesome! If you get one make sure to post about him/her. I'd really like to get another sometime too, but I don't know of any good breeders in my area and it's been so cold here lately I wouldn't feel safe having one shipping from a breeder until it warms up. I'm thinking in mid-spring/beginning of the summer is when I'll get another.

I had to get my geckos new UTH's and thermostats. Haku's UTH has been acting up and last night I had a dream that it started a fire...so I got up and ordered new ones this morning. :rollseyes

Ziggy is doing really well. He seems to be doing a bit better. I'm not sure...but he's been more active the past day or two. He's still eating well and all that.

 

[JadeIcing]

Dragonrain wrote:

Ali that's awesome! If you get one make sure to post about him/her. I'd really like to get another sometime too, but I don't know of any good breeders in my area and it's been so cold here lately I wouldn't feel safe having one shipping from a breeder until it warms up. I'm thinking in mid-spring/beginning of the summer is when I'll get another.

Of course I will! The breeder is towards Boston, we may meet up somewhere (she has a trip to NY planned).

Look for galnec7

Just to let you know I have no problem helping get one to you. Picking up at an expo and transporting or what not. :wink

 

[Dragonrain]

Thanks so much!

I'll have to look at her site/geckos more and decide if I'm interested. Right now both Haku and Aurora are het diablo blanco, which is the morph I'm most interested in breeding right now I'd love to expand and take on more morphs in the future though. I'll have to discus with Chris how many more geckos he's open to having. I have to take into account my own geckos, plus the space we'll need to care for any future babies until they are ready to go to new homes.