I don't normally blog about pets, but I took this picture a couple days ago and just had to share it with you.
Roger has got to be the most comfortable bunny in history. He loves this ferret bed my wife got for him. Quite often we see him resting his chin on the little fluffy edge of the bed. A couple days ago he was cleaning his hind leg, so it was stretched way out in front of him. In a show of amazing laziness for a wild bunny, when he completed cleaning his leg he simply rested his chin on top of his leg and stayed in that position for about 20 minutes (until I grabbed my camera to get a picture of it).
Roger has even begun to give my wife kisses when she greets him in the morning. Kim goes over the cage and leans toward the edge of the upper floor and makes "kissy" noises. Roger runs to the upper floor and puts his nose very close to her face and bobs his head up and down each time she makes the kissy noise. It's very cute.
If you are keeping the rabbit for its entire life, and not letting it go, you might want to try the House Rabbit Society at www.rabbit.org
ReplyDeleteWe have a bunny and she has the most personality you can imagine. We found lots of information online and have learned a ton about them. We had ours fixed so that she would live longer (about 7-12 years is the range). They need to have a solid foundation to walk on so their feet aren't hurt. They don't show sickness until they are about dead because they don't want to show their weakness to predators and they need lots of timothy hay in their diet (from the pet store). Just a few thoughts about things we have learned.
Sincerely,
Nancy
Hi Nancy - we are planning to keep Roger as long as he survives us. Since we took him in when he was just a baby rabbit, we don't think he'd survive well in the wild now. He's used to being fed, protected, and looked after.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice. We had found some of that on the internet. We use cardboard to keep his feet from getting hurt on the upper level of his cage. The lower level is solid already. And we feed him lots of Timothy hay and clover. We also get him snacks from the pet store. His current favorite is yogurt bits. And he loves to eat little seed chunks (that look like granola) out of my wife's hand.
He is just the most adorable pet we've ever had. But he won't let us hold him anymore. We had to hold him to feed him at first and he was fine with that. But after about two weeks he stopped letting us do that. He gets very skittish if we act like we're going to try to pick him up. We have a harness for him, but I don't know that we'll ever be able to use it.
Oh, I'm thrilled that you are keeping him! We named our bunny "Little Bit Springy" and just love her. She has so much personality. Keep up with the contact like you are doing. I read somewhere that they are skittish when they think a predator is after them when they are picked up. We have to be careful to support our bunny carefully because she has this same response. I haven't even dared try a harness. We have a very shy cat that was abandoned then picked on by other cats before she came to us at about 6-7 months of age. It has taken about a year of patience, but she is starting to come around and be comfortable around us. Your bunny is learning that he has great "parents" and it may take a while for him to show it. He's blessed to have you!
ReplyDeleteSmiles,
Nancy