Sorry this is so wordy - it is an update on the three bunnies I adopted from Chloaster to live my fat Stuart-rabbit. If I had a digital camera there'd be piccies, but as I don't this is only for hard-core rabbitophiles, or people who are EXTREMELY bored at work (as I happen to be, by coincidence).
The four bunnies are all still living together as a group. Stuart is the top male and Bluebell the top female. Stuart gets his kicks by making Crackers cower and Bluebell gets hers by making Laikin cower. Laikin copes with this OK - she is a little cheeky beastie and runs away from Bluebell, but sometimes does binkies while she is doing it so I am not too worried by her. Crackers worries me a bit more - he doesn't see very well and so is quite nervous of rabbits coming up behind him now. He is SUCH a softie and does love his nose-rubs. Bluebell will sometimes cuddle up to him and lick his nose, but when indoors he spends most of his time under the sofa. He is my outdoor bunny - as soon as the cat flap is open he goes out and starts his exploration of the garden. I think he has quite a good life, but of all four of them he is probably the one for whom it has worked out least well. I am hoping that as Stuart gets older he will get more tolerant. In fact, he isn't even so bad now and I have even caught them eating out of the same food bowl on occasion, but several months ago they had a fight where Stuart ripped Cracker's ear, and Crackers learnt his lesson a bit too well.
Crackers is VERY good at stealing the hen food, and recently spent a few weeks in touch with his feminine side when Bluebell started a burrow and he and she worked on it together (until some meanie blocked it off). He likes to sunbathe in the garden until his fur gets really electric.
Laikin, as I said, is a cheekie beastie with Tourette's syndrome. She is still a tiny bunny, although I think she has grown a bit. In the dark you can mix her and Crackers up, as they both have very delicate profiles. Laikin loves Stuart and will cuddle up to him if she can and if Bluebell isn't too close. However, she is a REAL grumpy madam. She seems unable to help herself growling while eating if somebody else is eating from the same bowl/hand. Sometimes she lunges at another rabbit as though she is going to attack them, but she never does - it is all show. VERY RARELY she makes a mistake and lunges at Stuart, and then you can almost HEAR her as she backs off saying 'sorry - don't know what came over me.. muddled you up with somebody else... do, please, have that carrot'. I think that she has got over-defensive from being bottom of the rabbit-heap.
Surprisingly, considering that she is the bunny-from-the-compost-heap, she is the most indoors-y rabbit. I think that this might be to do with Bluebell's bullying too (it noticably increased about two months ago). If the back door is open then she will go into the garden, but Bluebell considers the garden more of her property than indoors, and will chase Laikin much more there. Now that it is winter the door is rarely open and they have to use the catflap, and Laikin is much more reluctant to do so. She does know how to use it, and if nudged towards the door will quite happily use it, but she very rarely goes there herself. Because all the other rabbits spend most of the day outside she spends a lot of time on her own.
She still has enormous back paws that make it look as though she is going to grow into them some day, but I think now that she can't have that much more growing to do. She will TOLERATE somebody stroking her body, but she doesn't really enjoy it, and as soon as she has worked out that there is no food in it for her she will hop off. Very occasionally I have given her a nosey-stroke that she has enjoyed, but this is always when she is cuddled up to another rabbit and she thinks that it is them. She definitely sees a hand over her head as something to be wary of.
Bluebell has turned into a stocky missus, bigger than her father. She and Stuart are the closest to an 'in love' pair. They generally sleep together in the middle of the living room floor, and she gives way to nobody. She is quite a clever rabbit, I think, and creative and inventive in finding things to eat. If you find that a bunny has got to something it shouldn't by jumping on one thing then standing up to use its paws to pull down something else, you can be sure it's Bluebell. She is also the main burrower. I fear that she probably gets the least attention from me because she doesn't need taking out of her shell as Crackers does, or teaching that humans are OK as Laikin does, and she doesn't climb onto my lap to groom me, as Stuart does. However, I think that she is happy in her rabbit world.
The three bunnies haven't been QUITE as effective as I had hoped in getting Stuart to loose weight, but he definitely enjoys their company (well - except for Crackers). They all spend most of their time downstairs, but occasionally I leave the door open so that they can explore upstairs, and Stuart, Bluebell and Crackers LOVE this. Laikin has always been the least adventurous - it took her WEEKS longer then the others to hop out of the back door into the big wide world, and she hasn't yet made it up the stairs. I really like it if I am upstairs and I hear the THUMP THUMP THUMP of a rabbit coming up. I don't know who it is so I have to wait while they stop tp pull a bit of wallpaper off or chew a bit of carpet, then I see a black, brown or grey nose nudge the door open and an excited rabbit come in. I love watching them explore and all four of them have brought me much happiness.
I hope you managed to read all the way down to here, Chloe, and found it interesting. Thanks you for helping me be part of this rabbit family.
The four bunnies are all still living together as a group. Stuart is the top male and Bluebell the top female. Stuart gets his kicks by making Crackers cower and Bluebell gets hers by making Laikin cower. Laikin copes with this OK - she is a little cheeky beastie and runs away from Bluebell, but sometimes does binkies while she is doing it so I am not too worried by her. Crackers worries me a bit more - he doesn't see very well and so is quite nervous of rabbits coming up behind him now. He is SUCH a softie and does love his nose-rubs. Bluebell will sometimes cuddle up to him and lick his nose, but when indoors he spends most of his time under the sofa. He is my outdoor bunny - as soon as the cat flap is open he goes out and starts his exploration of the garden. I think he has quite a good life, but of all four of them he is probably the one for whom it has worked out least well. I am hoping that as Stuart gets older he will get more tolerant. In fact, he isn't even so bad now and I have even caught them eating out of the same food bowl on occasion, but several months ago they had a fight where Stuart ripped Cracker's ear, and Crackers learnt his lesson a bit too well.
Crackers is VERY good at stealing the hen food, and recently spent a few weeks in touch with his feminine side when Bluebell started a burrow and he and she worked on it together (until some meanie blocked it off). He likes to sunbathe in the garden until his fur gets really electric.
Laikin, as I said, is a cheekie beastie with Tourette's syndrome. She is still a tiny bunny, although I think she has grown a bit. In the dark you can mix her and Crackers up, as they both have very delicate profiles. Laikin loves Stuart and will cuddle up to him if she can and if Bluebell isn't too close. However, she is a REAL grumpy madam. She seems unable to help herself growling while eating if somebody else is eating from the same bowl/hand. Sometimes she lunges at another rabbit as though she is going to attack them, but she never does - it is all show. VERY RARELY she makes a mistake and lunges at Stuart, and then you can almost HEAR her as she backs off saying 'sorry - don't know what came over me.. muddled you up with somebody else... do, please, have that carrot'. I think that she has got over-defensive from being bottom of the rabbit-heap.
Surprisingly, considering that she is the bunny-from-the-compost-heap, she is the most indoors-y rabbit. I think that this might be to do with Bluebell's bullying too (it noticably increased about two months ago). If the back door is open then she will go into the garden, but Bluebell considers the garden more of her property than indoors, and will chase Laikin much more there. Now that it is winter the door is rarely open and they have to use the catflap, and Laikin is much more reluctant to do so. She does know how to use it, and if nudged towards the door will quite happily use it, but she very rarely goes there herself. Because all the other rabbits spend most of the day outside she spends a lot of time on her own.
She still has enormous back paws that make it look as though she is going to grow into them some day, but I think now that she can't have that much more growing to do. She will TOLERATE somebody stroking her body, but she doesn't really enjoy it, and as soon as she has worked out that there is no food in it for her she will hop off. Very occasionally I have given her a nosey-stroke that she has enjoyed, but this is always when she is cuddled up to another rabbit and she thinks that it is them. She definitely sees a hand over her head as something to be wary of.
Bluebell has turned into a stocky missus, bigger than her father. She and Stuart are the closest to an 'in love' pair. They generally sleep together in the middle of the living room floor, and she gives way to nobody. She is quite a clever rabbit, I think, and creative and inventive in finding things to eat. If you find that a bunny has got to something it shouldn't by jumping on one thing then standing up to use its paws to pull down something else, you can be sure it's Bluebell. She is also the main burrower. I fear that she probably gets the least attention from me because she doesn't need taking out of her shell as Crackers does, or teaching that humans are OK as Laikin does, and she doesn't climb onto my lap to groom me, as Stuart does. However, I think that she is happy in her rabbit world.
The three bunnies haven't been QUITE as effective as I had hoped in getting Stuart to loose weight, but he definitely enjoys their company (well - except for Crackers). They all spend most of their time downstairs, but occasionally I leave the door open so that they can explore upstairs, and Stuart, Bluebell and Crackers LOVE this. Laikin has always been the least adventurous - it took her WEEKS longer then the others to hop out of the back door into the big wide world, and she hasn't yet made it up the stairs. I really like it if I am upstairs and I hear the THUMP THUMP THUMP of a rabbit coming up. I don't know who it is so I have to wait while they stop tp pull a bit of wallpaper off or chew a bit of carpet, then I see a black, brown or grey nose nudge the door open and an excited rabbit come in. I love watching them explore and all four of them have brought me much happiness.
I hope you managed to read all the way down to here, Chloe, and found it interesting. Thanks you for helping me be part of this rabbit family.
. I enjoyed reading it so much that I've bookmarked it! Thanks so much for sharing.
