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Why did you become a bunny slave?

My story: I looked after a friend's house rabbit in our home for a long weekend and when he went home I was left with a bunny shaped hole in my life...until then I didn't realise they were such intelligent and inquisitive little SouIs! I cannot imagine a bunny-less life now!
 
Because I saw my very first bunny in a pet shop around Easter time, a tiny timid thing in the corner, dwarfed by his cage-mates, and I fell in love. I was 6 or 7, so had to persuade my parents, but he came home with me that same day :love: now nearly ten years on I have had 5 rabbits and it was just a never ending cycle :lol: Alfrid is only 3, so I hope to have him for a while, but once he goes I'm not sure I'll get any more. Probably not immediately, anyway. And I'd get a pair - for various reasons I cannot get Alfrid a companion, but I'd much rather have 2 rabbits than 1.
 
I'd been seriously considering getting a rabbit for a while and I happened to mention this to my sister in law. It was quite good timing as she had a colleague with a rabbit and who was moving abroad. She didn't have anyone else who could take her so was planning to send her to P@H. The main issue was getting permission from my landlord who, understandably, was concerned about potential damage. Thankfully after a lot of research into rabbit proofing I got the go ahead to have Scrappy. I'm really glad I've got her, she's such a lovely rabbit :) I do sometimes wonder if she would have ever found a forever home otherwise, given there are so many buns waiting for new homes, plus she has had health problems and she's a black bunny and I understand they take longer to rehome. :(
 
Ms Kizzy Rabbit, AKA Queen Doe, AKA She-who-must-be-obeyed-&-given-fenugreek-crunchies made me! She turned up in our front garden and after a brief stay at the RSPCA came back :)
 
Dexter stole my heart when he licked me :love: I loved him and he loved me back :love: it broke my heart when he died, so my ex bought Slipper for me to cheer me up. Slipper is very different to Dexter so it didn't work and then I discovered RU when trying to sort out Slipper's aggression and now I have 6 bunnies! :love:
 
I've had bunnies all the way through my childhood, mostly English Spots or New Zealand Whites. My last bunny was a English Spot cross buck called Humbug. He was a dental bunny but lived until he was approx. 10 years and died circa. 2007-8.

After that I wasn't going to get another bunny but back in 2012 we visited friends who run a Birds of Prey centre and they had just taken on 2 pairs of bunnies for their "childrens corner". Unfortunately one doe had just had babies and the other doe was pregnant. So they had gone from 4 bunnies to about 10 in weeks. Our friend begged us to take one of the male bunnies as they were fighting and in the end we relented.

We brought Snowflake (a beautiful white single maned lionhead with grey patches around his eyes) home on a sunday afternoon and we had nothing for him. We had to race to PAH before it shut to get a Poppy Den hutch, accessories, food and hay.

Realising he would need more space, I brought Snowflake a run from Amazon and put it on the grass to allow him "run days" when it was nice. Then we decided that Snowflake would need a friend and took one of the 2nd set of bunnies from our friends - a little Dwarf Lop doe whom my sister called George :)?:). As Snowflake wasn't neutered we got another Poppy Den hutch from PAH for George. Once Snowflake had settled in we got him neutered and was waiting for George to grow up so we could spay her. Then unfortunately about a month after Snowflake was neutered, he started showing the signs of what I now know to be gut stasis and passed away after a few days stay in the vets. I was devastated but was determined to that George should still have friend, so we went to a breeder (sorry) and got Hershel my Mini Lop.

And that's is when I started on a very steep learning curve (still on it) and eventually found this forum who has taught me so much.

George turned out to be a boy, so we neutered them both straightway and tried to bond but unfortunately it failed. So we expanded their living quarters by buying 2 lots of Runaround kits and then brought them a new double level 6x2ft hutch. It was the best feeling to smash up and burn those PAH hutches.
Since then we have took on 2 more rabbits from our friend (who unfortunately her partner refuses to neuter the parents). We got Harry who we bonded with George (we tried a trio but Hershel was not having it) and Maggie who has recently been bonded with Hershel (they currently live in my bedroom as we had nowhere else to put Maggie). So the plan this summer is to further expand their habitats by building them a large Aviary run each and attach hutch via the runarounds.

So in the space of 2½ years I have turned into a bunny Mumma of 4 and can't imagine life without them, especially Hershel who is my soul bunny. :love: :love: :love:
 
My then neighbour brought 2 baby NDs home for the children and I fell in love with them! I was asked if I would just "chuck" some food in now and then as the neighbours were only there 1/2 of the time! They did become mine some time later but before that I had got my own rabbit, a 6 month old ND who came with hutch (3' gp hutch) which stunk to high heaven! The old owner didn't get on with her. Then I got her a friend, another female. Of course I didn't know anything about rabbits and Jasminne sprayed the other rabbit (both white) and she had orange stripes all down her. So, that wasn't working and there was a little ND advertised in the local pet shop, he had been in the window for quite a while, so he came home and I had him neutered and he fell in love with Honeybun, the rabbit with the orange stripes. Jasmine was diofficult to bond until a little boy was born here called Basil and she really fell for him. That was all about 16 years ago.
 
I was going through my first battle with depression and wanted some reason to actually get out of bed everyday and we had dogs and cats as family pets but I wanted something that was just mine and asked my parents whether they would be ok with me having a pet of my own and that I was thinking of getting a rabbit as we'd had family pet ones as a child and my mum knew my nan had an old rabbit hutch that she used to use for putting food in for Hedgehogs but wanted to get rid of

so we phoned her and she was more than happy for me to have it and we went down that day to get it and on the way stopped off at P@H to get the rest of the things we would need and asked them and they had no rabbits till the weekend but we have another store nearby so we went there and they said they had one rabbit left but were getting more at the weekend. My parents were trying to persuade me to wait till that weekend but the one left in the store was a gorgeous looking brown one and kept coming up to the edge of the pen to see me and I knew from how he was that he obviously had character to him and the more time I spent looking at him I just knew I had to have him

and that beautiful boy was my Gorgeous George and I had 3 happy years with him till he died :(

After how much of a friendship I'd built up with George I said I didn't want another one at the moment and then a couple of months later I was out one day at a local pet store (not P@H) and walked past the pen their rabbits were in and saw a small cute brown and white rabbit and something inside of me was telling me I needed to have it and I tried to tell myself I didn't want another one and carried on walking and on the way to leave I went back to the pen and stood there looking at it again and decided that maybe she was meant to be mine and that it would be ok to have another one as I'd still have
 
Well, my origibun turned up at our house when my Daughter (Then 16 ) decided without permission to have a house rabbit, and brought home a little black ball of fluff that was very timid and shy, I was not impressed but the deed was done so we sorted out bunny proofing her bedroom, it wasn't long before Thumpa was having free range time in the house with supervised time in the garden.

About 18 months later my daughter moved out and I said that I would look after Thumpa until she had sorted out suitable bunny accommodation, that was the start of my bunny friendships, it soon became obvious that Thumps would be staying with me, so I set out to find out more about the needs of bunnies, after finding RU I soon decided that Thumpa should have a friend as it wasn't fair to keep her on her own as me and my OH were working more hours so she was in the house on her own quite a lot.

So we took Thumps round to a lady who fosters for the RSPCA to meet a boy called Malcolm, it was love at first sight and after a honeymoon at our Rabbit sitters they came home to us.

3 years later Thumpa passed away suddenly, she had been her usual self the evening before but at bed time didn't seem quite right and in the morning we found her lying on the floor with Malcolm by her side, she passed away in her sleep, probably from heart failure (She had been diagnosed with a heart murmur some time before).

It took me a while before I was ready for another Bun but about 6 months later Malcolm went to Auntyanimals rescue to meet a girl and came home with Blossom a lovely rehome girl who is super friendly, they were only together for 6 months when, after a short illness Malcolm left for the Bridge, Blosskin's being such a sociable bun needed a friend sooner rather than later so off she went to Aunties to meet some boys and came home with the lovely Lucky, unfortunately we lost Lucky 6 months later to EC.

It was very obvious that Blosskin' needed some bunny in her life as soon as possible so I packed her off to Aunties again and in November she came home with her new Bunfriend Blue, and that is where we are today

So I became a bunny slave almost by default but would not be without my furry friends now, they are the stability in an otherwise hectic and ever changing world.
 
My first bun was a REW that we got from a friend of the family who was a breeder. He was a sweet little soul but because of bad advice I'm not proud of the life he had, I was 10 and didn't know any better (this was 20 years ago now).

After that one day about 4 years ago now my friend and I were stood outside and noticed a domestic bun hiding under my now husbands car. We retrieved her and kept her for a few days while we put up fliers to try and find her owner. She was the most gorgeous bun, she would jump up on the bed with me while I read in the evenings and flop next to me. We did eventually find her owner. I'm also sort of ashamed I gave her back to them. Her hutch/run wasn't the smallest I've ever seen but she was a known escape artist and I don't think she was very well entertained, I think she was lonely. Anyway after that I had the fever, started doing a bunch of research and got my DH to buy me my first two buns for my birthday 4 years ago.
 
I got involved in rescue (dogs mainly) and gradually realised that the rabbit problem was every bit as bad. Having had buns in the past, and always having had guineas I thought I could offer a good home to a couple of rescue buns. I had no idea how much they would take over my life (and my heart :love:) I did lots of reseach (and found this forum) and eventually Arthur and Elsie came home :love:
 
I had a number of rabbits over the years as a child. Then in 2012 after many rabbit-free years I saw two baby rabbits in our local pet shop all snuggled together in a heap of white fluffy cuteness.

They turned out to be two bucks (Frosty and Snowflake) lionhead x dutch. White with agouti butterfly markings (Frosty) and black butterfly markings (Snowflake). In between reserving them and collecting them I found RU and had them free ranging in my bedroom until I added two more rabbit pairs (chosen cos of their beauty) from two different rescues.

Frosty and Snowflake are now bonded to the lovely Tessie (brown uppy eared) and Daisy (blue eyed white semi lop earred). They make a sweet group. Two brothers and two sisters.

Mottle (black white and ginger mini lop) and Peaches (his orange semi fluffy wife) live in our spare room. They had been house rabbits before and were in rescue due to a marriage break up. They took to litter training immediately and are really perfectly behaved.

Recently I saw two belgian hares in rescue and ... well I just had to (even though I had intended to stick with six). Autumn and Sunshine are my lovely thoroughbreds - acutally they are part standard rex; they are exquisitly beautiful.

I love the gentleness and beauty of rabbits. x
 
3 years ago, after losing my soul piggie, Joey, I decided I wanted a bunny. We went to a local pet shop, the owner showed us the baby bunnies and we fell in love with the smallest girl. Mylo came home with us and that was that! 2 years and 3 husbuns later we finally rescued a boy she likes, they've been together for almost a year now :love:
 
My boyfriend's rabbit had babies and I fell in love with them, they were so cute! I had always wanted a bun, so I desperately asked my mother if I could have one of the babies. She allowed it, and soon two bunnies joined our family. Petra and Cleo have stolen the hearts of pretty much everyone they've met! They quite happily hop over to greet new people, they are certainly not shy. They're very people-orientated buns, and I love them both to bits! :love:
 
I've always loved animals but my mum never let me have any pets when I was growing up.:(
I moved away from home in the 90s but living first in student accommodation and then in various rental flats pets were never an option. So when we finally got our own flat in 2012 that was my chance at last to get a pet.:)

A dog wasn't really an option because of our working hours, I really wanted a rescue animal but all cats that I saw on rescue websites needed to have access to garden, and the rescues I called were telling me the same thing, it was quite disheartening. So ended up with two bunnies instead in the end! :)
 
Went in to a garden centre at around Easter time in my second year of uni and saw loads of 8 week old cute little baby bunnies in groups and one 20 week old bunny all by himself and felt so sorry for him knowing that everyone would want the cute babies and that he was all lonely, I'd also missed being surrounded by pets whilst at uni so texted my landlord to double check if it was still ok for me to have outdoor pets and he said yes, so I bought him and a hutch/run right then and there! An entirely inappropriate hutch/run though! Lilly came into my life after I played a sound click of a honking rabbit and Harvey went wild with excitement and I realised he needed bunny company and conversation!
 
Someone my mum knew from work had 2 rabbits. One was incorrectly sexed :roll: So naturally, they soon ended up with 6. We went to have a look at the babies and decided there and then that we'd take one on (they were giving them away for free). After that we visited every other week to check on them :love: Boris was the first one I held, he was such a tiny little fluffball and I instantly fell in love. A few weeks later we took him home with us :D He was the cutest thing as a baby, afraid of everything bless him :lol: He refused to come out of his cage for about a week, if you picked him up and put him down on the floor he'd just jump straight back in. But eventually he became braver (although he was always a bit of a wimp even as an adult!) :) Our bond was very strong from the start. He was such a mummy's boy and I loved him so very much.
 
I had buns as a child as most children do but they were always outdoor buns. I wanted a house bunny and when I moved out decided that I would have one. I went to town and looked at all the rabbits in the pet shops around there and finally found Fiver. :love: The last one of his litter to be sold with a silly white nose and amazing markings. I brought him home and within minutes he was flopped out in my living room. :lol: I didn't even have a cage for him. :lol: I have three now that all live free range in my bedroom. :)
 
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