A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Thorny - I caught the rabbit !

The vet should be Vaccinated, TOO!

Two Beans is a BUNKY today! Half bunny, half skunk,LITERALLY! At this time of year male rabbits secrete a mild but definitely skunk odor, I guess to attract mates. He is noticeably more out-going and aggressive. I was feeding him today and he leaped out of his cage and ran up between my feet and then stretched up with his front legs clawing at my knee for food as I filled his food bowl. As soon as he saw it was filled, he leaped back into his cage. He has been thumping at me loudly all day since for some reason. He has food, water, chocolate, and has been getting his favorite head and face massages. Time to get out the dust mop again I guess.

Thorny, you should see Saltflower now-he's gained weight from the good foods, and is calm and really showing some cute behavior.
One thing really cracks me up-when I've hosed off the patio she or he walks tiptoe across the wet places.
I didn't know rabs don't like wet feet. Talk about cute !
He likes a piece of apple and a leaf of romaine and a baby carrot, but all of these are in moderation.
His primary diet is timothy hay and the Kaytee pellets with dehydrated veggies.
I think I may have been wrong about his/her sex-she sure looks like a girl now that she's gained weight.
I'll ask the vet.

Erm......look in the erm groin area. Two erm "growths: 2-3 inches 1/2 inch wide. Can't miss 'em.

Rabbits LOVE to play and are HILARIOUS when they do so. Two Bean's favorite toys right now are wadded up balls of newspaper 6-10 inches in diameter. I fill his cage up with them and he pushes them around, hides from me under them. flattens tehm out and runs around holding the flattened paper over his head like an umbrella, and then he shreds them into strips and makes a bed out of them. when his cage needs to be cleaned, (about every 3 days), he thumps LOUDLY (WHAM!!!) with his back legs over and over again to tell me.

A BIG, WET (not really), BUNNY KISS

That's a cute picture!!!

Two Beans and I take great pictures. He is one of my favorite subjects....and he really DOES come up in my face when he's out of his cage and ram his nose against my nose and tickle me with his whiskers. Rabbits Don't Smile with their face like a cat or dog, but smile with their whole BODY. Their joy and laughter is expressed in body language and behavior. They really love life.

She won't let me pick her up...
Gotta have the vet look at neutering time.
Of course, the vet would hafta know to do the right (ouch!) procedure.
I got her a big dog crate with a removable pan.
She can't go on sleeping under the ferns, we have coyotes. They can jump fences.
So I'm hoping she'll go in by herself, I put her dishes inside, and her licks and wooden carrot.
If she wants to eat, she'll have to go in, right?
At night I'll cover the crate with a thick old blanket, and she can run around all day in the backyard.
I hope I'm doing everything right?

Sounds like your doing Great! Two beans lives in our hallway outside the bedrooms. He's an indoor bunny. He hates going outside.

OK, she went in, and she's not frantic and not really upset, but she's standing up and trying to figure out how to get out.
The bowls of food lured her in, but she's not eating.
I hate to let her out before morning, it isn't safe.
Should I do tough love and make her get used to it, or let her out and do this nights in the crate thing gradually?
If I do that though, the risk is killing her with kindness.
OR, on the other hand, a rab's heart being so high strung, could she freak out and croak from being in the crate?

She won't freak out. Rabbits Love cages. I leave Two Bean's cage opened but he stays in it 90% of the time. Just close Saltflower up for the night and let her out in the morning. She WON'T have a heart attack. Try putting the blanket INSIDE the cage. she will dig and tug at it until she gets a nest that is EXACTLY to her liking. Two Beans is doing his newspaper umbrella thing right now running around and around his cage.

STAND IN THE PLACE THAT YOU ARE!



DOS AMIGOS!



And The Winner,, By a NOSE!

Well, this is upsetting-I went ahead and let her out. She didn't eat supper and wouldn't go back in the cage where of course, the bowls are.
She's under the ferns where she sleeps.
BUT I am hanging tough and the bowls will stay inside the crate until she finally figures out that the crate is a good place and that's also where her food is.
The crate is really a dog crate about 3 feet long and wide and plenty of room for her to stand up, lie down, etc.
BUT it has a plastic tray in the bottom and she was chewing on it trying to get out. That's when I got scared and opened the door.
I don't have a blanket in it, I have the tray covered in timothy hay that she can eat and use as bedding. Wouldn't she **** and peep on a blanket?
I plan to put her in the garage at night and here's why-there are 2 wild rats in the backyard who would get in her crate for her food at night, and I know that rabs are terrified of rats. In fact I already saw her squeal and run out from the ferns when one was in there. It was sad, and there's NO WAY I'm going to let rats terrify her all night.
What do you think I should do with just letting her tough it out all night crated in the garage?
I wish she'd accept a crate like Two Beans does, it would save me alot of worry and hassle.
BTW, even in the garage I would cover her crate with a blanket for warmth, but leave the gate part uncovered for air and a view.

I wonder why the word before "peep" came out as stars? It was only the same word but with "o's" where the "e's" are in "peep".

If she is comfortable under the ferns let her stay there. Believe me rabbits are able to take care of themselves. Two Beans has sent me to the ER for stitches on three occasions.......and he LOVES me. When Bunnies and their predators come in contact.,...... the results are ALWAYS tragic.

it's best to just let sleeping buns lie. Leave the cage door open and if she goes in, just close the door and fasten it.

LET SLEEPIN' BUNS LIE

But she didn't sleep, didn't stop trying to get out. It was sad.
I had an idea after I posted-I'll do the crate thing BUT I'll open the little door when I lock up the garage in the evening. There's nothing in the garage to hurt her, no plant food boxes or poisons to nibble at and she'll have the covered crate as an option. Plus she will know in time that that's where her bowls are.
It's important that she goes in to eat so I can shut the door and get the crate in the garage before dark.
The ferns are being dug out to bare ground Tuesday, the owner of the house is planting gardenias there. That's why I had to get the crate idea going-she's losing her safe, thick, warm, dry forest of ferns.
And ferns or no ferns, there was an owl in the yard tonight !!!!!!!!!!!

Ooooh! What kind of owl?

Owls eat rats, but NOT rabbits. That owl is yor friend. I have a Barred Owl that perches on my roof every night.

Who~whooooooooo? Who~whooooooooooo??

Awwwww....what a cutie!!!

I don't know what kind of owl, but it was big.
But wouldn't the owl try to get her?
I hope it gets the two gross rats though.
That picture of Two Beans asleep could win an award-now that is one cute picture !!!

Barred Owls say, "Hoo-hoo-hoo-hooo, hoo-hoo-hoo-hooo-AHHHH! (I-cook-for-me, Who-cooks-for-You-all?)

Verrrrry funny !
Thorny, I took pepper in for her check-up today, and asked the vet all of my questions about rabbit care.
Talk about good news-I won't need to neuter, and vaccinations for rabbits don't exist ! Rabbits see vets for antibiotics if needed for upper respiratory illnesses and for teeth trimming if needed.
What a relief-and you were right about neutering not being necessary for a solitary rabbit. Though the wild desert cottontail lives in the yard, chances of a domestic rabbit and a wild one breeding are possible but not likely. (According to the vet).
Also, I'm right and Saltflower is a girl ! I thought she probably is from your description-and while I was, er, mistaken in my findings, I'm glad to know.
A good day !

That is great. When I told Two Beans he said, "I am SOOO relieved......WAIT!!! , ERRRRM.......AHHHH ."

As I went by his cage last night he rared up against the bars, clawing at them, flicking his little pink tongue at me. "Uh,oh!", I said, "Somebody's HUNGRY!" I opened the top hatch of his catch and he Immediately flattened out on the floor, in his typical, Don't-Hurt-Me-I'll-Be-Good, pose that he does whenever I open the top hatch of his cage. I fished his food bowl out of the newspaper-ball nest he makes before he could lunge at me and bite me, (sending me to the ER once again for stitches), for messing up his decorating scheme. As I was filling his bowl I saw movement. He had LAUNCHED himself out of the top of the cage and was sailing through the air towards me. He landed in the trash can next to me five feet away from the cage in a SINGLE jump and then rared up with his paws and chin resting on the edge of the can and watched me to make sure I was getting ENOUGH food in his bowl. I put his bowl in his cage and then fished HIM out of the garbage and pucked the wildy struggling (Starving) bunny in the cage with his true love.