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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › Meet Calypso <3
It’s been a rough last couple of months for me. I’ve struggled with anxiety the majority of my life, and depression since I was about 12/13ish. I had a flare up of the anxiety, oh, probably 2 months ago and I lost 7 pounds in as many days because I couldn’t eat anything for an entire week without throwing it up. So I tried a new therapist, and things seemed to be going better…Until about a month ago, when in one week my therapist quit on me, a couple of friends stabbed me in the back, & my main horse and my youngster turned up lame for no reason. Then, to cap it all off my little ‘therapy bun’ (as I liked to call Luna) passed away while I was out of town for the weekend. It’s taken about this long for me to get myself together enough to write this without melting down. But, things are finally looking up and on Saturday I’ll be picking up a new little addition to my animal menagerie…A little broken cream English Lop that I’ve named Calypso. She’s the runt of the breeders litter, and has been bottle fed since she was about two weeks old (the mother passed). She’s the breeder’s favorite, and when I told her what had happened/what I was looking for in a bun she said this little one would fit the bill perfectly
(the one on the middle is Calypso <3)
(and here she is again <3...Excuse the low quality of the photos, they're photos that the breeder sent me )
I’m so sorry about Luna. It is awful to lose a beloved pet, and It sounds like you already had quite a lot to struggle with. I’m glad you’ve recuperated to the point where you can let another bun into your life. Calypso looks lovely. I hope you’ll be very happy together!
So cute… hope you will feel better.
I’m sorry about Luna. [[hugs]] {{{{Binky free Luna}}}}
Calypso is so adorable, congrats!
Thanks y’all <3
I can sympathize about the anxiety. Sorry about your loss. But Calypso looks lovely. I know she will have a lovely life with you.
Isn’t it a pain in the derriere BrunosMama? I really want to get on medication for it, just something to take the edge off, but the looks and speeches I get from my family when I mention it *rolls eyes* And thank you <3
I’m very excited to pick her up Saturday, and it’s looking like I have a hat full of names to choose from since I decided that I probably shouldn’t settle completely on a name until I had met the bun *laughs*. Right now I have Waffles (from Parks & Rec and my friend, Hazel’s, pick), Calypso ‘Callie’ (my cousin, SJ’s choice), and Athena. I know this is a horrible idea, and odds are I’ll go with a completely different name than any y’all choose, but y’all want to throw your names into the ring? I have a horse named Artemis, dogs named Max and Mara, and my geldings are named Sonny and Kai. I like different sounding names, especially any from mythology. I LOVE Greek and Celtic mythology…and I’m really into the show Supernatural Any ideas?
Sorry about your tricky life up until now – another bun to care about will help so much to take your mind off of other things and also the confidence to stand up straight and smile. GO GIRL !!
Callie is a lovely name for her ! :o)
Nausikaa. Calliope. Penelope.
Clytemnestra.
But Calypso is a beautiful name.
ABH– I too know a lot about anxiety. My older sister has it, so sometimes I’ll sit with her at night and just let her talk if she’s had a really stressful day. I have had anxiety for the last 2-3 years. I don’t even know WHAT triggers it exactly. All I know is that it’s NOT a good feeling.
Vienna Blue- Thank you so much <3 And I'm getting so excited about another little bun
Bam- I like all of them <3 This is going to be so difficult
Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear about Luna. =(
Your new bunny is adorable. I like Brigid for a name. But that’s just me. Hehehe!
Brigid is cute but I still like Calypso.
Moxie, I missed your last comment! I don’t really have triggers either…I just always have a pit in my stomach and pretty severe insomnia. I also have issues getting the courage up to talk to people on the phone/talk to strangers period. Once I force myself to it’s no big deal and I get along with people great (although I overthink everything later on and assume everyone dislikes me ), but getting myself to do it is quite the feat. I’m seriously contemplating meds for it because it’s getting to the point where it’s impeding my ability to function in the real world…and Calypso *IS* a great name if I do say so myself
LBJ 10, Thank you <3 And she is quite the cutie! I get to pick her up in three days Here’s a picture the breeder sent me today-
She’s 4lbs 10oz at 11 weeks and her ears are 20in from tip to tip
Definitely a Brigid! And look at those ears! I’m in love!
Those ears! Irresistible!
In my “always positive state and that there’s always an answer to (most) everything”…. and also that you clearly love animals… how about training and/or getting involved in THERAPY DOGS – not only for yourself but also to take around to hospitals or schools or retirement homes to share and through your animal you could communicate to others…… this is brilliant to build confidence and to meet like minded people – generally ‘animal’ people accept people for who they are without judging….
It could just be an answer for you…
Also – can anyone tell me why these kind of rabbits have such HUGE ears. I can’t believe there’s anything that nature intended… they are totally unpractical for anything rabbit-like and surely must cause problems for a rabbit either trying to flee a predator or even doing a u-turn in a warren ! You’d just tread on those dumbo ears, surely !!?… lol. But oh so cute as a pet !!
Aren’t those ears just something else!?!
Vienna, I was actually thinking about getting my Border Collie certified as a therapy dog…As a kid I used to volunteer over 60 hours a week during the summer and easily a good 40 a week during the school year. I haven’t had the opportunity to volunteer in a very long time (since we moved from Charleston, SC tbh) and I think if I could calm Max down at all he would be great at it and love it! (plus it would help with his timidity a bit…he doesn’t get bad, he just kind of ‘melts’ into me) Thank you for the confirmation…now to get Max into an obedience class and calm him down/get him to stop jumping on people
The ears go back through centuries of breeding. The way they bred these ears into the rabbit was via a VERY hot room/house/shed and then selective breeding. They don’t naturally grow this long. The breed is also known for (at least what I was reading when I was researching rabbit breeds that would be good for me!) their very loving and people friendly disposition. Actually, here are a couple of links I found that go into the breed’s history and etc –
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/belsonsbunnies/page3.html
http://www.justrabbits.com/english-lop.html#gs.ZeQhvCI (you have to scroll down a bit on this one to get to the ‘history’ bit )
ABH – I’m a strong advocate for mental health treatment. It does not get better if you ignore it. Medication and probably some therapy would help lots. I have had bipolar since I was 13 (20 years ago!) And through my own experiences, medicine helps! I was off meds for about 3 years. I was miserable and made many bad life choices. Even though now I struggle to remain “balanced” I would be a train wreck without treatment. Definitely a good thing to consider. If you need help getting started, you may try looking up the NAMI (national alliance on mental illness) website. They have a national site ( I believe it’s either NAMI.org or NAMI.com) and then from there it breaks down into state and local chapters. Your local chapter may be able to guide you to a good doctor and give you information that is helpful.
Animals are great therapy! Just hugging a bunny cheers me up.
BrunosMama- My uncle’s a psychiatrist and my mom’s side of the family has a myriad of mental health issues so I know how important catching it early and getting on the right medication (or combination thereof) is…My best friend has very similar symptoms as me and went on meds recently and it’s amazing how much better she’s doing since starting. I will definitely check out that website. I’m just leery of therapists now because all three I’ve tried have just made it worse in the end
And animals are amazing therapy! It’s why I have 6 horses & 5 dogs (although only two of the dogs, and three of the horses + the pony are actually mine )
I’m glad you know the importance of getting help. So many people suffer because they are afraid to get help.
Btw, Calypso is an adorable bunny! Those ears are something else!
What breeds of dogs do you have and do they run around alone outside a lot? We have 4 house dogs (Siberian Husky, Miniature Dachshund and 2 German Shepherd mixes (we were told with husky))
I have a Border Collie X Mini Aussie cross that was originally bought to be a working cattle dog (then life happened and I had a slight falling out with my old boss who had the cows and the knowhow), and he lives inside and is basically my shadow. I also, personally, own a Livestock Guardian Dog (she’s a Great Pyrenees X Anatolian Cross) who stays out with my horses and keeps the mountain lions and coyotes back. She’s always outside, and the one time we had to contain her because she had just had a bunch of foxtails removed from her feet…she ended up eating THROUGH a door to get back to her livestock O_o She’s my heart dog, though, and I wish she was happy coming inside for even just a little bit, but she HATED when we used to drag her in (we no longer live on property). We also have a pitbull and an old lab who run with the LGD because we couldn’t find anywhere that would let us bring them with us after we moved off property…It was hard enough convincing anywhere to let us have the BC and my mom’s chihuahua (ok…so maybe the chihuahua doesn’t count as a dog He’s more like a rat mixed with a cat ?) I’m also extremely jealous of your German Shepherd mixes…Ive always wanted a long hard black German Shepherd or a black Siberian Husky. We had a GS growing up and he was a slightly crazy but AMAZING dog <3
The German Shepherd mix puppies are about 9 months(?) now. They were unexpected rescues. We were told they were 12 weeks old, but they CLEARLY weren’t. They were probably about 8 weeks. The people bought them when they were about 5-6 weeks old and had them for only about 2 and a half weeks. But they were not fed during that time and were starving. They were covered in feces and urine and tied upstairs to a wheelchair. They only had each other, barely any human contact or care at all. It was terrible. My dad was there helping clean out the basement (the people had no running water and their sewer pipes burst). They had MANY animals living in that house (chickens, cats, bunnies) but sadly my dad could only rescue the puppies. The people said they didn’t have enough money to leave them at the shelter so they were just going to release them if we didn’t take them.
So we brought them home, bathed them and fattened ’em up. They still have severe food aggression (to other animals, not people) though, and Tilly is scared of new people. But we are working with them.
Zero (husky) is turning 6 next month. We got him from somebody who didn’t have enough time for him. He was pretty much always in a kennel, but other than that he had been loved and taken care.
Snickers (mini dachshund) is my dog. I was able to convince my parents to let me get her for my birthday 4 years ago.
Hey ABH, it sounds that if your dog doesn’t stop jumping up (to stop this, turn around just before he does it and get everyone to do the same – don’t speak or tell him off when he’s jumping or he’s won his aim of attention-getting !!) , then you could instead have a therapy bunny !! If she’s all realxed and chilled out she’d be a perfect petting friend to other people !
It’s great that you did so much volunteering? I’m sure there’s something in your area that could use you ! :o)
PS : your photos are great – did you take them, especially the back lit bunny one ?
If you did, then you’re talented.
Moxie, that’s so great that you got the puppies out of that environment! Those rescue dogs are the hardest, but most rewarding dogs to retrain <3 My pit was badly abused before we got her and would cower/piddle/snap when men would come around or you moved too quickly. She was brought back to the pound two times before we got her and we were her last chance...she's now the bravest of all of my dogs, GREAT with kids, and super protective of 'her' family (which is what we wanted. She hasn't bitten anyone, and she's really good with people unless we get nervous...then she gets wary of them and gets between us and the threat, tbh she's a nice deterrent when I'm the only one out at the property). It took us a while to get her to not be so food aggressive, and to lose her wariness of people. But it was definitely worth all of the time we put into her <img src='/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/BB_Theme//emoticons/smile.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" /> <br /> <br /> Vienna, I will have to try that on him! Most of it I NEED to keep my clicker and treats on me when I go out and reward calm behaviors...I'm just lazy and hate wearing a fanny pack because it's so ugly ?? I did not take the photos of the English Lop (so the first two on the thread), but the ones in my signature/all of the other ones on my profile/posts are mine <img src='/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/BB_Theme//emoticons/smile.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" /> I usually shoot with a fixed 50mm at a (usually) 1.8 aperture on a Nikon D3100 I got for my sixteenth birthday a couple of years ago <img src='/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/BB_Theme//emoticons/smile.gif' align="absmiddle" border="0" /> It’s a decent little camera for the money, and the 50mm is my most favorite lens of all time ? It takes such beautiful pictures <3
I’ve just bought the D3200 !!! :o))
And I’ve heard alot about the fixed 50mm…… so many people rave on about it – but I can’t get it out of my head that I wouldn’t be able to zoom…
But I must just be swayed…..
I’m trying out night shots at the minute with all the Christmas décorations and all….. but i’m no David Bailey…. LOL
The D3200 is a decent entry level camera They came out with it about a year after I got mine…although I still wish I’d gone with the 5100 and spent the little bit more cash. The swivel screen is definitely worth the money.
You HAVE to get the fixed 50mm with the 1.8 aperture. The bokeh and the depth of field and the beautiful background blurring and just *sighs dreamily* It’s by far and away my favorite lens of all time…but it’s definitely a lens that should be shot in full manual for full effect/to see how beautiful it is. It takes your photos to the next level
Hmmm still tempted – spoke to my cousin-in-law at Chrimbo and she absolutely swore by her 50mm too – and without me bringing the subject up !!! LOL
But it’s between the 50mm lens and a nice macro one…. I love seeing details up close…
(Or both !!, but then I’d have to get a new camera bag and new technical skills and OH it’s all too tempting !!!!)
Thanks for the tips
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › Meet Calypso <3