Hi From Sammy And I!

[Otti]

I’ve posted a few times but haven’t properly introduced my rabbit Sammy yet (full name: Sesame).

I was walking down a street by my house on my way to Bevmo one evening last July to pick up wine for a wine tasting, and I was stopped by a man who I assumed to be homeless, who was holding a tiny bunny. He asked me if i wanted to buy the bunny, because he was going to San Diego and couldn’t take it with him (what?). He was a firm negotiator and threatened to walk away several times, but we finally came to an agreement on an unspecified price for the bunny and he handed him over. All I found out from his was that Sammy was a boy, he’d had him for a bit already, fed him grass from the street, and that his name at the time was The Gingerbread Man (I don’t think so). 

I had been thinking about getting a rabbit or cat as a pet for a while, and had a lot of doubts about whether it was the right choice for me. I’m not from the US… my family still lives in Italy and I’m here on a work visa, so I think I might move back to Europe eventually though not soon. I felt that Sammy just falling into my life like that was a sign, and either way I wasn’t going to leave him to live outside.

Here he is on the night I brought him home (excuse the petco cage, it was what I bought on an emergency run that same night lol). 

A week or so later, I put a litter box in his cage and only put litter in there, leaving the rest of the cage with a towel, and he’s been litter trained automatically every since. He has never peed outside of his litter box, and only very occasionally leaves one poop pellet somewhere in his pen (never in my apartment). Needless to say, it’s been wonderful.

I brought him to the vet, who said he was 3 or 4 months old then, so about 5 months old or so now that I’ve had him 1.5 months.

He loves to sit by the window, behind my blinds (this is him a few weeks after I got him):

I switched him to a pen setup quickly because he’s more than doubled in size in just this short time, and he’s at home alone while I’m at work most of the day:

He’s very very friendly, comes when he’s called, greets me enthusiastically, eats like a pig and loooves to be pet lol

Also, just this past weekend he figured out how to get on the couch (using my legs or a pillow as a ramp), and now he come say hi when I’m watching TV all the time.

I have no idea what breed he is… but definitely a mix right? Maybe Netherland Dwarf and rex or mini rex? All I know is he has huge ears. The guy who I adopted him from told me he was a ‘dwarf’ breed but …. he’s probably not even 6 months and rapidly expanding lol

 

 

[Deleted User]

I love your story about this rabbit. I admit that I think “The Gingerbread Man” is a very cool name but Sesame is very apropriate.
I like your pictures of Seame showing off his newly found home!
He will get into hormonal behaviors soon but those won’t last if you have him neutered. I can’t tell what breeds are in him but I really like the creamy light patches on his side. He is beautiful.
Welcome, Otti!
(cool hayrack)

[Otti]

 Yeah, not looking forward to any possible hormonal behavior so he’s getting neutered most likely sometime in September lol

[Sarita]

Welcome – it is a great story and I love the name Sesame – so original. He’s gorgeous too. And his set-up is fantastic!

Where in Italy are you from?

[Monkeybun]

Such a cutie!!

I have to warn you about those blinds… I have blinds like that, and they used to be Monkey’s favorite toy. She would run back and forth through them, then stop and let them bonk her in the face. She got little ulcers in her eyes from the corners poking her eyes, so make sure Sammy doesn’t do that too much.

As a nethie owner, I have to say he looks nothing like a netherland dwarf. But he sure is adorable!

[Otti]

Hmmm Thanks for the warning Monkeybun… so far he fits pretty well behind them so when he runs through he doesn’t hit them that much… if they’re in his way, he usually ‘grabs’ the side of one with his mouth and moves it well to the side, then gets pretty annoyed when it swings right back lol I’ll keep an eye out for this though. Did you end up not letting her play around them anymore or did her ulcers go away and just not reappear on their own?

Sarita, I’m from Milan. Born and raised but I’ve been studying/working abroad for 7 years now

[Sarita]

Milan – so jealous!  I love Italy…well the one time I was lucky enough to go.  We landed in Milan and spent only about a day or so there but would loved to have explored it more. 

The House Rabbit Society does have a chapter in Italy.  Here is their website:

http://www.aaeconigli.it/

[Monkeybun]

I have to keep Monkey away from them, eye injuries like that don’t heal on their own, they need medical attention. So she isn’t allowed near them anymore, the silly girl.

[Otti]

hmmm hopefully he won’t have the same problems with them because it would be pretty complicated to keep him from them… since they’re along pretty much one entire wall in my living room (where he gets his run time at night)…

fingers crossed lol or that’s going to be a hassle. They are *almost* always in ‘closed’ position though so they line up flat against each other and there is less chance of him running into their edges.

[jerseygirl]

I’ve seen you’ve posted a few times but officially “Welcome” to you and Sesame. Love the name! Also loved looking at the gorgeous pictures, lots of awww’s escaping from me.

I have to agree with Monkeybun, I think it’s almost safe to say there’s no netherland dwarf in your boy! Rexes also have a very reconizable velvet-like fur and crinkly whiskers though a rex mix might not display this I guess. To me he appears like a palomino. Though, this can be a breed name and a colouring name in other breeds…I think…. So that was helpful ! lol

Like most of us, I think you have an unknown mix breed. Main thing is he sounds like a love and was meant to be yours.

[LoveChaCha]

Welcome

Ah, a lot of people will try to sell rabbits by saying they are Netherland Dwarfs.. but are indeed not!! Nethies have tiny heads and short ears. Your boy looks very adorable, but I don’t know what kind of breed he is He is very precious I love his white belly!

[Beka27]

I agree that he looks nothing like a Netherland Dwarf, a dwarf’s ears would be maybe half that length? And much smaller in body size. Once he reaches his full adult weight you might be able to eliminate some breeds, but really… it doesn’t matter what he is. Like Jersey said so well, the important thing is that he is yours.

His coloring is amazing, and he looks like such a sweet guy!

[Otti]

Yeah he doesn’t look like a netherland dwarf lol I was hoping maybe he just had a little of one in him so that he’d stay smallish I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, though obviously I’m going to love him no matter the size lol

Yeah I like his white parts too. he has white rings around his eyes that are super cute, and also his cheeks and the tips of his ears are tinged with a darker brown.

Thanks everyone for the welcome! This forum is proving invaluable already.

[bunnymum16]

he’s so cute.ive always wanted a bunny like that color as Sesame.

if you dont mind,what is that flooring that you have in his pen?the gray one?

[Otti]

 Hi bunnymum16,

 

It’s that foam flooring a few people have mentioned on the forum in previous posts. I actually found out about it from here. You can get it at Walmart and it’s pretty cheap. I keep Sammy’s xpen so that it covers a lot of the ‘interlocking’ areas around the edge of the mats which would be easier to chew, and have a towel covering part of the other parts he’d be able to chew on in his space, but it’s more of a preventative measure. He’s shown no interest in chewing it to date.

 

From other people’s stories it does seem that some rabbits/dogs do eventually develop a desire to chew the mats, so I’m keeping an eye out to make sure he doesn’t start to do that.

 

Here is a link to the foam tiles on Walmart. They’re 2x2ft each so they make a 4x4ft square. 

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Norsk-Stor-240251-Reversible-Recyclamat-Multi-Purpose-Foam-Flooring-Black-Gray/13253266

 

[Monkeybun]

This is a nethie:

She is itty bitty, with tiny ears and a round face

 

[LoveChaCha]

Oh, its little baby Monkey

[Otti]

Oh, I know what they look like LOL I’ve just seen pictures during research online of mixed rabbits that were half netherland dwarf and half mini rex, and they look a lot like Sammy does… that’s why I said it… 

here’s an example:

 

 

Different coloring but the circles around the eyes, size of the ears and shape of body/face match Sammy….

[Maria]

Wow, I can’t believe what a brilliant set-up you have for Sammy already. Were you knowledgable about bunnies aready? I made loads of mistakes with mine until I found this site! (I bought one of those pet shop cages as a permanant home for mine until I was told on here it was too small!)
Welcome to the site and everyone here is really helpful and nice, even if you ask really silly questions! *Hugs to Sammy*

[Otti]

Jerseygirl, I somehow missed your palomino comment. Took a look online and read about the breed and that’s definitely a possibility… Either he’s a mix breed rabbit that is that ‘coloring’ or a palomino rabbit… I guess it’ll depend on how big he gets lol I read online that palomino boys get up to 8 pounds… that’s quite big right? He’s growing so fast I have a feeling he might be a big boy by when he’s done, but maybe he’ll just stop now lol

Maria, I had been thinking of getting a rabbit or a cat for a few months, and had done some research, though not a lot. My brother had a rabbit while we were growing up but he was not treated properly, kept in his petstore like cage all his life and almost never let out. Now that I’m more informed and have a rabbit as my responsibility, I feel even worse for him than I did a lot of the time when I still lived at home.

When I got Sammy, I really focused for about a month or so on doing a lot of research online and making sure he had everything he needed. The cage to pen setup shift took a few weeks, and I switched flooring kinds a few times. It was a process but I wanted to feel like he was all settled and my apartment also could go back to its usual tidiness lol I’m big on organization and everything looking neat, so any pen options I considered had to look very clean and tidy as well.

This forum definitely helped me a lot. Just reading about everyone else’s trial and error or trial and success helped direct me in what I needed to do. I also did some things wrong initially (like buying him a plastic igloo that was way too small for him lol) and had to swap things out.

[Monkeybun]

I just like showing off my Monkey

[Otti]

yes, Monkey is adorable and pocket-size, which is handy.

[Lintini]

Hello! Welcome!

[Author]

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