Introducing my bunny family

[MichaelK]

Hi everyone, turns out the breeder was mistaken about the sex of my two rabbits, so now I’m the somewhat nervous guardian of two adult bunnies and their litter of four. Even though it wasn’t intentional It’s hard to feel bad about having these beautiful kits join our family.

Here’s Gwaine (formerly Guinevere) my eight month old, dwarf english male rabbit. He’s a little sad at the moment, since he’s separated from his bunny friend until he’s had a vet visit to make sure there aren’t any more litters of kits to take care of. He’s very friendly, gentle and snuggly. He loves being picked up for cuddles and sitting on my chest or shoulder. His favourite treat is celery and his favourite toy is a small sealed cardboard box that he can rip apart to find out what’s inside (pellets usually).

And Morgana, my eight month old female dwarf english rabbit. She’s a little frustrated now that the kits have learned to walk and climb out of the nest at all hours to pester her for more milk after they’ve already been fed but is taking good care of her first (hopefully only) litter. She’s just waiting on her kits to be weaned before she gets a vet visit of her own. Her favourite treats are cherry tomatoes and her favourite toy is a cardboard roll around a stick, so that she can spin it around while she rips it up and chews on it. She’s very snuggly and usually doesn’t mind being picked up, although she’s not quite as eager to be held as Gwaine. 

And their beautiful kits (with apologies to Morgana for opening the nest-box to take this photo).

They don’t have their proper names yet, but they’ve been nicknamed from left to right, George, Moocalf, Fred and Elizabeth. They’re very sleepy and spend most of their time forming adorable snuggle piles like the one in the photo, but they’ve started to get up and explore the playpen. I was very scared for Elizabeth for a while since she was the smallest of the litter but she seems quite healthy now.

I love animals but live in a small apartment with no permission for anything other than caged animals so rabbits seemed like the best choice of animal. It took a bit of time to learn to speak rabbit and interpret their body language when I was more used to cats and dogs but my bunnies have been very patient with me while I learn to take care of them.

I haven’t had pet rabbits since I was a little kid. I live in Australia, so sadly my childhood pet rabbits passed away early from Myxomatosis. Since we lived out in the hills, closer to the wild population, it was too risky to get more rabbits when there was no way to protect them from the disease. Now though I live in the city and keep them as indoor bunnies so it’s a lot safer. 

It’s great to meet you all and your wonderful bunnies. 

Regards,

Michael (and bunnies).

[Q8bunny]

Welcome, Michael, to you and your lovely little furry family.

Just a heads-up: buns can breed when they’re VERY young. So start thinking about a setup for the little ones while there’s a bit of time.

[MichaelK]

Thanks Q8bunny,

My vet won’t desex them until they’re at least sixteen weeks old but one of the other posters here was suggesting separating the boys and girls once they’re twelve weeks old. Fortunately I’ve got a second hutch from my parents that I can use for Elizabeth and her mother while Gwaine will hopefully accept the boys into his territory with a little bonding. (I think he will though, he’s obviously very lonely and he’s a very friendly bunny).

[Q8bunny]

A sound plan.

[Q8bunny]

A sound plan.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Congrats Grandad !! lol – they look gorgeous…. only one baby resembling the mum and dad…. reminds me of biology and gene lessons…!!

[cinnybun2015]

Hi! Your bunnies are adorable!! The kits are very beautiful.

[jerseygirl]

omigosh, adorable. I love that there’s a lil brown one lol. Which one is moocalf? Looks like you got 2 “charlies” also. Those are the ones mostly white with small amount of black colouring. Your original 2 are just as sweet, I must say. So great they don’t mind being handled.

I haven’t had pet rabbits since I was a little kid. I live in Australia, so sadly my childhood pet rabbits passed away early from Myxomatosis. Since we lived out in the hills, closer to the wild population, it was too risky to get more rabbits when there was no way to protect them from the disease. Now though I live in the city and keep them as indoor bunnies so it’s a lot safer.

It really is safer. Especially with the threat of calici virus also.

[MichaelK]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.

@ViennaBlue yeah it’s amazing, this breed is known for its very strange genetics. When I looked it up there are lots of tables and charts about what colour patterns result when you breed two rabbits together based on their parent’s colour patterns. For example if you breed two spotted together (like I accidentally did) you get a full mix of colours, but if you breed one of the Charlies with one of the Solids then all the children are spotted.

@Jerseygirl, Elizabeth is the little brown one. Moocalf has the spotted pattern and looks like his dad. George and Fred are the Charlies and they’re a little hard to tell apart but George has more grey on his ears. I was so surprised that my bunnies like being picked up and handled so much, based on all of the rabbit behaviour information I’ve read it’s very unusual but it was a pleasant surprise. If I haven’t picked Gwaine up in a while he starts going over to the side of the cage nearest to me and pressing at it with his nose trying to get my attention. He especially likes me holding him on my chest while I watch TV. Now if only I could get him to be alright with me trimming his claws, but it’s the one thing that he makes a bit difficult.

Latest update: Gwaine is just back from the vet as of yesterday from his surgery. I am constantly astounded by my vet and her level of care and professionalism. She gave me good answers to every question I had, talked about different rabbit-conferences she’d been to, provided painkillers for Gwaine automatically as part of the standard cost of the desexing and had very reasonable prices. She assured me that anything done as follow-up to the surgery would be completely free and encouraged me to err on the side of caution and bring him back in if I was worried about anything. While he was in surgery she even set up times for me to phone the nurses and check in on how he was doing.

He’s doing just fine though. I was worried when he licked his surgery site but he just moved straight on past it, he was just including it in his cleaning routine without worrying about the stitches. He seemed a little bit woozy while coming off the anesthetic but he’s eating, playing with his toys and moving around without problem. I was able to hug him without it seeming to hurt him and he’s been very cooperative about taking his oral medication.

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