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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.
- This topic has 15sd replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 2 months ago by
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It’s been a real rollercoaster since Breintje passed away: there was so much to arrange, and the week after Breintjes cremation Bas was away on business again for 5 days. During those days I realised that a house without a bunny is just a house, not a home. I went through the adoption pages, called the local shelters, and promptly got told that Breintje could never have been truly happy because he was a solo bunny… After they knew that we had a solo rabbit, most shelters wouldn’t consider us for adoption anymore. I talked it through with our vets, both said that shelter volunteers see so much misery that they form drastic opinions which don’t leave much room for nuance. I was shocked by the shelters’ attitudes, I did not expect to be turned away so harshly 🙁
We did know that we wanted Netherland Dwarf buns, but not buns who were overbred for extremely deformed flat heads. I wasn’t eager to go to breeders because it’s such a popular breed that there are breeding mills. Many who advertise online or through Craigslist-style platforms are actually running breeding mills. Bas offered to call the guy that he bought Breintje from, he has some connections to hobby breeders. He said that he could connect us with a hobby breeding club, but that it would take at least 2 weeks before he had more details.
Two days later I got an unexpected call: there were 3 bunnies available whose fur wasn’t the right colour for showing. The breeder specialises in rare cinnamon-coloured Nethies, and he has a whole exchange network with colleagues to prevent inbreeding. These 3 bunnies came from a new German dad, and daddy bun had basically run out of printer ink. The kits didn’t have the dark nose and ears to fit into the official cinnamon colour category, so they couldn’t be sold or shown. We said that we wanted to see mum and dad and the breeding circumstances first before making a decision, and we got an invitation for last Tuesday.
We were welcomed into their garden, and we saw bunnies with a lovely cinnamon colour and healthy round faces. They looked so much like Breintje, I had a difficult moment then… The breeder talked about how he was the specialist for this rare colour, and it turned out that Breintje actually came from this breeder! We ended up talking for 1,5 hours: about Breintje and his antics, and he told us about some of Breintjes nephews and older brothers: several had become very old as well. The breeder told us about the exchange programme, and the club’s aims: healthy Nethies without those awful flat noses and at a healthy weight. We were introduced to 3 young bunnies, and we chose the inquisitive girl and the cuddly boy.
They both have Celtic names: Molly was named for her feisty spirit, Owen was named after the yew tree who symbolically brings new life. Molly and Owen are the most perfect bunnies that you could ever hope for: the breeder spent a lot of time on socialising them and making them familiar with handling. They don’t bite or shy away, and especially Owen likes to be petted (if he’s actually sitting still long enough). They absolutely love it here: I’ve never seen so many binkies in my lifetime! They have a tonne of energy, and they finally have all the space to run, binky and do zoomies until they flop from exhaustion.
Owen and Molly spent the first day in their hutch together and really loved to snuggle, but on the second day we saw him attempting to mount her several times. At a little over 8 weeks old he isn’t fertile yet, but she wasn’t appreciating his attempts. We put them in separate hutches and they free-roam in the living room in turns. They still can see each other and they touch noses when one is in the hutch and the other is running free. It’s a bit sad to see them kissing with the bars inbetween, but I don’t want any fights now that Owen’s puberty is starting. The vet told us that his testes haven’t dropped yet, and that he needs to gain a little weight yet before surgery can be done. We’ll have to wait it out, and then we can rebond them when it’s safe again.
In the meantime: so many binkies! “They’re not afraid of the devil nor of his cross-eyed old mum”, as we say in our local dialect. Owen has even sat on my lap and on Bas’ shoulder in his exploration attempts. Molly is basically a blur all day: too busy binkying and doing the bunny 500 around the coffee table. It was completely unexpected that we’d have bunnies again so soon, but they are so very welcome! Fluff the breed standards: these bunnies are perfect in every way!
Owen and Molly in their hutch:
Close-up of Owen:
Close-up of Molly:
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They have so much energy and are busy all day! Constantly eating, munching piles of hay and pooping enough for 5. Pooper scooper, turds forever haunt me, but I won’t feel blue, like I always do, ’cause looking up at me is you… Sometimes we have to refill the food bowls thrice a day. You know when they need filling: Molly flings hers through the hutch. *CLANG!* That sounds like an empty bowl… Owen has a different technique: he just stands in front of your feet everywhere you go, we noticed it yesterday that his bowl is empty when he does that. How to train your human… 😉
I love it that they communicate with us so much, they are very vocal about their wants and needs. There are a lot of grunts, impatient taps, purrs and excited oinks when they can leave the hutch. They also listen to us a lot and track our voices with their ears. Owen has learned his first command: hutch! Okay, let me rephrase that: he already knew the command, but actually listened to it for the first time yesterday ^_^ He finally understood that it’s less stressful to walk to the hutch yourself and get a treat. He came to the hutch when I said the word and held the treat, but he stopped on the ramp and binkied away again. It was a big hassle to get them back to the hutch because they want to play outside, obviously.
Owen has become a big guy, he’s bigger than Breintje ever was. He was neutered on December 14th, and we’re waiting until the end of this month to reintroduce them. When he got his puberty his fur colour changed, and suddenly he got a very dark nose and ears. We sent pictures to the breeder to show that the colouring is there, it just grew in later. In some pictures Owen looks a lot like Breintje now, except that he’s larger and has huge round cheeks. Some friends had to do a double take: this is NOT a picture of Breintje:
Owen’s a pretty courageous boy but also clumsy. He loves heights and jumps from furniture to furniture. I accidentally took this action shot when he suddenly leapt from the other sofa onto my sewing tray on the armrest of my sofa. He narrowly missed both the hot tea and the pincushion! Bas often has to reclaim my sewing tools from behind the sofa when Owen has been a lummox again.
He’s also becoming a massive snugglebug. It’s not every evening, but sometimes he’s in the mood and lays next to me for sofa snuggles for 15 minutes or so. This is quite long for such a young bun 🙂 He’s so much bigger than Breintje though, it really shows.
Molly has stayed very small, but she’s in her puberty now and is growing a dainty little dewlap. She’s making progress with her shyness: she likes to be petted and is less nervous about it as long as she sits in a certain place in her hutch. She rarely accepts pettings when she’s outside of the hutch, but it’s getting more frequent. She’s also becoming less scared of visitors. Usually she hid under the TV stand, but she started to come out after 15 minutes. She carefully accepts treats from strangers and sniffs at their clothing. Yesterday she happily flopped underneath the table once everybody was seated, and was pretty relaxed when we had friends over. One of them hadn’t had bunny kisses in ages, so I told her to give Molly a treat when she was in her hutch. Then Molly happily licked her hand, and she even accepted some pets ^_^
So small!
She’s developing a pretty strong digging instinct, so we set up a digging box for her, filled with paper shreds. She loves to dig everything out: mischief managed!
Slowly she’s becoming more comfortable around us as well, sometimes she lays down on the crate when I’m knitting on the sofa. This way she’s close without being too close, and I love to see that she’s making progress and feels calm around me ^_^
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