I think I have Sophie and the litter problem fixed. I had looked at the litter boxes with the grid already inserted at PetSmart and I wasn’t impressed. There were these nifty little loops that were went to make it easy to remove the grid and clean the box, problem is Sophie is a jerker, meaning once she gets a hold of something like carpet she will jerk and jerk at with her whole body it like her life depended on it. I could just imagine her getting obsessed with the little loop and finding with enough torque to pull it out right from under her and either scaring her to death of getting some body part stuck between the grid and the edge of the box. So I went to Lowe’s and bought a roll of rabbit cage material. it was funny when I went to ask if a certain wire cutter was strong enough to cut through the metal he asked if I was building a rabbit cage. I loved the look of surprise on his face when I told him that I had two house rabbits that were litter trained but one of them liked kick out the litter after she used it. I’m sure it’s a story he doesn’t hear every day and it made sense to him after I explained that I was actually building a guard to insert over the litter box.
Last night I built the metal guards for both the box in the cage and in the living room floor. Sophie took to them like it was just like she wanted it but poor Sawyer is a creature of habit and ended up being really confused about the change. I ended up adjusting the one in the living room floor lower because I thought that he might not like high it was. I lowered it to where it was almost on top of the litter and he was more willing to jump in and use it. I inspected the cage and watched them after they were let out and there was no mess to be found and two little bunnies doing their business where there are suppose to. Hopefully Sophie will grow out of her digging litter habit but for now I have her beat!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sophie the Clown
Sophie thinks she’s a cat, well she walks like a cat. We noticed it not long after we got her that every now and then instead hopping a long she would literally put her butt up in the air and walk on all fours. It’s not that kind of timid, I’m not sure if I really want to go over there bunny stretch where the front and back feet are stretched out. No this is a I really want to go over there and I’m not the least bit scared kind of walk. The other day Kent and I were in the floor trying to keep the troops in line and she actually got up on all fours, walked between us, around Kent and under the cage. You have to love her, she is definitely a little clown.
The other part of her unusual act is her ears. She has full ear control so she can move them every which way, instead of the normal front and back. Until recently I didn’t know that having ear control was kind of an unwanted trait and that would disqualify a show rabbit. Though I’ve read they could just be temporary, I actually hope that she doesn’t grow out of them because she’s a happy little pet rabbit and to us that is one of her most endearing qualities. We hadn’t really noticed it until my Mom came over after we had had her for a week to see her for the first time. I love you Mom but you have one of the most annoying ring tones. It is some kind of whistling and when it went off Sophie’s ear went straight up. When Mom didn’t get to it soon enough to turn it off, Sophie ran into her cage and hid. Since then we’ve learned that whistling, any sharp noises and certain music will get her ears up and if she hears it long enough she’ll run and hide. I actually got her to thump at me and run off once because I was making a loud, sharp smacking noise with my lips. The little girl even sticks one of her ears out of the cage when she is on the shelves sleeping. It’s funny, explosions on TV don’t bother her at all but the Andy Griffith theme song gets her ears rising.
The other part of her unusual act is her ears. She has full ear control so she can move them every which way, instead of the normal front and back. Until recently I didn’t know that having ear control was kind of an unwanted trait and that would disqualify a show rabbit. Though I’ve read they could just be temporary, I actually hope that she doesn’t grow out of them because she’s a happy little pet rabbit and to us that is one of her most endearing qualities. We hadn’t really noticed it until my Mom came over after we had had her for a week to see her for the first time. I love you Mom but you have one of the most annoying ring tones. It is some kind of whistling and when it went off Sophie’s ear went straight up. When Mom didn’t get to it soon enough to turn it off, Sophie ran into her cage and hid. Since then we’ve learned that whistling, any sharp noises and certain music will get her ears up and if she hears it long enough she’ll run and hide. I actually got her to thump at me and run off once because I was making a loud, sharp smacking noise with my lips. The little girl even sticks one of her ears out of the cage when she is on the shelves sleeping. It’s funny, explosions on TV don’t bother her at all but the Andy Griffith theme song gets her ears rising.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Bunny Tails!
Kent has been asking me to put up a few of the pictures he has taken of the little ones so I thought I would share these. Sawyer and Sophie are taking turns running through their tunnel.
I bought one of those expandable green tunnels a while back for Sophie because it seemed like she always was playing under the throws that Kent would have thrown over his legs on the couch. The day I received the tunnel I expected Sophie to love it, which she did but Sawyer seemed to love it even more. I’ve put cardboard tubes out for him to play with in the past but he has never been as crazy about them as he was the tunnel. We quickly found out though that we had to prop the tunnel up because poor little Sophie would get in it and it would roll on her because she was a little thing, whereas big boy Sawyer could just run through. Since then we’ve went though several cardboard boxes which I cut holes in for the tunnel to fit in to use as support.
None of them has worked as well as the cardboard sleeve that came on an exercise mat I bought a while back. It not only keeps the tunnel from turning but also nearly doubles the size of their play tunnel. We’ve moved the tunnel from place to place but ultimately it has ended up right in the middle of the floor so that not they run around the and through the tunnel they can run around it.
That also freed up Sawyer’s dinner spot. Sawyer has this habit for a long time where after he is let out of the afternoon and has had a trip to the litter box that he will go stand right in front of the entertainment center near the kitchen door way and just wait. That means, ok so where’s the parsley? We eat in the living room because we don’t really have the space for an eating area in the kitchen so there have been many times I’ve been in a hurry to get super done that after sitting down to eat that I have to get right back up because Sawyer is staring at me. Sawyer has this thing he does when he’s upset, first he’ll kind of give you the evil eye and if you don’t quickly figure out what he’s not happy with, he’ll start to slightly rock back and forth. The only time I’ve seen him do this when I haven’t filled his food bowl soon enough or have forgotten his plate of parsley. Last night long after all the carrot was gone and only a few stems parsley remained, Sawyer stood behind the plate and just stared and us, after he kept standing there I went to the fridge and got a few more sprigs of parsley out and gave them to him. Kent suggest that maybe he wanted a few carrots so I brought the bag out and no sooner had I stepped in the living room Sophie was at my feet automatically sensing I had something she wanted. I slipped Sawyer a few and bent down to give Sophie a carrot and the little stinker stood on her hind feet the entire time while I had fed her. After a fed her a couple I put the carrots away and in the time it took me to walk to the fridge back she had already stolen Sawyer’s last carrot right out of his mouth. I know it was probably mean and will only reinforce her thievery but I took the carrot from her and gave it back to Sawyer and the smart little boy turned away from her so that she couldn’t do it again.
When I’ve said before that she is a thief I wasn’t kidding! The first time I put a plate of parsley in front of them she proceeded to take the grab the stem of the parsley Sawyer was eating right out of his mouth and eat it herself. She did that several times until Sawyer just stopped eating and stared at me like will you do something? He quickly learned to eat a little ways away from her and on her left, for some reason she’s not as bad about stealing on that side. Do bunnies favor a side like humans? Here lately though she leaves him alone with his parsley since she’s found carrots. Thankfully these two still get along even though Sophie’s a thief.
I bought one of those expandable green tunnels a while back for Sophie because it seemed like she always was playing under the throws that Kent would have thrown over his legs on the couch. The day I received the tunnel I expected Sophie to love it, which she did but Sawyer seemed to love it even more. I’ve put cardboard tubes out for him to play with in the past but he has never been as crazy about them as he was the tunnel. We quickly found out though that we had to prop the tunnel up because poor little Sophie would get in it and it would roll on her because she was a little thing, whereas big boy Sawyer could just run through. Since then we’ve went though several cardboard boxes which I cut holes in for the tunnel to fit in to use as support.
None of them has worked as well as the cardboard sleeve that came on an exercise mat I bought a while back. It not only keeps the tunnel from turning but also nearly doubles the size of their play tunnel. We’ve moved the tunnel from place to place but ultimately it has ended up right in the middle of the floor so that not they run around the and through the tunnel they can run around it.
That also freed up Sawyer’s dinner spot. Sawyer has this habit for a long time where after he is let out of the afternoon and has had a trip to the litter box that he will go stand right in front of the entertainment center near the kitchen door way and just wait. That means, ok so where’s the parsley? We eat in the living room because we don’t really have the space for an eating area in the kitchen so there have been many times I’ve been in a hurry to get super done that after sitting down to eat that I have to get right back up because Sawyer is staring at me. Sawyer has this thing he does when he’s upset, first he’ll kind of give you the evil eye and if you don’t quickly figure out what he’s not happy with, he’ll start to slightly rock back and forth. The only time I’ve seen him do this when I haven’t filled his food bowl soon enough or have forgotten his plate of parsley. Last night long after all the carrot was gone and only a few stems parsley remained, Sawyer stood behind the plate and just stared and us, after he kept standing there I went to the fridge and got a few more sprigs of parsley out and gave them to him. Kent suggest that maybe he wanted a few carrots so I brought the bag out and no sooner had I stepped in the living room Sophie was at my feet automatically sensing I had something she wanted. I slipped Sawyer a few and bent down to give Sophie a carrot and the little stinker stood on her hind feet the entire time while I had fed her. After a fed her a couple I put the carrots away and in the time it took me to walk to the fridge back she had already stolen Sawyer’s last carrot right out of his mouth. I know it was probably mean and will only reinforce her thievery but I took the carrot from her and gave it back to Sawyer and the smart little boy turned away from her so that she couldn’t do it again.
When I’ve said before that she is a thief I wasn’t kidding! The first time I put a plate of parsley in front of them she proceeded to take the grab the stem of the parsley Sawyer was eating right out of his mouth and eat it herself. She did that several times until Sawyer just stopped eating and stared at me like will you do something? He quickly learned to eat a little ways away from her and on her left, for some reason she’s not as bad about stealing on that side. Do bunnies favor a side like humans? Here lately though she leaves him alone with his parsley since she’s found carrots. Thankfully these two still get along even though Sophie’s a thief.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Weekend
Sawyer and Sophie did great this weekend. They are definitely back to being peas in a pod.
I got up Saturday and Sunday morning to this:
The two of them have quickly gone back sharing a shelf peacefully like they use to do before Sophie went crazy.
Thankfully it appears that things are getting back to normal because it was really stressful to see the bunnies acting badly towards on another and just having to keep them apart was the worst. Once we got Sophie fixed, the closer it came time to put them together the harder it was to keep them apart during the day or night. The last few days before we started letting them stay together we actually had to use treats to trick them in their respective cages, which I hated to do but I didn’t want to put them back together until one of us was there to watch them. In the end I’m sure we wouldn’t of had any problems putting them back together over night as early a Wednesday but considering it took getting Sophie fixed and nearly two weeks for Sawyer to accept her again and essentially forgive her, I don’t regret holding off. They are getting back into their old routines and I can breath a sigh of relief because I know they’re back to being the happy little bunny couple they use to be.
I got up Saturday and Sunday morning to this:
The two of them have quickly gone back sharing a shelf peacefully like they use to do before Sophie went crazy.
Thankfully it appears that things are getting back to normal because it was really stressful to see the bunnies acting badly towards on another and just having to keep them apart was the worst. Once we got Sophie fixed, the closer it came time to put them together the harder it was to keep them apart during the day or night. The last few days before we started letting them stay together we actually had to use treats to trick them in their respective cages, which I hated to do but I didn’t want to put them back together until one of us was there to watch them. In the end I’m sure we wouldn’t of had any problems putting them back together over night as early a Wednesday but considering it took getting Sophie fixed and nearly two weeks for Sawyer to accept her again and essentially forgive her, I don’t regret holding off. They are getting back into their old routines and I can breath a sigh of relief because I know they’re back to being the happy little bunny couple they use to be.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Caught red, well orange, handed!
Last night I made sure I had my camera in hand before I put the parsley plate down and I snapped a picture as Sophie nicked a carrot off the plate. I tried to expand both Sawyer’s and Sophie’s food horizons last night and unfortunately both of them turned their noses up. The grocery store had some oregano and pretty purple basil on sale that I thought they might enjoy and since I am in the process of planning my garden I would throw in a few herb plants for them. Well it didn’t work, I left the plate out most of the evening and once the parsley and carrots were gone, they’d go back and sniff it every now and then but were totally not interested.
As soon as I let them out last night and this morning they both headed to the litter box in the floor and shared it with no problems. Well at least they are behaving. No digging, no fighting, the only problem last night and this morning was getting them in their separate cages. The plan to let them stay in the same cage tonight is definitely a go.
I’m going to leave you with a picture of a sleepy Kent and Sawyer. Love you Kent!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Oh the little couple are doing so well!
They really seem to be back to their normal selves. I didn’t see Sawyer demanding to be groomed at all last night and he just seems to be getting more and more relaxed around Sophie and is content to lay in the middle of the floor and take a nap while she hops around.
Sophie has been so good about not digging in the litter box until last night. I cleaned all the litter boxes and the litter in Sophie’s cage out last night and got down to the bottom of the hay bag last night, maybe I put the wrong bit of hay in the wrong box. Sawyer ended up in Sophie’s cage eating her hay and Sophie ended up in the big cage digging through the hay in that litter box to get to the best bits of hay in there. She hasn’t dug in her cage at all and still hasn’t attempted to dig in litter box in the floor, so maybe it just the hay in the big cage she wants to make a mess of. Ever since the vacuum got clogged up with hay, I’ve only been putting hay in the cages to keep Kent’s sanity. The vacuum is his pride and joy and he’s a little fastidious sometimes, so when I had to take the hose off the vacuum and drop knitting needles through it to clear the clogged hay out of the hose, he freaked a little. Love you Kent!
The only excitement we had last night was Sawyer trying to eat the TV, well at least nibble on it. I’m sure it didn’t taste very good but being the curious little bunny he had to try it.
With Sophie’s surgery and everything, there is no easy way for her to get out of her cage if we leave it on the table that is next to the cage Sawyer is staying in so whenever we let her out we just move her cage to the floor. I have been keeping a rug over it to make her feel more secure and to make sure that Sawyer doesn’t hurt himself if he jumps on top.
He ended up sitting up there quite a while watching Sophie play, watch a little Ghost Hunters with us and act like he was “King of the Castle.”
They really seem to be back to their normal selves. I didn’t see Sawyer demanding to be groomed at all last night and he just seems to be getting more and more relaxed around Sophie and is content to lay in the middle of the floor and take a nap while she hops around.
Sophie has been so good about not digging in the litter box until last night. I cleaned all the litter boxes and the litter in Sophie’s cage out last night and got down to the bottom of the hay bag last night, maybe I put the wrong bit of hay in the wrong box. Sawyer ended up in Sophie’s cage eating her hay and Sophie ended up in the big cage digging through the hay in that litter box to get to the best bits of hay in there. She hasn’t dug in her cage at all and still hasn’t attempted to dig in litter box in the floor, so maybe it just the hay in the big cage she wants to make a mess of. Ever since the vacuum got clogged up with hay, I’ve only been putting hay in the cages to keep Kent’s sanity. The vacuum is his pride and joy and he’s a little fastidious sometimes, so when I had to take the hose off the vacuum and drop knitting needles through it to clear the clogged hay out of the hose, he freaked a little. Love you Kent!
The only excitement we had last night was Sawyer trying to eat the TV, well at least nibble on it. I’m sure it didn’t taste very good but being the curious little bunny he had to try it.
With Sophie’s surgery and everything, there is no easy way for her to get out of her cage if we leave it on the table that is next to the cage Sawyer is staying in so whenever we let her out we just move her cage to the floor. I have been keeping a rug over it to make her feel more secure and to make sure that Sawyer doesn’t hurt himself if he jumps on top.
He ended up sitting up there quite a while watching Sophie play, watch a little Ghost Hunters with us and act like he was “King of the Castle.”
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The bunnies are getting along wonderfully. Last night you could tell they aren’t anxious with one another anymore and are actually seem to be getting back to normal. Sawyer has almost quit lowering his head and demanding to be groomed constantly and the grooming seems to be a lot more equally given as well as received.
Sophie’s back to her regular antics of carrot stealing. Every evening, I set out a plate of parsley with a few carrots on the bottom as a dessert. Even though she'll eat her share of parsley she has taken to pushing the parsley aside and picking up a piece of carrot and running to a corner to eat it before going back and eating parsley. And while they both love parsley, Sophie is the carrot eater. I think Sawyer only eats carrot because she’s eating them. I introduced Sawyer to carrots a long time ago and he wouldn’t more than nibble on them. I even got the fancy organic carrots so that he could eat the green tops and quite honestly wasn’t even interested in that. But not long after I had gotten Sophie on the parsley bandwagon,I threw a few carrots in with the parsley, he gobbles one up after he sees Sophie gobble hers up. You can tell even now that they are not his favorite thing but he wants to make sure that he gets his share.
We rewarded Sawyer’s good behavior last night by giving him some banana, which is his favorite treat. We haven’t given it to him in a long time because Sophie seems to be repulsed by it. The couple of times we fed banana to Sawyer she would sniff it and then run to his other side like she knew he was getting a treat and wanted some too. She would just run from one side of Sawyer to the other anxious to get her share of a treat like each time maybe, just maybe it would suddenly be a different treat. So we'd quit trying to give banana because we ended up sneaking her a few raisins so that she didn’t feel left out and I just didn’t think it was fair to leave Sophie out. I thought since it had been a while maybe she would have more interest in banana last night, sort of like Sawyer was with carrot. I didn’t work, she had the same response, like something awful smelling was put under her nose. Kent even tried to rub a little on her to see if she would try it and she still had no interest in it. So we ended up caving and sneaking her a few raisins.
If things between Sawyer and Sophie keep progressing as well as they have been in the past few days, we plan on either Friday or Saturday night putting them in the same cage over night with either Kent or myself spending the night in the living room to make sure that they don’t get in any fights. Things may be different when they are enclosed in the same cage but they have been behaving very well. They are getting into each other’s cages together and just hanging out, but the thing that shows they are at ease with each other though is the fact that they will get in the carrier together. For some reason they both have a fascination with it. It’s just a plain cat carrier that we got to take Sawyer in when he got fixed. We found out its strange attraction when I put it out for Sawyer to get use to a few days before he went to the vet and he ended up wanting to play or stay in it constantly. I figured he’d hate the thing after he spent most of the day in it, not to mention the strange situation but he still loved playing in it. Basically we ended up treating it like a toy and left it in a corner most of the time. Sophie took to it just like Sawyer did and they ended up liking to dig in it. There is nothing but a plastic bottom in it and they seemed to think if they keep at it they can dig their way to China, well that’s a better place to dig than the carpet. Anyway last night the two of them keep jamming their selves into it, taking turns hopping over each other to get in or out of it. If they can play in that close of quarters and not get upset with one another then we’re well on our way to letting them stay together.
Sophie’s back to her regular antics of carrot stealing. Every evening, I set out a plate of parsley with a few carrots on the bottom as a dessert. Even though she'll eat her share of parsley she has taken to pushing the parsley aside and picking up a piece of carrot and running to a corner to eat it before going back and eating parsley. And while they both love parsley, Sophie is the carrot eater. I think Sawyer only eats carrot because she’s eating them. I introduced Sawyer to carrots a long time ago and he wouldn’t more than nibble on them. I even got the fancy organic carrots so that he could eat the green tops and quite honestly wasn’t even interested in that. But not long after I had gotten Sophie on the parsley bandwagon,I threw a few carrots in with the parsley, he gobbles one up after he sees Sophie gobble hers up. You can tell even now that they are not his favorite thing but he wants to make sure that he gets his share.
We rewarded Sawyer’s good behavior last night by giving him some banana, which is his favorite treat. We haven’t given it to him in a long time because Sophie seems to be repulsed by it. The couple of times we fed banana to Sawyer she would sniff it and then run to his other side like she knew he was getting a treat and wanted some too. She would just run from one side of Sawyer to the other anxious to get her share of a treat like each time maybe, just maybe it would suddenly be a different treat. So we'd quit trying to give banana because we ended up sneaking her a few raisins so that she didn’t feel left out and I just didn’t think it was fair to leave Sophie out. I thought since it had been a while maybe she would have more interest in banana last night, sort of like Sawyer was with carrot. I didn’t work, she had the same response, like something awful smelling was put under her nose. Kent even tried to rub a little on her to see if she would try it and she still had no interest in it. So we ended up caving and sneaking her a few raisins.
If things between Sawyer and Sophie keep progressing as well as they have been in the past few days, we plan on either Friday or Saturday night putting them in the same cage over night with either Kent or myself spending the night in the living room to make sure that they don’t get in any fights. Things may be different when they are enclosed in the same cage but they have been behaving very well. They are getting into each other’s cages together and just hanging out, but the thing that shows they are at ease with each other though is the fact that they will get in the carrier together. For some reason they both have a fascination with it. It’s just a plain cat carrier that we got to take Sawyer in when he got fixed. We found out its strange attraction when I put it out for Sawyer to get use to a few days before he went to the vet and he ended up wanting to play or stay in it constantly. I figured he’d hate the thing after he spent most of the day in it, not to mention the strange situation but he still loved playing in it. Basically we ended up treating it like a toy and left it in a corner most of the time. Sophie took to it just like Sawyer did and they ended up liking to dig in it. There is nothing but a plastic bottom in it and they seemed to think if they keep at it they can dig their way to China, well that’s a better place to dig than the carpet. Anyway last night the two of them keep jamming their selves into it, taking turns hopping over each other to get in or out of it. If they can play in that close of quarters and not get upset with one another then we’re well on our way to letting them stay together.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sophie Update
Here’s a pic a snapped after we got Sophie home.
She was wore out and had found a comfy spot near her new friend Monkey. I had actually put him in her cage a few days before the surgery so that she could have a friend with her for the trip to the vet. This little fella also went to the vet with Sawyer too.
That was Friday, I swear if I hadn’t been there to take Sophie to the vet and had seen her shaved belly and where the surgery had been done I wouldn’t have known by the way she was acting last night she had even had surgery a few days ago. She was already started training for the Bunny Olympics last night with a little sprinting around the living room and high jumping in a very Tigger like fashion. It’s good to see her bounce back so quickly, she’s not at all moody and is actually being a little bit affectionate. And thankfully she and Sawyer were best buds last night.
Sophie had wore herself out and Sawyer came over and laid down next to her and though you can’t tell it in the picture Sawyer actually has his ear flopped over her back. There wasn’t any fighting and while there was a little bit of chasing there wasn’t the least bit of tenseness or anxiety from either of them last night. Were still keeping them apart until Sophie heals and we are sure they are ok together but hopefully were on out way to bunny bliss!
She was wore out and had found a comfy spot near her new friend Monkey. I had actually put him in her cage a few days before the surgery so that she could have a friend with her for the trip to the vet. This little fella also went to the vet with Sawyer too.
That was Friday, I swear if I hadn’t been there to take Sophie to the vet and had seen her shaved belly and where the surgery had been done I wouldn’t have known by the way she was acting last night she had even had surgery a few days ago. She was already started training for the Bunny Olympics last night with a little sprinting around the living room and high jumping in a very Tigger like fashion. It’s good to see her bounce back so quickly, she’s not at all moody and is actually being a little bit affectionate. And thankfully she and Sawyer were best buds last night.
Sophie had wore herself out and Sawyer came over and laid down next to her and though you can’t tell it in the picture Sawyer actually has his ear flopped over her back. There wasn’t any fighting and while there was a little bit of chasing there wasn’t the least bit of tenseness or anxiety from either of them last night. Were still keeping them apart until Sophie heals and we are sure they are ok together but hopefully were on out way to bunny bliss!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Bunny Drama!
It’s been nearly a week since I’ve blogged, unfortunately there has been a lot of stress in the bunny household.
We had to separate Sawyer and Sophie Tuesday night. I think that Sophie’s hormones went into overdrive and poor Sawyer took the brunt of it. I came home Tuesday to a cage with hair everywhere and a very tense Sawyer. Kent had already warned me there was probably trouble because when he came home that afternoon for lunch they were tense, so when I got home I was somewhat prepared to deal with them. I let them out and laid down on the floor with them so that I could carefully watch their body language. Sawyer initially looked really stressed but seemed to relax after they played a little and then started grooming each other, the next thing I know Sophie is trying to hump his head. I quickly pushed her off of him, sat back and watched she came up and groomed him on the head and then she ran off. Sawyer then went under the cage to his favorite place and she came over and immediately tried to hump him again, I pushed her off and then they started staring at each other and just looked really tense. Then she growled, so I squirted them in the face to break it up and just started talking to them which calmed them down and then she went over to Sawyer and stood next to him and took a bath like nothing was wrong. After they chilled out and were both taking a bath I saw that Sophie had taken some of her frustration out on Sawyer and chewed on one of his ears and actually bit a hole in the other. That combined with the hair in the cage and all the tenseness I was seeing made me decide to put Sophie in a cage next to Sawyer’s and keep them separated unless we are home to closely supervise their visits. I love them both and do not want to see them to hurt one another, so with all of this uproar we decided to get Sophie spayed as soon as possible. We were originally going to get her fixed the middle of April but with this development we made Sophie an appointment Friday to get her spayed.
Until the surgery we let them take turns getting out to play and only let them out together when we could be right in the floor with them to break any skirmishes. Most of the time when we let them out we didn’t have any trouble, but whenever she would get near his behind he would whip around at her and tense up. After observing them, I really don’t think that their bond was breaking down because they would groom each other and lay next to each other like normal, I just think Sophie is so hormonal she couldn’t control herself and Sawyer saw it as she is trying to dominate him.
Well we took the little one to the vet Friday and I must say she handled it like a real trooper. I remember when we got Sawyer fixed he was still groggy the next day and at one point had his foot stuck out grooming and then started staring out into space forgetting that his foot was still stuck out. When we went to pick Sophie up was pretty alert but we didn’t really let them have much interaction on Friday because when we got her home you could tell she was hurting. We did let Sawyer greet her when we got home, even though they haven’t been the best of friends lately you could see that he was curious and actually might have missed her all day. After we put Sawyer back up we let Sophie have free roam of the living room and after moving from spot to spot trying to get comfortable, she ended up staying in the litter box in the floor most of the evening. I had put litter all in the bottom of her cage so I eventually picked up the litter box she was comfortable in and coaxed her into her cage so that I could let Sawyer out.
We let the two of them out together on Saturday and ended up putting Sawyer up more than once. It became a lot more obvious with Sophie not feeling 100% yet what was going on between the two of them. Sawyer was constantly trying to get her to groom his head, which she was willing to do, but if she didn’t do it for however long he thought was needed he would try to lunge at her. As soon as he exhibited that behavior he was scooped up and put in his cage. We want them to get back to normal but we don’t want them to hurt each other.
Sunday turned out much better, most of Sawyer’s aggression wasn’t there basically because every time he approached Sophie to be groomed she willingly washed his whole head. They actually ended up in the big open cage that Sawyer has been staying in together a few of times and there wasn’t any aggression from either one of them. Several times Sophie stood on one of the ledges and Sawyer would put his head up so that she would groom it, I just wish I’d gotten a picture of it. By bed time we had two apparently content bunnies who just wanted to be next to each other. Sawyer was laying in the next to the entertainment center, Sophie plopped down with him and they took a bunny nap. We’re going keep them separate until Sophie heals but work with them every day. Hopefully we are well on our way to getting these two back together.
We had to separate Sawyer and Sophie Tuesday night. I think that Sophie’s hormones went into overdrive and poor Sawyer took the brunt of it. I came home Tuesday to a cage with hair everywhere and a very tense Sawyer. Kent had already warned me there was probably trouble because when he came home that afternoon for lunch they were tense, so when I got home I was somewhat prepared to deal with them. I let them out and laid down on the floor with them so that I could carefully watch their body language. Sawyer initially looked really stressed but seemed to relax after they played a little and then started grooming each other, the next thing I know Sophie is trying to hump his head. I quickly pushed her off of him, sat back and watched she came up and groomed him on the head and then she ran off. Sawyer then went under the cage to his favorite place and she came over and immediately tried to hump him again, I pushed her off and then they started staring at each other and just looked really tense. Then she growled, so I squirted them in the face to break it up and just started talking to them which calmed them down and then she went over to Sawyer and stood next to him and took a bath like nothing was wrong. After they chilled out and were both taking a bath I saw that Sophie had taken some of her frustration out on Sawyer and chewed on one of his ears and actually bit a hole in the other. That combined with the hair in the cage and all the tenseness I was seeing made me decide to put Sophie in a cage next to Sawyer’s and keep them separated unless we are home to closely supervise their visits. I love them both and do not want to see them to hurt one another, so with all of this uproar we decided to get Sophie spayed as soon as possible. We were originally going to get her fixed the middle of April but with this development we made Sophie an appointment Friday to get her spayed.
Until the surgery we let them take turns getting out to play and only let them out together when we could be right in the floor with them to break any skirmishes. Most of the time when we let them out we didn’t have any trouble, but whenever she would get near his behind he would whip around at her and tense up. After observing them, I really don’t think that their bond was breaking down because they would groom each other and lay next to each other like normal, I just think Sophie is so hormonal she couldn’t control herself and Sawyer saw it as she is trying to dominate him.
Well we took the little one to the vet Friday and I must say she handled it like a real trooper. I remember when we got Sawyer fixed he was still groggy the next day and at one point had his foot stuck out grooming and then started staring out into space forgetting that his foot was still stuck out. When we went to pick Sophie up was pretty alert but we didn’t really let them have much interaction on Friday because when we got her home you could tell she was hurting. We did let Sawyer greet her when we got home, even though they haven’t been the best of friends lately you could see that he was curious and actually might have missed her all day. After we put Sawyer back up we let Sophie have free roam of the living room and after moving from spot to spot trying to get comfortable, she ended up staying in the litter box in the floor most of the evening. I had put litter all in the bottom of her cage so I eventually picked up the litter box she was comfortable in and coaxed her into her cage so that I could let Sawyer out.
We let the two of them out together on Saturday and ended up putting Sawyer up more than once. It became a lot more obvious with Sophie not feeling 100% yet what was going on between the two of them. Sawyer was constantly trying to get her to groom his head, which she was willing to do, but if she didn’t do it for however long he thought was needed he would try to lunge at her. As soon as he exhibited that behavior he was scooped up and put in his cage. We want them to get back to normal but we don’t want them to hurt each other.
Sunday turned out much better, most of Sawyer’s aggression wasn’t there basically because every time he approached Sophie to be groomed she willingly washed his whole head. They actually ended up in the big open cage that Sawyer has been staying in together a few of times and there wasn’t any aggression from either one of them. Several times Sophie stood on one of the ledges and Sawyer would put his head up so that she would groom it, I just wish I’d gotten a picture of it. By bed time we had two apparently content bunnies who just wanted to be next to each other. Sawyer was laying in the next to the entertainment center, Sophie plopped down with him and they took a bunny nap. We’re going keep them separate until Sophie heals but work with them every day. Hopefully we are well on our way to getting these two back together.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
I’m sure I’m not the first bunny parent to be concerned that their little one is sleeping on a hard surface only to find out later, well they actually prefer the comfort of a hard cold surface. Before Sophie came along and his bachelor pad was rearranged Sawyer use to love to lay under his shelf with his monkey and I thought he need something soft to lay on so I bought a cute little green bed that matched his cage thinking he would just curl up in it and sleep. He ended up digging and chewing on it but the last thing he wanted to do was lay in it.
I snapped this picture after he had wore himself out playing and obviously wanted to lay down. Problem was the bed was in the way, so he got in and out of it until he ended up in this position, as close to possible to his normal resting place with as little of himself in the bed as possible.
I snapped this picture after he had wore himself out playing and obviously wanted to lay down. Problem was the bed was in the way, so he got in and out of it until he ended up in this position, as close to possible to his normal resting place with as little of himself in the bed as possible.
Monday, March 8, 2010
I came home about a week after we bought Sophie home to this:
Sophie dead to the world sprawled out on the shelf and Sawyer looking at me like can you please do something about her? It reminded me of a commercial I haven't seen in a while, I think it was for Cheerios, anyway the little brother looks at his little sister and asks something like how long is she staying before changing his mind and saying that they should keep her. That's kind of how I thought Sawyer felt.
As you can see Sawyer use to be a bit of a bachelor and that shelf use to be all his.
I ended up adding a second shelf on the other side of the cage so that they could spread out but the two little peas in a pod usually ended up on the same shelf next to each other.
Sophie dead to the world sprawled out on the shelf and Sawyer looking at me like can you please do something about her? It reminded me of a commercial I haven't seen in a while, I think it was for Cheerios, anyway the little brother looks at his little sister and asks something like how long is she staying before changing his mind and saying that they should keep her. That's kind of how I thought Sawyer felt.
As you can see Sawyer use to be a bit of a bachelor and that shelf use to be all his.
I ended up adding a second shelf on the other side of the cage so that they could spread out but the two little peas in a pod usually ended up on the same shelf next to each other.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sophie and the litter boxes
Oh sweet little Sophie, she’s such an angel….when she’s sleeping!
She is currently driving us up the wall. The new Bunny Olympics sport she is training for is digging, the problem her training grounds are the litter boxes. We keep two boxes, one in the cage and one in the floor off to the side where Sawyer can kind of hide and do his business. For whatever reason he decided along the way that he might drop a few pellets here and there in the one in the cage but strangely enough his choice of boxes to go in is the one in the floor. He actually use to get upset if you didn’t let him out to go to the bathroom as soon as you get home. Since Sophie has come along his habits have changed a little and he will sometimes go in the cage, there lies the problem. They are both litter box trained but Sophie digs all of the litter out, so whether or not there is litter in the box or in Sawyer’s case the area where the box is suppose to be they go. Of course she always waits until someone has done their business before she empties the box which makes it all the messier. I’ve had a dig box with just paper out but she really hasn’t had any interest in it. I’ve tried several things like taking the outside litter box away and putting a dig box with just paper in it which Sophie just ignored but Sawyer went in anyway. I also tried taking the box off of the floor altogether but unfortunately, Sawyer is firmly trained on where his box is suppose to be and that is where he goes regardless so we have to have a box out for him. After the umpteenth time of picking up used litter off the floor my solution was to use a box bigger than the litter box and leave part of the flaps on it so that it folds over the box and only leaves a small area to jump in, it works because she can’t get the litter high enough and most of it stays in the litter box. In the cage the litter problem is a whole other story. She waits until late a night at bed time and spends the whole night making sure that there is not a single piece of litter left in the box. The only thing that worked there was to put only hay in the box but it was just a smelly mess, I then tried putting a thin layer of litter in the bottom and hay completely covering it but the next morning she had dug it all out again. I think my next idea might be to line both boxes with newspaper and then just put hay over it. Maybe it’s just the material Sophie likes but the digging has gotten real annoying and we are going to have to find her another outlet besides litter boxes.
She is currently driving us up the wall. The new Bunny Olympics sport she is training for is digging, the problem her training grounds are the litter boxes. We keep two boxes, one in the cage and one in the floor off to the side where Sawyer can kind of hide and do his business. For whatever reason he decided along the way that he might drop a few pellets here and there in the one in the cage but strangely enough his choice of boxes to go in is the one in the floor. He actually use to get upset if you didn’t let him out to go to the bathroom as soon as you get home. Since Sophie has come along his habits have changed a little and he will sometimes go in the cage, there lies the problem. They are both litter box trained but Sophie digs all of the litter out, so whether or not there is litter in the box or in Sawyer’s case the area where the box is suppose to be they go. Of course she always waits until someone has done their business before she empties the box which makes it all the messier. I’ve had a dig box with just paper out but she really hasn’t had any interest in it. I’ve tried several things like taking the outside litter box away and putting a dig box with just paper in it which Sophie just ignored but Sawyer went in anyway. I also tried taking the box off of the floor altogether but unfortunately, Sawyer is firmly trained on where his box is suppose to be and that is where he goes regardless so we have to have a box out for him. After the umpteenth time of picking up used litter off the floor my solution was to use a box bigger than the litter box and leave part of the flaps on it so that it folds over the box and only leaves a small area to jump in, it works because she can’t get the litter high enough and most of it stays in the litter box. In the cage the litter problem is a whole other story. She waits until late a night at bed time and spends the whole night making sure that there is not a single piece of litter left in the box. The only thing that worked there was to put only hay in the box but it was just a smelly mess, I then tried putting a thin layer of litter in the bottom and hay completely covering it but the next morning she had dug it all out again. I think my next idea might be to line both boxes with newspaper and then just put hay over it. Maybe it’s just the material Sophie likes but the digging has gotten real annoying and we are going to have to find her another outlet besides litter boxes.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Today I thought I would share one of my favorite pictures of Sawyer and Sophie.
Sawyer had just laid down in the middle of the floor and Sophie ran over and plopped down next to him.
Before we got Sophie, Sawyer would never lay in the middle of the floor, he'd always end up under the cage or near the entertainment center. But know it’s like he thinks he’s king of the castle and that is the best place to watch over his domain. The funniest thing is when Sophie is running around like a mad bunny she’ll hop right over him like he is part of an obstacle course and Sawyer won’t even flinch. Thankfully these two are peas in a pod, well except for the other day but I haven’t seen any unusual behavior since then so I think it was just a fluke.
I just want to say hey to Malena and thank her for following my blog and for the wonderful little buns I now own. Malena runs Hamilton’s Hoppin’ Lops (http://www.hamiltonshoppinlops.com/) and is who I got Sawyer and Sophie from.
Sawyer had just laid down in the middle of the floor and Sophie ran over and plopped down next to him.
Before we got Sophie, Sawyer would never lay in the middle of the floor, he'd always end up under the cage or near the entertainment center. But know it’s like he thinks he’s king of the castle and that is the best place to watch over his domain. The funniest thing is when Sophie is running around like a mad bunny she’ll hop right over him like he is part of an obstacle course and Sawyer won’t even flinch. Thankfully these two are peas in a pod, well except for the other day but I haven’t seen any unusual behavior since then so I think it was just a fluke.
I just want to say hey to Malena and thank her for following my blog and for the wonderful little buns I now own. Malena runs Hamilton’s Hoppin’ Lops (http://www.hamiltonshoppinlops.com/) and is who I got Sawyer and Sophie from.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sawyer's Monkey
Since starting this blog I have been looking at pictures of of the little ones and I come across this cute picture of Sawyer with his monkey.
Before Sophie came along this little fella use to be Sawyer's best friend. There were many times I had to throw his monkey in the wash because he had groomed it so much all of it's fur was stiff. Oh and apparently at some point Sawyer went Mike Tyson on the poor monkey because as you can kind of tell in the picture part of it's ear has been chewed on.
I've kind of forgotten about the monkey because right after we got Sophie, Sawyer went into an awful shed so bad that Kent bought a more powerful vacuum to deal with all the hair. So every time I put the monkey in the cage he'd immediately be covered in hair so I just put him away. I think now that all of the hair is under control its time to get it back out.
Before Sophie came along this little fella use to be Sawyer's best friend. There were many times I had to throw his monkey in the wash because he had groomed it so much all of it's fur was stiff. Oh and apparently at some point Sawyer went Mike Tyson on the poor monkey because as you can kind of tell in the picture part of it's ear has been chewed on.
I've kind of forgotten about the monkey because right after we got Sophie, Sawyer went into an awful shed so bad that Kent bought a more powerful vacuum to deal with all the hair. So every time I put the monkey in the cage he'd immediately be covered in hair so I just put him away. I think now that all of the hair is under control its time to get it back out.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Sophie
I had planned on writing about Sophie yesterday but the whole fight thing was more on my mind.
Kent and I got Sophie on January 1st and she has ended up being the complete opposite of Sawyer. She’s outgoing and adventurous. The weekend after we brought her home when my parents were visiting she wasn’t bashful at all. Perhaps that’s why the two bonded so quickly.
The hardest part so far has been training her. We learned quickly that every time we clapped or said no that Sawyer thought he was in trouble. He has gotten use to that and will only look up when he knows he’s the guilty party but we still try not to use that method as much. The one thing that works on her that doesn’t bother him so much is the water bottle. The only place he doesn’t like to sprayed is in the face but sometimes all Sophie needs to hear is the sound of the water bottle spraying to stop what she is doing.
I had the thought the other day, as boisterous as she is I’m sure Sawyer has a calming effect on her and without him she would be ten times the spitfire that she already is.
Kent and I got Sophie on January 1st and she has ended up being the complete opposite of Sawyer. She’s outgoing and adventurous. The weekend after we brought her home when my parents were visiting she wasn’t bashful at all. Perhaps that’s why the two bonded so quickly.
The hardest part so far has been training her. We learned quickly that every time we clapped or said no that Sawyer thought he was in trouble. He has gotten use to that and will only look up when he knows he’s the guilty party but we still try not to use that method as much. The one thing that works on her that doesn’t bother him so much is the water bottle. The only place he doesn’t like to sprayed is in the face but sometimes all Sophie needs to hear is the sound of the water bottle spraying to stop what she is doing.
I had the thought the other day, as boisterous as she is I’m sure Sawyer has a calming effect on her and without him she would be ten times the spitfire that she already is.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Ouch!
So I was planning on making a Sophie post today but unfortunately there has been an incident. Sawyer bit me. But it was completely my fault, for some reason the two of them decided to fight this morning and I got in the way. This is the first time I’ve seen that kind of behavior like that from the two of them and hopefully it was just a spat.
They take turns running around like crazy bunnies in the mornings, this morning being Sawyer’s turn. They haven’t started chasing each other yet but Sophie was trying to follow him, got tired of it and plopped down in the floor. Sawyer came over to her and kind of made a move to hump her, she got up and then they just started going in a circle like they were trying to get a chunk of the other. Sophie is faster so I got a hold of Sawyer and held him down to try to break his focus. After she laid down near us and I could tell he was calmed down I let him up and he started licking her head and then ran off. Five minutes later they were at it again, this time they ended up under their cage. At the time I wasn’t thinking of anything but getting them apart because I could see fur was getting pulled out, so I reached under the cage and while trying to reach for Sawyer got in the way of his teeth. I yelped which freaked them both out and I was then able to grab Sophie and but her in the cage. Apparently my yelp was enough to stop the commotion because they got on shelves on the opposite sides of the cage and stayed there until I left. While I was on my way to work Kent called me and told me they were laying next to each other on one of the shelves in their cage like the fight didn't happen.
When we introduced the two, Sawyer was almost 11 months old and had been neutered about a month before. Before we brought Sophie home I read everything I could find my hands on about bonding rabbits for more than a month so that I would be prepared for anything. Luckily however it appeared we had a love at first-sight bond. There wasn’t any fighting or indifference. Almost immediately went up to each other and started investigating. After some humping from Sawyer, Sophie soon started grooming his head. I honestly couldn’t believe it, we put them in Sawyer’s play area and there was still some humping but we ended up letting the stay in the play area all day. I wasn’t comfortable leaving them in the same cage overnight so I set up a second cage next to Sawyer ‘s and the next two mornings I got up they were laying next to each other in their separate cages. The third night they stayed together and we haven’t had a bit of trouble from them fighting until this morning.
I’m still not sure what set them off. I haven’t changed their diet except for I forgot to set out parsley at dinner time last night and I usually give them a pinch of oats in the morning but instead of waiting for me to fill up the food bowl they ran out to play. There is the possibility Sophie was hormonal this morning and didn’t want to be humped, which hasn’t happened in a long time. Once Sawyer became the dominate one the humping pretty much stopped. We were planning on getting her fixed in April so if that’s the problem it will be gone soon. Then I read something this morning that a fight could be started by one feeling like it is not getting enough grooming time compared to what it is giving. I’ll just have to keep a close watch on them and hope this was not something major.
They take turns running around like crazy bunnies in the mornings, this morning being Sawyer’s turn. They haven’t started chasing each other yet but Sophie was trying to follow him, got tired of it and plopped down in the floor. Sawyer came over to her and kind of made a move to hump her, she got up and then they just started going in a circle like they were trying to get a chunk of the other. Sophie is faster so I got a hold of Sawyer and held him down to try to break his focus. After she laid down near us and I could tell he was calmed down I let him up and he started licking her head and then ran off. Five minutes later they were at it again, this time they ended up under their cage. At the time I wasn’t thinking of anything but getting them apart because I could see fur was getting pulled out, so I reached under the cage and while trying to reach for Sawyer got in the way of his teeth. I yelped which freaked them both out and I was then able to grab Sophie and but her in the cage. Apparently my yelp was enough to stop the commotion because they got on shelves on the opposite sides of the cage and stayed there until I left. While I was on my way to work Kent called me and told me they were laying next to each other on one of the shelves in their cage like the fight didn't happen.
When we introduced the two, Sawyer was almost 11 months old and had been neutered about a month before. Before we brought Sophie home I read everything I could find my hands on about bonding rabbits for more than a month so that I would be prepared for anything. Luckily however it appeared we had a love at first-sight bond. There wasn’t any fighting or indifference. Almost immediately went up to each other and started investigating. After some humping from Sawyer, Sophie soon started grooming his head. I honestly couldn’t believe it, we put them in Sawyer’s play area and there was still some humping but we ended up letting the stay in the play area all day. I wasn’t comfortable leaving them in the same cage overnight so I set up a second cage next to Sawyer ‘s and the next two mornings I got up they were laying next to each other in their separate cages. The third night they stayed together and we haven’t had a bit of trouble from them fighting until this morning.
I’m still not sure what set them off. I haven’t changed their diet except for I forgot to set out parsley at dinner time last night and I usually give them a pinch of oats in the morning but instead of waiting for me to fill up the food bowl they ran out to play. There is the possibility Sophie was hormonal this morning and didn’t want to be humped, which hasn’t happened in a long time. Once Sawyer became the dominate one the humping pretty much stopped. We were planning on getting her fixed in April so if that’s the problem it will be gone soon. Then I read something this morning that a fight could be started by one feeling like it is not getting enough grooming time compared to what it is giving. I’ll just have to keep a close watch on them and hope this was not something major.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Sawyer
My boyfriend Kent and I got Sawyer when he was about two months old last April.
He has ended up being a very sweet and gentle bunny. He’s a little bit of a scaridy cat sometimes and for the most part not really the adventurous type. He’s happy to stay in his part of the living room unless he’s in the mood to follow you and that means either standing at the gate that keeps him away from the part of the living room that he’s not allowed or standing at the kitchen door because he’s afraid of the linoleum with a look that says “where ya goin’?” He was pretty easy to train and quickly learned what no meant. His only vice ended up being the carpet near the gate in the living room and the only way he’d stop was a squirt of water to the face since no and clapping didn’t work. But once he was fixed even that fixation went away. Thankfully Sophie hasn’t taught him any bad habits yet, they did have a base molding chewing party for a few days but that hasn’t happened in quite a while.
At the time we got Sawyer, Kent was unemployed and the two were good companions for each other. He got use to coming and going as he pleased, so when Kent went back to work he became very needy. When I got home if I didn't immediately let him out he'd start chewing on his cage and if anyone was in the living room he thought his door should be open even if he ended up just lounging on the shelf in his cage. We didn't really realize how truly lonely he was until we brought Sophie home.
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