New Pet

This is Will's new pet. Mommy caught her in the backyard. She is an Eastern Fence Lizard. We feed her crickets and keep her warm.

The loss of another pet...

Sadly, while the kids and I were gone on vacation our dear Peter rabbit was killed by neighbor dogs who came and pushed into his cage and left only a ball of fur. We are all very sad...

Peter "Lightning" Rabbit

Here is Peter, the baby that we kept as our own. He has a great cage that he really enjoys. He is growing SO much and is still very gentle and sweet. We enjoy watching him and playing with him lots.

Morgan is gone.

Our dog Morgan now rests. He was over 8 years old which is pretty good for a large breed like he was, he had always been our outside guard dog and didn't have it easy. He had become weak and thin and shaky, wasn't eating well and I don't think his eyesight was very good anymore. I am sad and will miss how safe he made me feel, miss his big bark and nighttime howls even. Molly misses him too.

Six weeks old!

All of the bunnies except Peter have gone to new homes. We are thrilled that 3 of them are in homes of friends so we can still see them every now and then! Peter is doing fine by himself and getting more attention. We have enjoyed our baby bunnies SO much.

Five weeks old!

Clover and Poirot going to their new home!

34 Days old!

Peter, Poirot, Millie and Clover's last day together. :(

30 Days old!

Peter and Poirot

29 Days old

Super Will and Peter (aka Lightning)

Four weeks old!

This is Peter, Poirot, and Millie.

27 Days Old!

This is Millie, Rose's favorite. She has the cutest black eye.

She still needs to be adopted!

26 Days Old!

This is Clover, Heather's favorite. She will be going to a new home on Saturday.

25 Days old!

This is Dante with Drover in his pocket - he hung out there much of the morning!

Today was a big day. It started with me finding some bunnies with hurt paws when I went out to feed this morning. It looks like 3 of them have missing toes, torn paws, poor, poor babies! I am thinking that a dog may have nipped at them from under the cage? It could also be just the wire floor or mom or dad (I've seen both of them pushing the babies around a bit lately). So.... I moved the babies back in the house for now. I will take them out in the morning and see if Ruby will nurse them and be nice.

We also found a new home for two more of the bunnies! A nice lady is going to give Poirot and Clover a new home in a week or so. :-) That leaves just Millie available for adoption!

24 Days old!

This is the one we called Snowball, he has been adopted by our friend Elijah who has named him "Cuddly". :-)

Nursing Mama Rabbit - 23 days old

22 Days old!

This is the runt - hasn't he grown? His name is now Drover and he has been adopted by our friend Dante. :-)

Three Week Old bunnies!

This is Poirot (the British detective - looks like him to me!), and I think Clover's back.

I tried to load up a video of the bunnies, but I can't get it to come up. :(

20 Days old!

This is "Peter". It is Will's favorite, the one that we are keeping! :-)

19 Days old!

The bunnies can squeeze through the squares in the fence and get over to their daddy's side of the cage. It has been sweet to watch them nuzzle their daddy, and he has been fine, but I wish they would stay on their own side where it's soft and carpeted!

18 Days old

We moved the bunnies with their mama out to the outdoor hutch today. They have a 3-level condo :-). They seem to be doing well. Ruby was nervous about having Max in such close proximity, but I think she realizes now that he can't get over to their side. It's fun to watch her be so protective. They all seem quite happy out there. The weather has been mild and rabbits do well in cold weather - it's the heat that gets them more, so I'm sure they will be fine.

17 Days Old!

Today we moved the nest out of the cage and put the lid back on the carrier that Ruby uses as a bed. This allows her a place to go that the babes can't reach! She tends to get annoyed if they continually try to nurse. It is harder to get a picture of them all at once now, so you'll likely see more close-ups of individuals. They are now nibbling on the dry rabbit food, some oats, lettuce and leaves. I think this is the one the kids have named "Snowball".

16 Days Old

15 Days old

They are all over the place now! In and out of their box with ease and hopping all around.

TWO WEEKS OLD!

13 days old!

12 Days old

11 Day Old Bunnies

Update

The bunny babies (kits or kittens as they are called), are growing by leaps and bounds - literally!!! One of them actually jumped out of the nest and landed in mama's litterbox today. She went over and fussed over it and it started nursing, then she jumped in the nest with all the others and let them nurse - so I reached in and set the wandering babe back in the nest with her. She nursed them for a bit and then they calmed down and went back to sleep. So far everyone else has stayed where they belong today! :-) I wonder how long the "nest" will last? I may need to remove the box part soon so that they don't get out and then get trapped in a gap or corner - we'll see.

We still haven't named any of the babes, but got to know them a little better today!

Up close! The 2 black baby bunnies

Here are the two black and white baby bunnies. We held them for the first time today! They are so soft and snuggly. :-) Will is holding his favorite one here, and Angela (my sis) is holding the 2nd one.

Brown/tan bunny babies up close

These two are quite pretty. The light brown or tan markings are nice and soft. Heather is holding her favorite in the first one and then Rose is holding the second. It was harder than I thought to hold onto them - they keep trying to hop but are quite clumsy!

White babies up close

The two white bunny babies. These two actually look a lot alike, mostly white except grey on the ears and a bit on the face. The first one got shy and buried it's face when I took the pic! The 2nd one here is the runt, who seems to still be doing well. It is just over half the size of the others, but is also beginning to open it's eyes and is growing more and more hair every day.

Day 10 Bunnies

9 Day Old Bunnies!

They are starting to open their eyes! They also are beginning to try to hop around, it is quite amusing to watch their awkward efforts. Runt is looking pretty good, has a good bit of hair now and we can see more markings. They are such darlings. :-)

8 Day Old Bunnies

See the one starting to stand? Their colors are more and more vibrant. The runt is still growing, slowly but surely, it has more hair now and I can tell it has greyish ears and a gray spot on it's rump. They are so sweet!

One Week Old Today!

They are a week old now. They are starting to be noisy, moving around their nest, scratching and just thumping around. They should open their eyes in a few days! I thought it was pretty cute how the two with the brown are next to eachother and the two with the black stripes are next to eachother at the top (Will's fav is on his back, you can see his nose and one paw sticking up from under the pile). Then the two that are mostly white except the face (one is the runt) are next to eachother in the middle.

Six Day Old Bunnies

Growing so much! They are moving around a lot more now.

Day 5 Bunnies

Runt has a bit more hair and seems to be okay so far. It's a bit less coordinated, definitely behind in development, but maybe it'll be okay after all?

Day 4 Bunnies

That black spotted one is just darling. See the teeth on the one that always has his nose in the air? Looks like we have a runt over on the right side, hope it makes it okay...

Three days old...

Two Day Old Bunnies!

A bit more fur and a little chunk on their bellies! Will wants to keep the one in the center with the black stripe on it's back and the black ears. Isn't that little nose poking up sweet? That one must be hungry!

One Day Old Bunnies!

There's Itty Bitty Baby Bunnies!

Just in time - we got Ruby settled inside and within hours she has given birth to six babies! Look at all that hair she pulled to keep them warm.

Building a Nest!

Here is what we found Ruby doing! She was pulling her hair and building a nest. I had suspected her pregnancy, but wasn't sure. When we saw this, I checked her belly and could feel little babes! We separated her from Max and moved her inside to the warm house.

Rabbit Condo

Here you can see how I divided the large hutch into 2 separate apartments with multiple "floors" in each. Max is on his side (the left when looking out from the kitchen like I am). I used those wire cube shelf systems and LOTS of zip ties! I think it will work well. :-)

Building the bunny hutch

We spent the morning building a new bunny hutch. We set it up right outside our kitchen window. It is high off the ground and we can still enjoy our bunnies while they are safely outside. I will divide this large hutch in half and Max and Ruby will each have an "apartment" of their own. It's pretty redneck-ish, but Tom is a plumber NOT a carpenter (he doesn't believe in levels or right angles :-).