This morning I drove up to Columbia, MD to pick up the bunnies from the bunny bonder’s house! I was SO excited to finally be getting them back–it’s been weird without them around the apartment. I arrived around 10:30, packed up the bunnies, signed the official adoption contract for the new bunny, and we were on our way home!
When we got back, I opened their carriers and let them into their new home together. Nibbles, Crispin, and Junie were all running around, sniffing everything, chinning everything, and exploring their new and improved pen. New bunny (name coming soon!) seemed a little more shy and scared of things and has stayed pretty quiet so far. We’ve connected J&C’s old pen with Nibbles’ pen, so now it’s extra big for the four of them. I made a quick video of their explorations:
So far, they’ve been spending time exploring and resting. They’re all getting along really well, too! It’s good to have them back home 🙂 I’ll leave you with a few more pictures:
A year ago today, Matt and I drove downtown to the Washington Humane Society. A couple hours later, we were walking back to our car with a very scared little bunny in a striped carrier. He was shaking all the way home and crouched in the corner of his cage for the whole evening. The next morning, he had found his water and food bowl. He slowly began to trust us and would creep out of his cage into his pen. He got more and more comfortable with us petting him and kissing his little bunny head. He got bigger (MUCH bigger!) and we expanded his home accordingly. I read tons and tons about caring for rabbits and we’ve tried to do our best in caring for ours.
We’ve had that little bunny a whole year now and it’s hard to imagine not having him! Nibbles was my first venture into pet-land and I don’t ever want to go back to no-pet-land. It’s been so much fun getting to know him and seeing his little personality evolve and change over the last 12 months. We’ve given him so much stuff, but he’s given back a lot, too. Sometimes, the best part of the day after a stressful 45+ minute commute is sitting down in his pen and petting him. I love when he snuggles up next to me and chatters his teeth when I rub his cheeks. Who wouldn’t love petting a cuddly, soft, fluffy bunny?? It’s the best.
So, in honor of Nibbles’ first “gotcha day,” I’m sharing some my favorite pictures and videos of Nibbles plus some new pictures from today. He got a couple treats and toys (I can’t resist!!!) this evening. Here we go:
This is Nibbles at just over 2 months old. It was the picture from the WHS website.
Nibbles is on the far right. This is another picture from the WHS website showing him with his mom (black) and his four siblings.
Early November 2011. Nibbles playing in his pen!
All flopped over and cozy!
Snuggling with Matt.
Flopping is a bunny’s way to show that he feels comfortable and safe.
Curious boy on his shelf.
Gimme that hay!
Bath tub time!
I love that I caught his tongue sticking out!
Typical Nibbles position. All stretched out on the second shelf.
He loves running around in the hallway!
These are some of the first videos of Nibbles.
And another one from December 2011 (he’s almost 4 months old here and jumps all over the place!):
OK, OK, enough reminiscing! Here are the new photos from today:
Nibbles’ loot. A yucca wood rolling chew toy plus a treat box full of hay and little treat bits.
We gave him the treat box first.
Then we gave him the chew toy. It has little holes and spaces in it, so if you want to stuff extra treats or hay in it you can.
He seemed to like it so far!
Nom, nom, nom! Nibbles loves chewing anything (hence, his name)! We opened it for him. He would’ve gotten inside eventually, but I am impatient and wanted to see him get to the hay! Here he is, enjoying his hay box:
Junie and her new friend are finally home. I know, I know…they were gone for only a weekend. But we really did miss Juniper! And we’re so excited to have a friend for her. He is a total sweetheart! He’s so comfortable with me and Matt and acts like he’s lived here his whole life. He’s more than willing to lay down for pets and snuggles.
They’ve been running around exploring their home, eating a TON of hay and pellets, and coming over to us for pets. It was so nice seeing Junie be groomed since Nibbles never groomed her and it was obvious that she craved it.
Nibbles has not been a happy camper since he figured out what was going on. I think he thought that Junie had just magically disappeared and was gone forever over the weekend. He was running back and forth in his cage (which is right next to their cage). New bunny stuck his nose through the bars toward Nibbles and Nibbles immediately started nipping at him. Although, just like Junie, he kept his nose right where it was even when Nibbles kept nipping him! We fixed that fast by putting some flat cardboard sheets in between the cages. Nibbles still seems a bit agitated, but hopefully he’ll get over it soon.
I keep waiting for them to flop over and sleep (they must be exhausted!), but so far they’ve been very active. I’ll try to get some better pictures of the two of them together when they’re a little calmer. But here’s what I do have:
After two months of learning about rabbits and bonding with Nibbles, I thought, “This little bunny needs a bunny friend.” I had read how most bunnies like having a companion, since they live in groups in the wild. After another ruthless campaign to convince Matt that this was indeed a good idea, we went to look at bunnies near Richmond, Virginia. There’s a beautiful property on the outskirts of town called Eden Farms. It’s set back in the woods where a dear family cares for many rabbits. Dutch, Netherland Dwarfs, Holland Lops, Lionheads, and several other small rabbit varieties.
We drove down on New Year’s Eve 2011 to find a friend for our Nibbles. We held several bunnies, but one dark chocolate brown girl with bug-eyes seemed like the perfect one. She was so tiny she fit into my two hands. We were told she was 7 weeks old exactly and that she had been weened and was ready to go. Unlike Nibbles who was terrified of everything, this sweet girl stretched out in the carrier on the way home and seemed very content. When we got home and got her into her new cage, I took some pictures:
Peeking out to say ‘hello!’
View from above.
She was so friendly! By the second day at home, she was jumping into our laps to take naps:
I’m excited!
She’s too busy nowadays to take naps on our laps (sad face) and she doesn’t hold still very long to get pets. But she does love running around and playing with you! She has so much energy and is quite the mischief maker!
Why did we get rabbits instead of something more conventional like a cat or dog? Why did we get more than one? Let me tell you…
Around the beginning of October 2011, I thought about the possibility of getting a pet. I’ve never really had a pet (besides a hamster named Fred when I was younger), but my husband had grown up with dogs. I liked dogs, too, and thought briefly about getting one, but I decided it probably wouldn’t work very well. We live in an apartment, work most of the day, and there’s no yard for a dog to run around in. It seemed like we would end up with a lonely dog who would have to “hold it” all day. Dogs are out for now. How about cats? That was quickly ruled out seeing as how I have huge allergies to cats. What else is there?
Fish? Too boring.
Turtles? Not cuddly.
Hamsters? Been there, done that. Not again, thank you.
Rabbits? Hmm…
When the thought of rabbits initially popped into my head, I thought of this:
SO CUTE. I would have this one, please.
Then I started reading about real rabbits. And about how baby rabbits (like the one in the hat above) grow up and become adult rabbits. And, while adult rabbits are still cute, they are not baby-cute. I decided I was okay with this. The more I read about rabbits, the more it sounded like they might be a good idea. They’re awake in the morning and evening (when we’re home from work). They use a litter box. You can make cheap toys for them out of old newspaper and toilet paper rolls. Perfect.
Now to convince the husband.
After a ferocious two week campaign on why a bunny would be good for us, Matt finally agreed. We got all the supplies we needed and looked up bunnies that were available for adoption in our area. Then, on October 30th, we made the trek into D.C. to the Washington Humane Society. They had many bunnies, but finally we saw a large cage with four baby bunnies inside. Siblings. We looked at all of them and asked if we could hold the little gray and white one. One of the workers opened the door and managed to snag the scrambling bunny. She handed this little puff ball to Matt…:
…and we promptly fell in love. He was just a tiny peanut at 2 months old and was shivering as Matt held him. We pet him and whispered comfort in his ear and he calmed down a bit. We filled out the adoption forms and he was ours.
On the car trip home, he was breathing so fast and his eyes were so wide and he seemed so scared. I kept whispering to him telling him everything was okay and that he’d be in his new home soon. When we got back and opened the carrier, he quickly hopped into his cage and sat in the corner. We left him alone during that first evening so he could get used to his new place. The next morning he had found his food and water. We tried to convince him to come out and play, but he would only stretch his little head out of the gate before scurrying back inside.
Nibbles has grown a lot since those first few days…
Nibbles in November, less than 3 months
A curious boy
Tuckered out
Eating his dinner
Rearranging all the items in his pen
I could post so many more! But I suppose that’ll do for now. Stay tuned for Junie’s “Gotcha Day” story!
Peeking out to say ‘hello!’
View from above.
A Very Bunny Existence 