Bandit: rabbity antics

[pani]

I know that feeling - I got a text from my housemate at work once asking if Felix was supposed to be out. Thankfully, he only got through my ethernet cable (easy to replace). I have a lot of things plugged in (that he doesn't have access to!) so we got very lucky.

 

[BigBunny]

oh dear.... it is sort of funny though !!!

They are GREAT escape artists. Boomer can manage to get anywhere he wants. you cant leave any door on his cage unlocked (clipped together with big clamps) he knows how to open and escape from them all.

smart creatures. they are quick too aye.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Mine can lift the door up to get it open. I have to zip tie it now and Houdini can jump anything. They always find a way lol

 

[Azerane]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's lucky he's so cute If I do end up getting a baby gate, it will have to be one of the extra tall ones

 

[Azerane]

I finally sold my old car today. Such a huge relief. I listed it month and a half ago, and for the past couple of weeks I've just been so busy that I'd pretty much forgotten that I essentially had a small pile of money sitting in my driveway. So thankful to have it gone, especially since the registration was due to expire next week and I really didn't want to have to fork out a couple hundred extra bucks for that. I'm also really glad that the people who came to look just bought it outright, because they'd been giving me the complete run-around all day about when they were coming over and it was basically a huge inconvenience for me all day to be waiting around for them, so at least it was worth the wait.

Bandit is adorable and mischievous as always, we have bunny club this week and I really wanted to have a bigger carrier for him before hand, but not sure I'm going to have the time to go out and find one that I like because I already have a bunch of stuff to organise in the next couple of days. I hate being busy I was going to buy a second-hand one because they're so much cheaper, but trying to organise a time with people is difficult. I will be near a pet store tomorrow so might have a look at what they've got and take his current carrier along as a size comparison.

 

[Chrisdoc]

She is just lovely. I think all buns,are like that. Mine,like to try in their own good time and if it disappears, I assume they like it

 

[Azerane]

^Wrong blog?

We went to bunny club again tonight I bought Bandit a brand new carrier yesterday specifically for outings like this and it's worlds better than his small little carry cage, which is fine for vet trips, but for longer than that is pretty unreasonable. I got a great deal on it too because it was on sale for $39, down from $69 and measures 69L x 45W x 36H cm. There's a little removable hay rack in it, but it's perfect for keeping his hay together at the end and he still has room to stretch out fully when sprawling out (which he did). The door is on the top and is the perfect size for getting him in/out! The whole car ride he was trying to dig and rearrange (I had a fleece blanket and some litter in there) and he just shuffled it around the whole time. We also had a good cuddle at the meeting, practiced syringing food (did not go well) and talked about the myxo outbreak among other things. He was much happier in this larger cage though than just his carrier and at the end of the meeting he was even so chilled as to groom me So although I didn't really have the time to be going (because I have a million things to organise for a camping trip) it was a good time and it was nice to get some time in with Bandit because I've been neglecting him a little bit lately, the poor guy.

 

[Azerane]

Update time!!

I went away over Easter so Bandit was boarding with the lady who runs the rabbit rescue. He must have had quite an experience because she also rescues orphan kangaroo joeys and has several that roam the living areas of her house and she said that Bandit and the roos got on quite well, would have been such a sight to see! I'm a little dissapointed that she seemed to feed him a lot of treat foods (fruit), when I picked him up his poops were very small and he had a few decent sized pieces of apple in his cage. I've never fed him apple before. So after I brought him home I gave him a niece big feed of his hay and he came good really quickly. I did expect a little better from someone who knows rabbits back to front, but still, In regards to something going wrong and her picking up on it and being able to treat it, I trust her completely. For five nights boarding, a teeth and ear check, nail clip and worming, it only cost me $27. So it's a complete bargain, and he gets much more attention and stimulation that if I had someone stop by to feed him, just the amount of new treat foods surprised me.

Anyway, no harm done since Bandit is his bouncy, love-absorbing self again. I got home from the camping trip monday night (picked up Bandit on the way through) then back to work on Tuesday before my dad came down for a visit. He lives interstate and I hadn't seen him in over a year and a half. He stayed the last two nights and is staying elsewhere until beginning of next week when he'll probably be back again for a few more nights. So it's good to catch up. He's a big softy and loved Bandit. I brought Bandit out onto the couch and my dad was very amused by him and sat there petting him for a really long time. It was the funniest thing.

Looking forward to another three days off with the second long weekend in a row.

 

[Azerane]

Well I've had an interesting day. Went to work, finished about 1pm, then I had some chest pain (which i'd also had Sunday morning). I was worried about it so I tried calling four doctor's offices who were all booked out for the day. I was too worried to leave it until tomorrow so I just decided to check myself into the hospital (since it's chest pain and it was freaking me out). I was admitted pretty much immediately, they did all the normal checks, plus an ECG, pee test, and chest x-ray. But as it turns out there's absolutely nothing wrong with me. Which is good, but I wish I had an explanation for the uncomfortable, scary chest pain. Still I was reminded how lucky we are in this country, because I had all those tests, was in the hospital for about 2-3 hours. And it cost me a grand total of $2.50, and that's because I had to pay for parking

Makes me realise just how lucky we are. Also I'm relieved to know that there's nothing wrong with me, I was starting to worry I was having some scary extended heart attack symptoms or something. So I'm really glad I just decided to go and have it checked out so I don't have to worry anymore. The pain is still there a bit, but I'm just going to assume it's weird muscle pain or something. Though I did absolutely nothing on saturday that would be likely to cause pain there sunday morning. Nevermind.

Bandit's not too happy at the moment, we ran out of wheaten hay over the weekend, and I haven't had time to go and get a proper bale, so we've got this bag of oaten hay that while clean and free of mould etc, it's just not great hay. So he's picking at it, but not really eating it the poor thing. I'll have to try and source another nice bale later this week.

 

[pani]

I'm thankful to live in Australia, for situations like yours. I remember I was visiting a small town a few years ago and ended up with the craziest flu I've ever had. I was still living with my parents at the time and we wanted to get it sorted out ASAP and make sure it was just a flu, nothing more, and ended up going to the ER. Got checked out, they gave me some meds, paid nothing for the hospital trip. Phew.

Poor Bandit. Felix and Clem were lucky - we were on the remnants of their bag of hay, and my partner came home with a big bag of new fresh hay for them.

 

[Azerane]

Yes, we are extremely lucky with our health care here

Some super exciting news as well!! (for me at least). My dad was down visiting from interstate, and before he left, he paid for a new camera lens for me!!! I get to go and pick it up from the store tomorrow afternoon, and I'm super excited. It's a lens I've wanted for the last 4 years for my bird photography but haven't been able to afford (which is why I was literally surprised that he offered to buy it for me since it's far from cheap). It's the canon 100-400mm, this beast here: http://www.canon.com.au/en-AU/Perso...Camera-Lenses/EF100-400mm-f45-56L-IS-USM-Lens It will be a huge learning curve for me since up until now I've been using a 55-250mm kit lens but I've been wanting this lens for a long time and I know it's going to be great for photographing birds So excited!! If only I wasn't working this weekend I might actually have time to get out and use it I only can't believe he bought it for me, since he's never really given me anything big like this before and I've never had anything expensive like that bought for me, had to pay for my own first car and Uni fees etc etc. So this is just crazy to me! Can't wait though

Bandit is still good, just less exciting today since I'm happy about the new lens, lol.

 

[pani]

Ooh yay!! New lenses are exciting. I only really use my DSLR for videos, so I'm not super clued up on it or anything, but I'm waiting for some lenses for my phone camera to arrive soon. Not quite as fancy...

Hopefully this means we'll see more pictures of Bandit, too?

 

[Aubrisita]

That is exciting! The only phone I have is my cell phone. Lol.

 

[Azerane]

Thanks guys. I finally had a chance to give the new lens a test run yesterday morning. Spent about 4 hours out looking for birds. Missed a few images that should have been freebies, but it's going to take some time to get used to using the lens, but I certainly see its potential in terms of reach and image quality.

It was also an exciting day because I got a new lifer, basically a bird species that I've never seen before. It was a Painted button-quail and I managed to get some dodgy images It brings me up to 254 life birds (australia only) and 149 year birds (chasing 202 from last year). Quail are notoriously difficult to see, and even if you do see them, it's usually a blue flying into the undergrowth, so was pretty pleased with the sighting. I do have a couple of photos I'll post from the day, but they're on my other computer so won't post them now.

In Bandit news, we got a new bale of hay yesterday. I went to a new place (again) to try them out. I got a bale of wheaten, not as green as the last, but still great quality and far fewer seed heads and from what I can tell, no earwigs this time!! Yay! A little more than what I paid last time, but still worlds cheaper than buying bags of hay. We had a nice moment today, I sat down in the laundry with him and had some pellets, for which he was literally clambering all over me in a desperate attempt to get them from me because apparently I starve him After he'd stolen the last of them he was on my lap and I was just petting his head, then after he'd finished eating, he actually stayed sitting on my lap and snuggled in against me and tooth purred while I was petting him. He tooth purrs often and loves being petted, but he never voluntarily stays on my lap, let alone snuggles into my lap. He loves the love, but prefers to be next to me. So it was a really sweet few minutes. He then licked my hand to death before biting my finger (I guess it stilled smelled like pellets), lol.

 

[ChocoClover]

That's so much like snowy.

 

[Azerane]

I bought Bandit a Teach and Treat yesterday. He had an interesting first try with it. I've found one problem with it so far, and that is I can't use pellets as the treats inside it, because he can't get them out of the little holes. So his first attempt at the first level actually went ok, until he got frustrated because he couldn't get at the pellets. So I had to take it away, and reset it with herbs instead.

I feel like the difficulty of the levels is reversed from what it should be though. He found the easiest level the hardest, and the hardest level the easiest. It was difficult to keep his interest in it, probably because of the pellets that I'd had out for him and he kept looking for more of those instead of herbs. But he got the hang of it a bit and it certainly kept me entertained

 

[Azerane]

Little bit of an update, though not much to report. While out walking yesterday I came across a myxomatosis infected rabbit. After getting home I did what I could to prevent any sort of contact between what I'd been wearing while walking and Bandit. Disinfected my shoes and changed clothes etc. Although the chances of passing on the disease in that manner are probably quite slim in comparison to other methods of transfer, I wasn't taking any risks. I'm still a bit paranoid though and basically just have to play a bit of a waiting game. Been doing a bit of reading up and apparently symptoms generally appear from 5 days. Unfortunately, having come across that rabbit, it also means that I don't want to go walking in that area again for a while (which is disappointing because it's my favourite local place and there's been some surprising birds turning up there).

I've been super paranoid about it though, I'm over-analysing every little thing Bandit does... such as "why are you sitting there and not in your normal spot?". Then worrying about the way he sits, or not eating hay straight away that I changed etc etc. I actually had trouble sleeping last night because of it, worrying about if I'd managed to transfer it. But I suppose I probably shouldn't worry unless it actually happens. There's no point in worrying because I can't do anything to stop it even if I have anyway.

Sorry I haven't taken any new pictures of him lately, the new lens isn't really suited to photographing bunnies at close range. But I promise I will soon! It has allowed me to get some great photos of some quail though The weather was absolutely perfect today for birds and photography, but I had promised myself (after going out with my camera yesterday) that today was my housework day, so I had to suck it up and deal with it. I did get to be out in the sun raking the leaves off the lawn though, lol.

 

[Azerane]

Well, today is day 7 since I came across that rabbit with myxo, and so far Bandit is completely normal So that's a huge relief, I've been watching him like a hawk. In another few days I'll feel certain that I've avoided it so I'm looking forward to that.

Not much else to update on, we've been playing with the Teach 'n' Treat, and he's starting to get the hang of it better though he seems easily distracted.

I have three days off from work now, so I'll be cleaning up a bit before a rental inspection this thursday, then Friday I'm doing a paid bird survey, so I'm pretty excited about that. Hoping the weather calms down a bit by then.

 

[whiskylollipop]

ray: Waiting is the hardest part! I remember going through that anxious paranoid wait whenever one of the bunnies ate something potentially gut-blocking. But I'm sure Bandit's healthy as a horse.

Seeing that myxo pic made me so sad. I wish I could've hugged that poor bunny.

 

[Azerane]

Thanks, he's still hopping and healthy It is a sad picture, but definitely good to know what to look for.

Bandit is going to hate me tomorrow morning. We ran out of pellets today (he only got about 1/2 - 3/4 of his usual amount), and though I went into the clinic last week (they didn't have any), the order hasn't come in yet, though they're expecting it tomorrow. So he's going to go at least half a day without pellets and he's going to be sooo mad, haha. I can just picture it now When I go in there tomorrow morning without pellets, I just know I'm going to get it. He's a cute little monster though