Bandit: rabbity antics

[Azerane]

Well I created a tunnel out of cardboard boxes to go behind the couches. It worked a real treat and Bandit loved it and have fun chewing it, but it's not going to work out. Firstly, he's not actually supposed to be inside anyway (rental) and the box creation was so big that unless I keep it permanently behind the couch (which is impossible) and there's no where to store it. So I've had to pull it apart again, which is a shame. So I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do, I feel awful giving him access to those places if I'm just going to block him off from it again, he's already desperate to run around the place every time I open the laundry door now.

I did today however buy him a harness. I already attempted some introductions to him with it. He was very interested in sniffing it, I suppose because it smelled like pet store. I made the loops extra big and while giving him head rubs slipped the neck loop around and clipped it on. I kept it on for about 30 seconds while continuing to love on him and then took it off. Then I tightened the neck loop a bit and repeated the procedure. It's going to take a different position and perhaps holding him to get the belly loop around him, because when he gets head rubs he presses himself right against the ground. But he's been really good so far, so I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to walk him around the yard and have that as an outlet to him as a replacement for play time in the lounge room. I also need to start getting him back into his hutch at night, as much as I love having him inside, he really does need to be out there and be used to being out there regularly. I'm just still waiting for it to dry off though I didn't check it today and it should be pretty close to being dry.

 

[Azerane]

Bandit had his first experience with children today. My sister and brother in-law came over with my nephew (4 1/2) and niece (1 1/2). I told my nephew that if he was very quiet while we were eating that I would bring my rabbit out to show him. He was quiet and well behaved so I picked up Bandit and took him in to show them. Bandit has been scared of strangers in the past, new smells and noises etc and won't accept food from them. I held him and I let my nephew pet him on the back. My niece was amazed, she was adorable. She loves animals and she was awed and didn't really know what to do, she just stood there quietly peeking out from behind my nephew, which is I suppose the best you can hope for since she barely made a peep when she could have been squealing in excitement. After a short petting session (in which rabbit fur went everywhere!) I put Bandit back in the laundry. After a trip to the playground I let my nephew into the laundry with me so that he could see Bandit hop around, he was reasonably quiet, no sudden movements, and didn't try to either pet him or pick him up. He asked lots of questions about all the rabbity things in the room. Towards the end he rolled Bandit's hay ball towards him and Bandit picked it up and moved it, my nephew was thoroughly entertained by it and laughed a little too loudly and rolled it again a bit too firmly and it was clear that Bandit was bothered by it so I ended session. But I'm proud of Bandit for not trying to dig or nip at my nephew's feet for being in the way and my nephew was very well behaved, not trying to pet or pick up Bandit without asking and not being too loud or active, just doing as I asked him too. So it went as well as it could have. I honestly expected Bandit to hide in his box while my nephew was in the laundry with us, but he hopped around curiously and ate some hay etc.

Because of the experience with children today I didn't try more harness introduction, I figured he'd had enough new things for one day What a good boy I have!

 

[Chrisdoc]

I´m so glad the experience was good for all. I think it´s so important that kids learn how to interact with each different animal and it seems like your nephew was such a good boy and enjoyed seeing the best of Bandit. Rabbits are fantastic animals and I love it when kids get to see that and how clever they are. I hope he gets to visit again, sounds like he had a good time.

 

[Azerane]

Thanks Chris I want to have Bandit experience new people and people of different ages, just so that if he ends up in a situation with lots of people around, I know he'll be ok and not freaking out from lots of new people. I mean, I'm not going to force him into situations just to do that, but if the opportunity presents itself like when my sister was over, I'll take the time to help Bandit adjust to new people. Apparently my nephew was very excitedly telling my brother the next day that I had a rabbit, and my brother asked what the rabbit's name was and my nephew was so disappointed that he couldn't remember.

Bandit's currently giving me a stern, disapproving look. He's out in his hutch for the first time in about two weeks (since we had a heavy rain and water got into it he's been inside while it's been drying out), he had to go in because we had parents of the owners of our rental come over to do some maintenance, so outside he had to go. I'm so glad bunnies don't hold grudges!

Edit: After four horrible grueling hours as a prisoner in his hutch (in his opinion), I finally was able to bring Bandit inside again I devised a new plan for letting him run around the hall and kitchen, he's pretty happy, though furiously chewing and pulling at the towel which acts as a protector for the carpet border where the fence is sitting. He's also got a funny saddle pattern where his fur is shedding, it's pretty cute.

Ugh, does anyone have any idea how to get photobucket images to be bigger like they used to be? Because I am officially hating photobucket now... so insanely frustrating.

 

[curiouscarrot]

Bandit is gorgeous. I like my bunnies, but I wish I also had a rabbit with "proper" bunny ears, like Bandit's.

 

[Azerane]

That was one of my main criteria when I got Bandit, he had to have upwards ears Thanks

 

[Azerane]

We had a play on the lawn today, now it's photo time

Img 1+2: Binkies
Img 3: His disapproving bunny face.
Img 4: Practicing the periscoping (I love those ears!)
Img 5: More Binkies
Img 6: "Just stretching mum, honest..." planning his escape
Img 7: More binkies
Img 8: His cute face =3

 

[JBun]

NICE binky shot! That boy can get some air! And he is totally planning his escape, haha. His little body is stretched as high as he can possibly reach, trying to see if he can get over that top edge. Silly boy

 

[curiouscarrot]

Look, Mum! I can levitate!

 

[PaGal]

I don't know if it will work for you or not but we have a large sheet of wood, 4ft X 8ft leaning against a wall in Thumper's room. It's for a project we haven't started on yet. It creates a tunnel affect behind it and Thump likes to lay back there but at first he would pull the carpet. I cut a few long pieces of cardboard slightly wider then they needed to be and wedged them behind the wood so it's firmly pressed to the floor and wedged between the wall and bottom of the wood. that appear.

I haven't had a problem with Thumper trying to get at the carpet and every now and again I use the hose on my vacuum to get up any loose hair or the few poos . If you have no way to wedge a piece of cardboard then maybe you could use the couch legs to help hold at least one side down so Bandit can't simply try and move it out of his way.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Really good shots! I love them all! Yes, he's definitely trying to escape!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Awwwww such fantastic shot with him mid air,he is so agile and a great binkier. I just love his colours, that light coloured belly is to die for. Mine bicky but have caught them mid air...congrats, he´s such a performer lol.

 

[Azerane]

Thanks everyone, and thanks PaGal for the advice, I will have to keep playing around with things to see how they work out.

Bandit really does manage to get quite a bit of air with his binkies, he is a very good jumper which can get a bit worrying sometimes. Especially when he reaches up at the fence like that. I know he can jump over it, he has before, he just doesn't seem confident in doing so (which isn't a bad thing).

We were out all day today (went to Monarto Zoo which is an open range zoo), and Bandit was very cute and happy when we got home. Though apparently he didn't miss me enough to want to be picked up He did let me brush him a lot while he sat eating some fresh hay though. He is shedding like there's no tomorrow!

 

[Azerane]

I'm still brushing Bandit, once or twice a day and pulling off a brush full of fur each time! It just doesn't stop falling off. And then even after brushing him, I'll go into his room and find a great big pile of loose fur in the corner. It's amazing he has any fur left

He accidentally peed over the side of his litter tray again yesterday, I've noticed that I can actually tell when he's done this by smell, before I even see it. When he pees in his litter tray, because it soaks into the litter it doesn't get a smell. But when he pees over the edge onto the floor it has a very distinct smell. Then it's also a pain because I have to scrub the floor when usually I can just mop it every so often! The little rascal.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Ash is shedding pretty hard too. Every time I pet him I can see tufts of fur come off. What kind of brush are you using? I'd like to get something for Ash to help him shed it all off.

Ash doesn't ever pee over the side of his litter box. I'm glad he doesn't. Sounds annoying!

 

[Azerane]

Bandit doesn't do it too often, maybe once every couple of weeks, but it is certainly a pain. I think it's started happening because he's gotten bigger and because he has a habit of pulling his litter box away from the wall, his butt just hangs off the edge. Been meaning to get a high sided tray to fix that problem but I don't often travel the way of the pet store I know that has them for a decent price.

I use a slicker brush for Bandit, seems to work pretty well. http://www.whiteshepherdsaustralia.com/slicker brush.jpg

 

[Azerane]

Surprised at how good I feel today, went bowling last night for a work event, food and drinks supplied... I'm not a drinker, but I felt compelled to take advantage of the free drinks, lol! So I did. Was very tipsy by the end of it, felt a little ill but not awful. Woke up this morning feeling completely fine, which was great.

So we (Bandit and I) have been working more on the harness training and Bandit has been sooo good. How he's such a little angel at the times when I really need him to be I just don't know. But I'll start petting him and he'll just lay there and soak it up and I'll clip the neck loop around. Then I'll keep giving him head rubs and lift up his front a little (something which he would never normally let me do) and slide the second loop under him then clip that on.

It's the first time I've had it on him fully, the other times we just practiced with the neck loop. So I put it on him, gave him lots of pets then took it off. A couple minutes later (after adjusting the loops as I'm still trying to get them right) I repeated the whole thing and put it on him again. Then I had to step away to get pellets as a reward and he decided to try moving and he didn't really like it. He did some funny hops which if he hadn't had the harness on would have almost looked like binkies, but you can tell they were just awkward hops, lol. I felt so bad, but I was really proud because although he was uncomfortable, he didn't hide or bolt from it, just moved a short way and stopped. I rewarded him with pellets then took it off again. About 10 minutes later I put it on him yet again and just let him eat pellets out of my hand while petting him before taking it off. So he's doing pretty well. I managed to get one pic of him with the harness on. I'm still trying to decide whether he is ok with the sound of the bell or not, though I suppose it's something he'll get used to. I'm just always trying to end on a positive and take it off him while he's relaxed and getting pets and pellets.

Have a pic

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

That's great that the harness training is working well! I might have to train Ash to do it because every time I try to put it on him he runs away and acts distressed. But once its finally on him he acts like he's not even wearing a harness and he doesn't act scared. Good picture of Bandit! That's the exact same harness I got for Ash only its a different color.

 

[curiouscarrot]

Does a rabbit harness need a bell? They put them on cat collars to warn birds, but is there any need for warning of a rabbit on lead? It might be useful if he was roaming free to find him, but he'll be attached by the lead. Unless I'm missing something (quite likely), I wouldn't bother trying to get him used to the bell, I'd cut it off.

 

[Azerane]

The harness doesn't need a bell, and I really don't care for it that much. My reasoning for keeping it on there was that on the highly unlucky and unfortunate chance he somehow got away while wearing it, and ran behind/into something etc (or if for some stupid reason it was night time, though why I would have him outside on the harness then I have no idea!), I would be able to find him by the sound of the bell when he moved. So that's the main reason I've kept it on so far.

It's tough getting the sizing just right for the harness though, I keep having to put it on and off him and adjust it slightly. I can't figure out if it's too tight, or if he just looks uncomfortable because the harness is new to him. I figure at the very least I can start off a little looser until he gets more used to it and slowly work it tighter till it seems reasonable.