Bandit: rabbity antics

[Azerane]

Thanks so much guys, means a lot. It's true I don't think you can ever fully prepare for it.

 

[Azerane]

I finally got a chance to use all those extra pens I bought a couple of weeks ago. Between bad weather, having my wisdom teeth out and being ill, I just haven't had a chance. But we had an inspection today for our rental so the other day I had to full-on clean the laundry since I haven't scrubbed it since before my op. As it was a beautiful day, Bandit got to play outside in the sun. He seemed a bit put out that there was a lid on the pen, lol, but it meant I could safely clean without having to keep my eye on him every single second. He seemed to have fun anyway. All the pegs are holding the lid together. As it turns out, I actually have enough panels to have made it an extra panel longer, but counted wrong at the time since there was still a panel hiding in our storage cupboard.

I actually felt really bad for him today, because the inspection was today and I left for work before 6am, I had to put him in his hutch last night. When I put him out in his hutch the weather was beautiful, calm and warm. Then the night turned, windy and gusty with rain pelting down etc. Made me feel so bad. Bandit was fine though, it's probably just me that's the big softy, lol.

 

[Azerane]

So, two good very good things and one very funny thing have happened recently. The first is that my good friend's husband fixed our washing machine cord for us for free!! He has his restricted electricians licence so no worries about it being a dodgy job at all, which is nice. I ran it today after I got home from work and it works a treat, it's so good not to have to hand wash clothes anymore.

The second good thing, is that he also made me some rabbit jumps. He's doing some sort of building course at the moment and is way ahead of everyone else in it so apparently gets bored, his wife (my friend) told him about how I was wanting to train Bandit to jump so he decided to make some for me. Which is super nice of him. So he dropped those off yesterday when he came over to fix the washer.

As for the very funny thing... well, on Sunday it was my nephew's 5th birthday party, and my mum gave him a dart board with suction cup darts. Later that night we set up the dart board, and my nephew stuck one of the darts to my forehead before pulling it off. Fast-forward a few hours and I have a nice big "hickey" on my forehead from the dart, lol. It's already been there two days, I'm hoping it goes away soon, lol. Still, it's a fun story to tell when people ask about it.

I got to try out the jumps today with Bandit, and having used them I would have made it so there could be more poles on it that fit closer together so you can raise the height in smaller increments, but I got them for free so I'm not complaining. I may even be able to add in some in-between heights if I really want.

Enough rambling, it's Bandit jumping photo time (and also pushing over pole time, he seems to quite enjoy doing that. One time, he even jumped between the two orange poles without knocking either of them off!)

 

[Azerane]

Some slight updates on the jumping. Bandit seems to have picked up on it a little better after our second session and even though he's been jumping it before, it's like he now understands what I'm asking of him and he's jumping it a lot quicker and more readily. I even added the second orange pole again and he even attempted to jump it which was fantastic, though he started off a little close and knocked everything down, but the fact that he actually attempted the jump instead of trying to push through it was good progress. We also did some claw clipping today, he's definitely due for it. I did all the main ones on his front left foot before he got a bit restless, I still have the little inside one on that foot to do though, as well as all the others of course.

I've also bought him two new toys recently, the other day I got him some bath stacking cups (they're bath ones because they have drainage holes in the bottom). They work great because I can put little treats between the different cups and because of the holes he can smell them and he has to work out how to get them out, so we had fun with that today as well.

Then yesterday my fiance and I went to the royal Adelaide show, which was tremendous fun and we stopped by the stand for the South Australian Rabbit Association and I bought him a giant cat ball. It's pretty cool and he's pushed it around a bit (when prompted with silverbeet!).

A really awesome thing that happened at the show was that there was a stand for a bird of prey place, I think they rescue birds and use them for demonstrations etc and they had a wedge-tailed eagle (our largest eagle) and I got to hold it and pet it! Being the crazy bird-nut that I am, I was super excited and grinning from ear to ear. It was just magic, probably the highlight of my day. That and getting to pet a Somali cat (Best of Breed) and chat to the breeder about them, they're my favourite cat breed and I am definitely going to own one or several at some point in my life

 

[Chrisdoc]

Glad to hear he´s enjoying his jumping, looks like he´s pretty good. I love buying new things for mine but there´s so little in the shops here. When I go to the UK next month, I´ll probably go mad in the Pets at Home store and buys loads for them.

I love eagles and birds of prey. I used to go to a hotel where they had a bird show with some quite large eagles, owls and they even had a kookaburra which used to sing on cue, I loved it and remembered the song from when school all those years ago about the kookaburra. They are such cute birds.

Now, I´ll have to google a Somali cat, don´t know what they look like :shock2:

 

[Chrisdoc]

Just been check and they are absolutely gorgeous, what a wonderful tail they have and such lovely eyes. Hope you get your wish

 

[Azerane]

Thanks Chrisdoc He's a pretty quick learner so hopefully it won't take too long for him to pick it up. They also had a laughing kookaburra at the show that I got to pet as well, and we were lucky enough to hear it call. They're relatively common around here if you look in the right place, but it's always special to hear them calling.

Thanks, I think I love Somali's because they have a bit of a wild look to them and they've got that fluffy tail and neck ruff, but they're not true longhairs. It's a good in between I think

 

[Chrisdoc]

I love the kookaburra, they always sound like such a happy cry, almost as though they´re laughing. I thought of you as I know they´re from Australia so they must be quite common over there.

Do like the Somali´s as they have a look of big cats even though they´re just normal size. A lovely looking feline.

 

[Azerane]

Bandit is so darn adorable! No particular example, he is just super cute. You think humans are the smart ones, but I know he knows what he's doing when I go into the laundry and he jumps onto his blue box, because he knows that he always gets love and attention if he jumps onto the blue box. Actually, he did do the cutest thing the other day, I had let him out to run in the hallway while I had the washing machine going. At one point I came downstairs and looked in the laundry, and he was standing upright, with his front paws on the rim of the washing machine door, watching the clothes spin around and around. It was so adorable and I wish I'd had a camera on hand because it made me laugh and "awww" so much. You would think a bunny would be scared of the washing machine while it was running, but not Bandit!

After I finished work today I bought some herbs to plant. I do have some herbs, but they haven't been growing very well. So I'm going to start afresh with some new ones. I bought parsley, basil, rosemary, coriander and also some celery. So Bandit should have a nice delicious garden to munch on soon I want to feed him more herbs on a regular basis, but buying fresh herbs does get expensive so I really have to get these herbs growing well. I'm hoping I have the energy to plant them out tomorrow, I'm still sick so I don't have too much energy.

Also some exciting news in the world of ovens! lol. We've been without an oven for at least three or four weeks now. The old one in the rental died. Yesterday the new oven got delivered and tomorrow it's getting installed! I'm so happy that at last it will be easy to cook meals again!

 

[Stephankne]

How are things going now?


Sent from my iPad using Rabbit Forum

 

[Azerane]

Things are going good

I got a whole bunch of herbs planted the other day, I still have a couple left in the punnets that I haven't found the room for yet, but I'll figure something out.

Bandit is adorable as ever, but I do wish he'd stop shedding. He just went through a shed which I'm guessing was a transition to adult coat, but now he's shedding in the lead up to the warm summer weather. I completely cleaned out his room yesterday as well as brushing him, and when I went in there this morning and looked behind the door there was this giant ball of fur there still! I don't know how he's not bald, lol. As far as training goes, I haven't managed to work on the jumping, but I have been working on "twirl" which is simply the opposite direction of "spin".

When I'm not being lazy I'll go out and take a picture of all the Bandit friendly things I've planted

 

[Azerane]

I'm so sad right now, the council showed up this morning to cut back our overhanging trees from the park. It's what the landlord wanted anyway, but it's just so devastating, there were loads of native flowers and a few bird nests in there. And I thought it looked lovely overhanging and giving shade, nevermind. What can you do I suppose

Bandit's been a little spooked this morning because of the noise, but he still came hopping over to eat his pellets. But they do have chainsaws and a wood chipper/mulcher out there. So it is pretty noisy.

 

[Azerane]

Ok, so. I went out and bought a second-hand litter tray today... which isn't as bad as it sounds, lol. The lady only used it for a month or so. It's a specially designed one which retails at $80 and I got for $30 with a bunch of wood pellets. I threw a handful of the pellets in with Bandit's current litter and showed it to him and the first thing he did was eat one, lol. Which is only bad because there's probably some eucalyptus in them. But he hasn't tried to sample any since which is good.

For anyone interested, I bought this oz-pet system http://www.oz-pet.net.au/

 

[Azerane]

I have such a smart bunny After I bought his new (second-hand) litter tray on Friday I cleaned it with hot water and vinegar and let it dry out in the sun. I then put some hay and soiled litter etc in each part of the tray and let it sit for two days to get his smell on it. I had also been adding a handful of the new litter into his old litter box every time I changed it.

So today, I dumped everything out of his new litter tray, put some new litter in it then took a small amount from his old litter box and put it in the new one in his usual business corner. I set it down in the room, he went straight over to it and sniffed it over before jumping in. He didn't use it, but I found him back in it not 10 minutes later He's so clever and I'm super pleased that he hasn't tried to eat the wood pellets again, lol. The new litter box is also great because he's got tonnes more room in it, so hopefully he'll be less inclined to leave poops in other locations!

I've also attached a picture of my herb garden, they've only been in about a week and a half but I'm already seeing some progress. I've got multiple basil, coriander, parsley, celery (in the garden) and silverbeet (also in the garden which I've had since early this year, Bandit loves it). There's also one rosemary plant, and then some chives (for me, not for Bandit). The pots are an assortment of things I already had, some from the neighbour's curb and some that were in the shed when we got here. I would like to have a nice big garden space for them, but there's only so much you can do in a rental.

 

[Chrisdoc]

He looks really happy sitting in his new litter tray, he´s such a handsome boy. Love the herbs, mine love fresh from the pot and have eaten most of them down but they are growing again, I think they´re so much nicer than shop bought.

 

[Azerane]

He looks really happy sitting in his new litter tray, he´s such a handsome boy. Love the herbs, mine love fresh from the pot and have eaten most of them down but they are growing again, I think they´re so much nicer than shop bought.

Thanks It's much cheaper to grow your own too. Rather than spending three or four dollars on a bunch from the supermarket you can buy a punnet of plants for that. I bought a single punnet of silverbeet earlier this year, and they're still going. Not sure they'll make it through the heat of summer, but they've certainly paid for themselves multiple times over.

 

[Chrisdoc]

You´re so right. I buy plants regularly now as they much prefer to eat straight from the plant and it lasts so much longer. Over here in the summer, if I buy basil in bunches, it only lasts a couple of days as you can't refrigerate it so it´s a great way to give them it all year. And once, they´ve eaten it, I cut it right down and it grows again. I have lavender, rosemary and sage out there as well.

 

[Azerane]

Long time no see guys. Life has been a little bit hectic of late in both good and bad ways. I've had the whole month of October off of work, partly because I needed the time off and partly because my fiance who's been living with me the past year has to go back to the U.S tomorrow. He was here on a working holiday visa and the time has run out on it. So before he leaves we went on holiday for 10 days down south to the coast. It was a fantastically relaxing holiday, we were right on the beach front so every morning I got to walk out into the living area to a fantastic coastal view, I've included a photo of half of the view We got to do a whole bunch of fun stuff and I can share some more photos if people are interested in some of the things we did/saw.

Otherwise, I've also attached a couple of photos of Bandit, they're from a couple days before we went on holiday but they're still adorable. I was so nervous leaving him at home and having someone come to take care of him, but it all went very smoothly. I missed him a bunch though and he seemed to miss us too. I'm happy to know that he seems to have pretty much finished shedding while we were on holiday, I was so tired of all that fur. Glad to know that I'll still have him as company after I take my fiance to the airport tomorrow.

Anyway, don't have time to write much else, have some pics

 

[Chrisdoc]

That is a fabulous view...wouldn´t mind looking at that every morning.

Bandit is as cute as ever and yes, I know what you mean about leaving them, worried all the time and didn´t rest until I got home and saw that they were all OK.

When will you see your fiancée again, it´s a long distance apart, how do you cope ?

 

[Azerane]

Thanks, it was a great view, we had such a relaxing time.

Not sure when I'll see him again, It's one of the few times when we haven't actually had a set month when we know we'll next see each other. We're at the point where we're both simply saving up money so that we can apply for a visa for him to move here to stay or me to move there. So it could be anywhere from 6 months to a year at least I think. As for how I cope, umm.. I don't, lol. It's very, very hard. Especially after living in our own place together for a year, it's the longest visit we've had. I just try to distract myself, keep busy etc and we get to talk on skype and that sort of thing. Doesn't make it easy, but it helps.