Hi from Yukon, Canada!

[Sialia]

Hi everyone,
I've lurked here since last March when we adopted our boy, Sebastian, but have only just got around to posting.

We adopted Sebastian, a two-year-old neutered male mini-lop (the tortoiseshell one in the pics below), last March from our local shelter. He had been through a couple of different homes and had been living in a large glass reptile tank (probably about 70 gallons or so). Now he's a free range house rabbit with a three-story NIC condo in our kitchen. He's affectionate and effusive. He'll groom anyone or anything (us, our dog, stuffed animals, a large porcelain bunny sculpture). He also has no problem letting you know when he's upset - throws tantrums, sulks, tosses things around his condo when he's not happy. He has absolutely no fear. He's got higher self-esteem than Donald Trump's.

Almost a month ago, we adopted JoJo, a three-year-old neutered male Holland lop (the white one in the pics). Hopefully he'll be bonded with Sebastian eventually but mostly I just felt so sorry for the poor guy and wanted to give him a home. He'd been living with a family that loved him but didn't really know how to care for him. He'd been running free in their backyard for 8 months and had only just been moved into their house when it got really cold here. He didn't have a shelter out there. They said he had made a little burrow under a shrub. We're in a fairly rural area with tons of predators and so I'm amazed that he survived. He's white so wouldn't be camouflaged at all (well, now he would be since we've got snow!). I think the reason he survived is because he's very cautious and reserved. Very different from Sebastian. He lives in my son's bedroom (free run in there) and has been taking turns with Sebastian in the rest the house but so far he's barely ventured out into the hall. Whereas Sebastian was all over the house within about 10 minutes of being brought home, JoJo has yet to move on his own more than a few feet from his room. He's only groomed me twice since we've had him. He loves being petted, though, and isn't timid or fearful - just cautious and careful. He was a bit overweight when we got him as he'd had unlimited access to a big bowl of pellets when he was brought into his previous owner's house, and hadn't been eating much hay. He also had been given a litter box with scented clumping cat litter (so I'm keeping an eye on him for GI problems). We've switched him to a diet of hay, salad, and a little bit of pellets and he's starting to look much better.

I've attached some pics. Let me know if I've done anything wrong. I used Photobucket and resized down to max 600.

I'm glad to have had this forum and the whole website to refer to over the last several months. It's been a great resource.

Sebastian:




JoJo:




Sebastian and JoJo with our dog:

 

[Aubrisita]

Hello and welcome! Your bunnies are adorable. So is your dog.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

Hi everyone,
I've lurked here since last March when we adopted our boy, Sebastian, but have only just got around to posting.

We adopted Sebastian, a two-year-old neutered male mini-lop (the tortoiseshell one in the pics below), last March from our local shelter. He had been through a couple of different homes and had been living in a large glass reptile tank (probably about 70 gallons or so). Now he's a free range house rabbit with a three-story NIC condo in our kitchen. He's affectionate and effusive. He'll groom anyone or anything (us, our dog, stuffed animals, a large porcelain bunny sculpture). He also has no problem letting you know when he's upset - throws tantrums, sulks, tosses things around his condo when he's not happy. He has absolutely no fear. He's got higher self-esteem than Donald Trump's.

Almost a month ago, we adopted JoJo, a three-year-old neutered male Holland lop (the white one in the pics). Hopefully he'll be bonded with Sebastian eventually but mostly I just felt so sorry for the poor guy and wanted to give him a home. He'd been living with a family that loved him but didn't really know how to care for him. He'd been running free in their backyard for 8 months and had only just been moved into their house when it got really cold here. He didn't have a shelter out there. They said he had made a little burrow under a shrub. We're in a fairly rural area with tons of predators and so I'm amazed that he survived. He's white so wouldn't be camouflaged at all (well, now he would be since we've got snow!). I think the reason he survived is because he's very cautious and reserved. Very different from Sebastian. He lives in my son's bedroom (free run in there) and has been taking turns with Sebastian in the rest the house but so far he's barely ventured out into the hall. Whereas Sebastian was all over the house within about 10 minutes of being brought home, JoJo has yet to move on his own more than a few feet from his room. He's only groomed me twice since we've had him. He loves being petted, though, and isn't timid or fearful - just cautious and careful. He was a bit overweight when we got him as he'd had unlimited access to a big bowl of pellets when he was brought into his previous owner's house, and hadn't been eating much hay. He also had been given a litter box with scented clumping cat litter (so I'm keeping an eye on him for GI problems). We've switched him to a diet of hay, salad, and a little bit of pellets and he's starting to look much better.

I've attached some pics. Let me know if I've done anything wrong. I used Photobucket and resized down to max 600.

I'm glad to have had this forum and the whole website to refer to over the last several months. It's been a great resource.

Sebastian:




JoJo:




Sebastian and JoJo with our dog:

--well,now--they are very well cared for,and a delight to have around,--Yukon can be very cold area in the winter--my favorite r.o.l. administrator is in Canada/Victoria,--you mentioned cat liter-scented,--try using timothy grass instead--they can eat and poop and it is healthier too.---welcome to rabbit online,--the r.o.l library has a lot of articles /info.-and / or try this link http://www.medirabbit.com sincerely james waller :rose:

 

[Sialia]

Thanks Aubrey and James.

James, JoJo's previous owners had used clumping litter, not us. We only use hay and Yesterday's News.

 

[JBun]

Cute Bunnies!!! Welcome to RO!

It sounds like your buns have a great home You may find once you are able to bond Jojo with Sebastian, that Sebastian's bravery rubs off on Jojo and makes him feel more confident.

 

[pani]

Welcome to RO, Sialia!

It's awesome to read that you've been able to give Sebastian and JoJo such amazing homes. They're both so cute!

 

[Sialia]

Thanks, JBun and Pani.

JBun - that would be great if Sebastian could help bring JoJo out of his shell a bit. Although he's got a few naughty habits that I'm hoping JoJo doesn't pick up on, hahaha.:nonono:

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Welcome to the RO family

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Welcome to the forum. It's funny how things turn out. We rescued a lion head that had been adopted out 3 or 4 times and brought back as he was hutch aggressive and scared--3 days short of euthanasia. He's now a very friendly boy and very good, just needed some consistency with someone that understands rabbits. Your's are very cute and can't wait to see more.

 

[Sialia]

Welcome to the forum. It's funny how things turn out. We rescued a lion head that had been adopted out 3 or 4 times and brought back as he was hutch aggressive and scared--3 days short of euthanasia. He's now a very friendly boy and very good, just needed some consistency with someone that understands rabbits. Your's are very cute and can't wait to see more.

Thanks Nancy. And I'm so glad that you were able to rescue your boy. Also, I LOVE your signature! I know the feeling, haha.

 

[Imbrium]

Welcome (sort of) to RO! I'm glad you decided to stop lurking and join in the chit-chat .

He had been through a couple of different homes and had been living in a large glass reptile tank (probably about 70 gallons or so). Now he's a free range house rabbit with a three-story NIC condo in our kitchen.
...
He'd been living with a family that loved him but didn't really know how to care for him. He'd been running free in their backyard for 8 months and had only just been moved into their house when it got really cold here. He didn't have a shelter out there. They said he had made a little burrow under a shrub.
He was a bit overweight when we got him as he'd had unlimited access to a big bowl of pellets when he was brought into his previous owner's house, and hadn't been eating much hay. He also had been given a litter box with scented clumping cat litter (so I'm keeping an eye on him for GI problems). We've switched him to a diet of hay, salad, and a little bit of pellets and he's starting to look much better.

Wow... poor things really didn't know what proper care was until they found you, did they?
I can't imagine how thrilled they must be to finally have proper housing, diet and litter box substrate - you're definitely providing them with a perfect life!

On a side note, you mentioned you're using Yesterdays News... absolutely nothing wrong with that choice, but I thought I'd mention a much cheaper alternative

In the US, feed stores carry wood pellets (sold as horse bedding) and in places that actually have winter, hardware stores sell wood stove pellets in the winter (as long as they don't say that they have an accelerant added, they're safe) and I managed to track down a source for cheap wood pellets in Australia for another RO member just last week, so I imagine they're available in Canada as well. Here, it's around $5-8 for a 40 lb bag of wood pellets - a pretty unbeatable price! Feed stores are a rabbit owner's best friend, as pet stores have a real racket going! "Feline Pine" is 2-3 times (or more) the cost of *identical* wood pellets sold for horses at feed stores and bagged pet store hays cost 25-65 times as much per pound as feed store hay.

He lives in my son's bedroom (free run in there) and has been taking turns with Sebastian in the rest the house but so far he's barely ventured out into the hall.

By the way, if it isn't already too late, be sure to keep both bunnies out of one area *completely* so that you have neutral territory to bond them in! If Sebastian's been all over the house, the bathtub might be an option (it's slippery and creates a diversion from fighting, too)... failing that, you could take them outdoors in an x-pen if the weather's appropriate or find a bunny-loving friend willing to let you do play-dates in an x-pen at their house (I used my neighbor's kitchen when my girls' bond broke ).

Here are some great sites on bonding, by the way:
http://www.wheekwheekthump.com/?s=bonding (numerous wonderful articles)
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/matchups.asp
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/bond.shtml
http://www.examiner.com/article/bunny-bonding-part-iii-bonding-challenges

M/F bonds are often considered the easiest... though the "bonding expert" of sorts on wheekwheekthump disagrees, and honestly, I think I do too. I've got a F/F pair; I hand-picked bunnies that seemed to be opposites without having any clue at all what a genius move it would turn out to be, lol. I ended up with a bossy, dominant lionhead and a timid, submissive Holland lop (aka Mini lop outside the US) and other than a couple little bumpy patches that were very quickly fixed with a single playdate on neutral territory, they've always gotten along great!

It sounds like you've got a dominant bunny and a submissive bunny as well... which means the odds are in your favor that you'll be able to bond them .

I've attached some pics. Let me know if I've done anything wrong. I used Photobucket and resized down to max 600.

Lately, I haven't been able to get Photobucket pics to not turn out stupidly tiny (pretty much thumbnail size) no matter what I do ><... I've been using tinypic to make them turn out a reasonable size (another option is to upload them to the forum). Oddly, when I quoted your post and also now when I scroll down to see previous posts while on the advanced reply screen, they're showing up nice and big. Your bunns are freaking ADORABLE!

 

[Sialia]

Thanks, Imbrium!

On a side note, you mentioned you're using Yesterdays News... absolutely nothing wrong with that choice, but I thought I'd mention a much cheaper alternative In the US, feed stores carry wood pellets

Yes, thanks! You reminded me that we were using that earlier in the year and so I just went and bought a few bags. It's $5 for a 40 lb bag and it's available all year 'round here. We had switched to Yesterday's News during the summer since we can put it in our compost pile. We can't put anything in there at the moment since it's buried under several feet of snow so we can switch back to the cheaper stuff.

By the way, if it isn't already too late, be sure to keep both bunnies out of one area *completely* so that you have neutral territory to bond them in! If Sebastian's been all over the house, the bathtub might be an option (it's slippery and creates a diversion from fighting, too)... failing that, you could take them outdoors in an x-pen if the weather's appropriate or find a bunny-loving friend willing to let you do play-dates in an x-pen at their house (I used my neighbor's kitchen when my girls' bond broke ).

Ohhhh, yes, bonding, hahaha. It's an ongoing saga. I've got a thread over in the Behaviour subforum and received some good advice. We started out with dates in the bathtub, then moved to the bathroom floor, and then into the semi-neutral hallway. They had been doing so well that I decided to try them out in the kitchen, which was originally Sebastian's turf and which I *thought* I'd neutralized well enough, but they started fighting after 24 hours and so we're back to semi-neutral territory for the moment. I'm going to move Sebastian into another area of the house for a couple of weeks so that I can neutralize the kitchen/dining room completely. Unfortunately, the space where I would have moved him to has our Christmas tree in it at the moment so this is going to have to wait for another week or two until after the holidays.

Thanks for all of the links!