My Heart's on Fire for Elvira

[JBun]

Lol, her rice pack has now become her snuggle buddy! Too bad it won't groom her too

I think you'll get your wish. I'll bet her ears stay big. I've found that rabbits that have big ears as babies, have big ears as adults. Ellie seems like the kind of rabbit that is going to be zipping around your house entertaining you with her tricks, and having all sorts of fun. Your cats better learn to be nice to her now cause once she's bigger I could just see her running up to them, nipping them on the butt and running away doing a happy 'I gotcha' binky

Ok so I have to share a picture of little Roo with you. I figured you would appreciate it being a new dutchie mom, though Roo isn't dutch, but just dutch marked. I think him and Ellie probably have totally different personalities . She sounds very energetic, Roo will do a quick bunny 500 and then he's ready for a break and a snuggle, a very low energy bun. Sorry for the blog invasion, but I just had to share my cute little fluffball with someone

 

[whitelop]

Jenny, that is an adorable bunny! Oh my goodness. He is so pretty, I really love his markings. And you know you can always post pictures or anything about your rabbits on my blog. You know I love to hear about your buns! He looks so puffy! What is he, is he a hotot?

Chris, your boys are so funny! I can totally see Bandy eating all of Snowy's food then running off to eat his own. Thats hilarious.
Ellie didn't eat all her pellets at once, which I was glad to see. It took her almost the whole day to eat all of them. It was half of a 1/4 of a cup. So hopefully I don't have to worry about her eating them all at once. lol But I think when she eats veggies she's going to go nuts! haha.

I've got all kinds of boxes and toilet paper and paper towel rolls right now, so I'm going to build her some kind of castle. hahaaha. I'll post pictures of it when I'm done, I'll probably start tomorrow. But I want to make something that she's be able to climb on. I've been saving toilet paper/paper towel rolls for months. So there are like 40 of each of them. Thats a lot. Since she likes to jump on top of her box house, I'll make her something she can play on when she's out of her cage. I'll hopefully make it big enough that when she's older she'll be able to play in it still. If it lasts that long, since I don't know if she's a chewer yet.

I really like that she likes her rice warmer. She knows what I'm doing when I reach in there to grab it and warm it up. My house stays pretty chilly most of the time, especially the kitchen. Her cage is covered and everything, but because my house is old there is always a draft from somewhere. So she has her elephant and some rice warmer in the box. I put it back into her box and she hops on to it and sits there for a few minutes. haha. I'm not sure how long it stays warm because its so small, but its probably like an hour or so. My big one stays warm for hours, if I put it in the microwave for like 2 minutes. I only put hers in for 25 seconds. Even though, its triple layered I still don't want her to get too warm.

I'm almost done wrapping our Christmas presents, then I'm going to get her out so she can sit on the couch with me. I hope her Sherwood pellets get here tomorrow.
Oh, speaking of pellets again, she feels a little more plump today. Which makes me feel much better. I gave her more pellets today and some extra hay. I gave her her handful of alfalfa and she hasn't eaten all of it, but that's okay.
I've noticed that she is a little picky about water. She has a large soup cup in her cage, its heavy enough that she couldn't move it if she wanted to. Its next to her hay box and under her water bottle(it leaks), but she drinks most of the time when she is in her hay box, so she leans over the side of the box and knocks a bunch of hay into it. She doesn't like to drink the water if there is too much hay in it. So I have to constantly take the hay out and refill the water bowl. Its so strange for me since Foo never drank from a bowl, but Ellie definitely prefers the bowl. She drinks a lot of water though, which is good!
No pictures today, I've been busy with different things and then last minute Christmas shopping. There will be pictures tomorrow though, I'll try to get some with her on top of her box house.

Oh and I have to tell y'all about my son real quick. He learned what "eat" means. He was sitting in the floor today with a garbage truck, he was putting things in the back of the truck and saying "eat", then he would put something else into the truck and say "eat" again. So I looked at him and said, "are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" He said yes. So I made him his lunch and as he was eating his sandwich, he kept saying "eat". It was SO funny! He's 18 months, he's got quite a few words completely down, his doctor said his vocabulary is pretty good for his age. But today was the first time he really put "eat" together with what it really means! I was totally amazed! Then he asked me for juice. I asked him if he wanted milk and he said juice. hahaha. Kids are great!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Isn't Roo just so sweet and I do love his markings, he looks so fluffy and cuddly.

Ellie sounds like she's already developing her personality and as long as she's drinking, doesn't really matter what she drinks from. I do find thought that when mine have had water in a bowl, I am constantly changing it as they end up with food, hay and god knows what else in there.

Yes, Bandy is a little glutton. But when you tell him off, he looks at you with his silly, cutie face as though saying " you talking to me" and I just laugh out loud.

That's a real great idea building something from all the stuff you've save, I'm sure she'll love it. Mine love cardboard, might inspire me to have a try so post some pics.

Ellie sounds as though she's doing great and a good little eater. She'll grow in no time so enjoy this baby stage cos it goes so quickly.

Your little lad sounds like an angel. I love it when kids start to notice everything and they start to really develop their personality when speech comes into it. Sounds like he know what he wants lol.

Hope you got all your Christmas shopping done, I've still got some bits to get and of course, the rest of the food and the turkey.

Just finishing off a house 2 this morning and heading down to catch up with my little boys.

It's such a beautiful sunny morning here, going to be around 22 degrees today, centigrade that is. Aren't we lucky.

 

[whitelop]

22 centigrade is what, like 75 ferinheight? Or somewhere around there right? My conversion chart in my brain doesn't always work. I also have no idea what time it is where you are. The time difference is so vast I think. Right now, at this moment of typing its 3:43 am. So what time is it there if its already sunny? hmmm...time change is weird to me. hahahaa. Chris, what are you cooking for Christmas dinner? What is customary in Spain? Or, well what do you cook, being English but living a Spanish life? haha.

I had Ellie out on my lap on the couch tonight. I was feeding her her night time pellets. Shes cute, she stays in my lap. She stayed on one of my legs and laid in the bunloaf position. My cat came and got on the couch, the big hunter cat and Ellie was terrified. BUT not to terrified to eat! lol She was up against my stomach to try to make herself as small as possible from my cat, but she would still take the pellet from my hand.
Thank god, I have had two great eating bunnies. I never had to worry about Foo's eating habits, she ate everything; even things she wasn't allowed to eat. Ellie is the same way, she eats all the time. I hope she loves greens the way Foo did.

 

[Chrisdoc]

It's 10.23am over here right now so we're 7 hours ahead.

I make probably the same kind of thing that you guys do, turkey and sage and onion stuffing, roast and mash potatoes, sprout, cauliflower and roasted parsnips, carrots and onions with lots of gravy and then we have Christmas pudding. My Spanish friend comes every year to my house as he absolutely loves it and always gets a takeout of the leftovers. Even the dog will do well this year.

In Spain, it's a bit different as they celebrate on Christmas Eve and all the family get together in the evening for dinner and they do eat quite late. at my friend's house the last time we sat down to eat at 10pm. They usually prepare lots of seafood: lovely big langostines, crab claws, shellfish and finish off with a lovely roasted leg of lamb with potatoes although some people prefer fish such as sea bream roasted whole with vegetables. They drink lots of Cava which is like champagne but the spanish version and cakes called mantecados which are really sweet and made from almonds and turron which is like blocks of soft candy. Difficult to sleep after all that. Don't know if I'm going to go down this year to their house as I've got my dog duties. Trouble with all this food is I've got to do double the diet after Christmas haha

Ellie sounds so gorgeous, I'm loving her already. It's great that she sits on you to eat, Bandy used to do that when he was small but he's not so keen on being picked up now although he'll stay still for about 30 seconds and then start to struggle. Probably cos he's not so keen on being groomed so he probably associates it with that although I've now taken to grooming him on the floor: groom and treat, groom and treat. Given his extreme liking for food, I thought it might work lol. She's a worthy successor to Foo and I'm sure she'll love her veggies once she gets to taste them. I think she's a gorgeous little addition to your family and you're falling in love with her a bit more every day. I think she's awesome.

 

[Imbrium]

I've got all kinds of boxes and toilet paper and paper towel rolls right now, so I'm going to build her some kind of castle. hahaaha. I'll post pictures of it when I'm done, I'll probably start tomorrow. But I want to make something that she's be able to climb on. I've been saving toilet paper/paper towel rolls for months. So there are like 40 of each of them.

Its so strange for me since Foo never drank from a bowl, but Ellie definitely prefers the bowl. She drinks a lot of water though, which is good!

I saved up a ton of paper towel rolls and made them into a "curtain" for the bunnies

I use http://www.walmart.com/ip/Van-Ness-1.5-Liter-Auto-Waterer-1-ct/10315207 to water my bunnies. it stays pretty clean 'cause I keep it on the opposite side of the pen from their hay - I just clean it out and refill it once a day and they're gtg.

 

[holtzchick]

I have water dishes like that as well, I find it works great for both of them!

If I had that many paper towel rolls and boxes, I would totally make a big castle for her!! I'm starting to save up but it's not working out well.... :grumpy:

I just can't get over how cute she is, you two are lucky to have each other! :bunnyheart

 

[whitelop]

In Spain, it's a bit different as they celebrate on Christmas Eve and all the family get together in the evening for dinner and they do eat quite late. at my friend's house the last time we sat down to eat at 10pm. They usually prepare lots of seafood: lovely big langostines, crab claws, shellfish and finish off with a lovely roasted leg of lamb with potatoes although some people prefer fish such as sea bream roasted whole with vegetables. They drink lots of Cava which is like champagne but the spanish version and cakes called mantecados which are really sweet and made from almonds and turron which is like blocks of soft candy. Difficult to sleep after all that. Don't know if I'm going to go down this year to their house as I've got my dog duties. Trouble with all this food is I've got to do double the diet after Christmas haha

I feel like I would LOVE the Spanish celebration of Christmas! Half the time we don't eat normal dinner till like 10 pm, so thats normal for me. lol But I love the seafood and the lamb! It all sounds so rich and delicious. I'm coming to Spain next Christmas! I really do love seafood part of what you described. Its so different from what we do, I would be in heaven with all those wonderful things. AND the wine! I love wine and champagne so I bet the Cava is so nice! Ahhh, I'm so jealous of the Christmas celebrations there!

 

[whitelop]

If I had that many paper towel rolls and boxes, I would totally make a big castle for her!! I'm starting to save up but it's not working out well.... :grumpy:

Why isn't it working out well to save those things? haha It took me several months to collect all the ones I have. I had to fight my husband and my dad for them because they kept throwing them away. I had to tell them both multiple times to leave them be! Men!

 

[whitelop]

I saved up a ton of paper towel rolls and made them into a "curtain" for the bunnies

I use http://www.walmart.com/ip/Van-Ness-1.5-Liter-Auto-Waterer-1-ct/10315207 to water my bunnies. it stays pretty clean 'cause I keep it on the opposite side of the pen from their hay - I just clean it out and refill it once a day and they're gtg.

I will probably get her one of those tiny auto waterers when she's a bit bigger. She doesn't care about getting into the water herself, like most bunnies hate water. She'll sit in her water bowl. So before I go to bed at night, I have to make sure she isn't wet from her water bowl. lol
She just gets so excited and she bounces back and forth in her cage and she manages to plop herself right in her water, hahah. Silly goose.
So I'll probably get her one of those when she's older and doesn't get into her waterer so much, lol. Her water bottle is there for back up and it tends to leak, plus she doesn't know how to completely work it and she gets water everywhere. But I like to have her water near her hay and food. Foo liked it there and I think she does too.

 

[whitelop]

Was the end of the world supposed to mean HIGH WIND GUSTS?! I can feel the wind blowing though my house. It just blew down my chimney and blew a poof of ashes out of my wood burning stove! Not to mention its freaking cold outside and I really hate it. Sorry to sound all whiny, but I really loathe winter. Why can't we have last winter back? It was so warm.

Well I don't think the year round warmth is good for us. I think we're loosing a lot of things having it so warm all the time. Like polar bears. And Arabica coffee beans.

 

[holtzchick]

haha it's just not working out because Hippogryff chews them up before I get a chance to save any!!

And yes, I suppose end of the world meant gusts of wind, although I must say for me that was last night, today isn't too bad, just flurries outside.

 

[whitelop]

At least he likes to play with them! Thats good that he chews on the cardboard and hopefully nothing else. I've given Ellie a TP roll to play with, to kind of show her thats what she's supposed to chew on and she just peed on it. lol She'll get it one day.

She's in my lap right now and she's really starting to look like a real bunny! She looks very adult like today. I'll have to go grab my camera and put up some pictures! She is twice the size now that she was when I got her. They grow up so fast! :sigh:

 

[Chrisdoc]

Mine all love to chew the rolls from the paper towels, but like the ones from the aluminium paper better as they´re harder.

You´re welcome to join our celebrations any time you want, Morgan. They do love a good meal and usually, it´s around two to three hours from start to finish. And there´s wine all the way through and champagne or cava at the end. I love it but am not coming down this year as I couldn´t drink as I´d have to drive and I´d hate that so I´ll be staying with the dog and celebrating on my own on Christmas Eve and cooking on Christmas Day.
They do eat late here but in the summer, even later. I go out with my friend who works at night doing karaoke in the hotels and he picks me up when he´s finished about 12 midnight or maybe a bit later and we go out for something to eat. There are loads of places here in the summer which open late until 1 or 2 in the morning as it´s a big tourist area.

I can´t believe the weather is so bad where you all are. It´s been absolutely gorgeous today, I had to go home to change to do the move as I had a sweater on and I was boiling. I changed into a short sleeved t-shirt as it´s been around 75 degrees fahrenheit today and there´s more over the weekend. If I remember, I´ll take a photo tomorrow from my house and make you all jealous.

Sorry to hijack your blog to rattle on about me. Ellie sounds as though she´s doing great and I love that she does new things nearly every day now. You have to store them all up so you remember them when she´s a big girl. Can´t wait to see the next pics.

 

[Imbrium]

She doesn't care about getting into the water herself, like most bunnies hate water. She'll sit in her water bowl.

But I like to have her water near her hay and food. Foo liked it there and I think she does too.

what a weird little bunny, lol. mine would probably like having their water near their hay and food, too, but then they get poop and hay in it and I have better things to do than clean out their water bowl half a dozen times a day. so... they get to walk 10 feet. Gazzles needs the exercise anyway, lol.

She is twice the size now that she was when I got her. They grow up so fast! :sigh:

I told you so! seriously, take pictures every day because it's gonna fly by in no time. before you know it, she's gonna be a big, grumpy, hormonal teenager!

It´s been absolutely gorgeous today, I had to go home to change to do the move as I had a sweater on and I was boiling. I changed into a short sleeved t-shirt as it´s been around 75 degrees fahrenheit today and there´s more over the weekend.

you can keep your 75F, tyvm. it's about 58F (14C) here and I'm loving every minute of it!

 

[whitelop]

Jennifer you're crazy! I'll take Chris' beautiful Spanish ocean 75* any day of the week! I bet its beautiful there. I'm so jealous. See, when Europeans go on holiday, they get to go to these beautiful places like Morocco, Italy, Ireland, Spain, France. But when we Americans go on holiday, we go to Florida. :rollseyes Now, Florida is pretty...if you're on the gulf. But its not Spain! lmao.

I do have to clean out her water a few times a day. I just don't understand how she gets poop in there? :? (btw, I swear I saw an emoticon that was scratching its head, now I can't find it or remember the code. Has anyone else see that one? Or am I crazy?) hahaha. She is a little weird, because Foo hated to be wet at all. Like if her water dripped on her, she would shake and clean and clean and clean to get the water off. Elvira on the other hand, she doesn't care. I bet she would go swimming if I let her! hahha.

I saw a cecal today! She was on top of her box and she pooped a cecal, she didn't eat it though? I understand that babies don't always eat them, but I haven't EVER seen one and I've had her for almost a week. I wonder if too many pellets has made he not want to eat them? She's getting a little tiny bit less than 1/4 cup a day. The Sherwood hasn't gotten here yet, and my mail lady is going to be pissed at me when she drops off that 12 lb box and has to get out of the car AND pull in my drive way. I hope she has to fight off the attack rooster! Plus, we're getting a UPS package today. My husband ordered all his own Christmas presents. lmao Wow, I just took a total left.
I think the Sherwood will help with the cecal production, if she is making too many. Hopefully she starts to eat them again, because they're pretty yucky. :yuck

PS. The wind is blowing so hard here, it just blew my 16 foot gate open. The gate basically sits on the ground and you have lift it up to open or close it. It was skidded almost halfway open. THAT is some strong wind. Not to mention all the limbs and stuff that are down in my yard. I'm surprised my chickens haven't blown away yet. Thank god my rooster weighs like 16 lbs. I'm going to give them some extra food to weight them down more!

 

[Imbrium]

it's normal for babies to "forget" about them... and it can be a sign of too rich a diet (ie too many pellets) in adults, but babies are supposed to have a richer diet. you're definitely not overdoing it at 1/4c a day - if anything, you should still be gradually increasing the amount

don't expect the sherwood to do anything for the cecal issue - Nala was always great at eating them, but Gaz was horrible as a baby and that didn't change with sherwood food, only with age ><

btw, lol @ your "reason for editing"

 

[whitelop]

lmao. I love that I can put whatever I want in that that little box. It makes me laugh.

I am going to up her pellets a little more. I'm just doing it really really slowly. She hasn't had any kind of stomach upset in the week she has been with me and I want to keep it that way I just introduced some coastal hay into her hay box and I don't think she likes it much. GREAT! I have a whole bale of this stuff and she probably isn't going to eat it. I'm going to keep giving it to her though and hopefully she'll start to like it. She doesn't seem to have a hay preference with the timothy and alfalfa. She just kind of eats whatever. She eats all of them both, but not one over the other, which I think is great! Now if I could get her to eat the coastal. If not, I bet there is someone with a horse or rabbit near me who would want it!

 

[Imbrium]

yeah, I'm stuck with a bale of coastal as well. darn bunnies! every once in a while, I catch Nala nibbling at it... but she never seems to eat any significant volume of it and Gaz doesn't eat it at all. why must coastal be the cheapest and easiest to find yet loathed by picky bunnies??

I ordered two 20 lb things from a site someone mentioned in some thread here recently, 'cause the prices were really good... I got one thing of oat hay (to see if it sucks less than oxbow's damn sack of oats with a little hay mixed in) and one thing that's an 80% orchard/20% alfalfa blend. I know they're supposed to quit eating alfalfa as adults, but if the choices involve whether or not they eat enough hay and whether or not the hay destroys my last remaining shred of sanity, I'll go for hay-eating + sanity even if that means giving them 20% alfalfa.

 

[whitelop]

Could you lessen their pellet intake to be able to offer them more alfalfa? I'm not talking about taking the pellets away, or even cutting it in half, I mean literally take like 20 pellets out of each serving. That adds up in the end. haha. I know its the protein that is worrisome in the alfalfa. But to be honest, I really don't think it will hurt them. Especially if the percentage is 80%-20%. Have you tried bluegrass or even bermuda?

I'm really really hoping Ellie likes the coastal! Foo really loved it, but she also got this huge variety of hay.