That's crazy that your mail lady did that. I can't believe she just threw it! You ought to call in and complain(not that complaining to a gov. office does much good). I don't care much for bugs, so I don't think I could have picked through all that, yuck! Those chickens better appreciate what you do for them.
Wait.... You weren't expecting my bunnies to be cute? jk. Haha, I know, it's so cute to see them running around, playing outside. Especially when they start running around and binkying with joy. They don't usually want to have anything to do with me though, when they are out there. Of course, unless they are nervous or scared of something, then they come dashing back to me and I'm their protector, haha. The boys 'hiding' on my lap, is the most interaction I got, otherwise it's like 'don't touch me cause I don't want you to pick me up and ruin my fun', lol, so I just sit and watch. No rolling around with cute fluffy bunnies
Haha, so do you roll around with Ellie? Maybe you have a secret happy childhood memory of rolling around in leaves or something, so now it gives you happy feelings, and you want to do it. Just no rolling around with the rooster!
Flopsy may have given Libby a lick or two, he's not a big groomer. Even with Dakota, which yes, he is bonded to, she will end up doing most the grooming cause she gets too impatient waiting for him to groom her. He will reciprocate grooming, but usually only a few licks. It's kind of funny though cause I found a way to get him to groom her more. He starts going lick crazy when I start scratching his butt. I'll often do it to loosen up his molting fur, then I can pull it out easier. He'll pretty much start licking anything near him. If he's not near anything, he'll start licking himself. So I'll wait til Dakota puts her head under his, then I'll start scratching his butt and sure enough he starts grooming her as long as I scratch that area. It's pretty funny to watch.
Libby's a big licker. She's always grooming Roo, which Roo loves, but she did give Flopsy quite a few licks. All the babies are full grown now and are 7 mo. old, they're just small at around 2 lb and Flopsy is at least 8 lb. Flopsy is just a really easygoing bun. Not much upsets him, and on neutral territory, I can pretty much put any bun with him, as long as the other rabbit doesn't try and fight. In his own pen, he would get a little grumpy having a new bun in there besides Dakota, and Dakota will attack anybun besides Flopsy cause she's a big grumpy pants, even Flopsy gets nipped and lunged at all the time(and he still likes her and she likes him :?), but he's so much bigger than her and so laid back that he just puts up with her. When Baby was a baby, and was having all those problems learning how to eat pellets and drink water, I decided to put her with Flopsy for a while, so that he could teach her. I had to first get Flopsy and Baby used to each other, so I let them play outside together for a few days. Baby was a little scared of Flopsy at first, cause he's so big and she was sooo small, plus he's an adult and she was a baby. So he was hopping around and she was hopping around, and he would hop close to her and she would dash away. Even as a baby she was lots faster than Flopsy, so he couldn't get close to her if she didn't want him to. Eventually she got brave enough that she would sneak close, he would notice her, then she would dash away. She got to the point where she didn't dash away and flattened herself in front of him, and he licked her, and that was it, she followed him around everywhere after that. So after that I took Dakota out and I could keep Baby with him in his pen during the day, and then I put Dakota back with him at night. After a few days of being with Flopsy, she did learn how to drink from a dish. She still doesn't know how to drink from a bottle. I would have loved to have bonded a trio, and kept baby with him and Dakota, but Dakota is an attack rabbit, and Flopsy is the only one safe around her, haha.
Flopsy is just the best bunnysitter. Even when I had the three boys out with him, and they started getting all hormonal and trying to hump Flopsy, he didn't care at all. Of course he is used to Dakota. But not much really gets to him. I think that today I may take Baby and Flopsy out together. I may even try Dakota with them. Dakota seems to be ok outside, and doesn't get all territorial. And Baby is much faster than Dakota and can get away from her if she decides to be a grump.
Ok, so hotot genetics.... Dwarf hotots were created in Germany, by crossing a REW nethie with a black one, which created a dutch marked rabbit, then the dutch rabbit was breed back to the black one, which created a hotot marked rabbit. Then another breeder in Germany, crossed a REW nethie with a blanc de hotot, to create a version of what is now a dwarf hotot. Blanc de hotots were created in France, by crossing white flemish giants and checkered giants. So the sport version of dwarf hotots, comes from having the dutch marked rabbit and the checkered giant rabbit, in it's genetics. So sometimes the sports will come out looking like Riley and Roo, with the dutch marked head and spotting on the back, some will have even less black marking than that, and some will have more black and look more like a dutch. You can often tell the difference between a dutch and a sport hotot, cause dutch are usually bigger and have a different head shape. You can see with Ellie, how she has a more pointed head and long ears, and Roo and Riley's head is more rounded, and the ears are shorter and further apart. It's just like with any breed where you get different colored babies with different markings. It all has to do with the genetics and breeding. Sports, black banded, chocolate banded, and blue banded, are all just color variations of a dwarf hotot. Here's the history on the DH clubs website if you are interested.
http://www.adhrc.com/ADHRC%20Web2%20About.htm
Here's a couple of pics from when Baby was little and I was putting her with Flopsy so he could teach her how to drink. She was 6 weeks old at this point, and still didn't know how to drink from a water dish or bottle cause she was separated from her mom so young, and the people never made sure she knew how to eat pellets or drink water, before they sold her, argh!!! The pic of her snuggling with Flopsy was that she hated the cold concrete floor and he liked resting on it. She wanted to be with him, so she would snuggle up as close as she could, even to the point of practically laying on him, haha.
Chris, I don't worry too much about them out there. I'm not by a busy road, and they pretty much stay close to me. If they wander too far off, I either get up and follow them, or herd them back. I pretty much don't have a life, haha, so I have lots of time I can devote to my little critters
