Texan Tales (& Tails) - by TinysMom

[irishbunny]

Those bunnies are sooooo cute! You have one of my all time favourite breeds! Mini Lops (in the US Holland Lops). Well, you know, if you ever get annoyed with them, you can ship them off over here, no problem

 

[wabbitmom12]

YAY!!!!!!

Thanks for the baby pictures!! :inlove:Now, I can die happy! LOL

This is my favorite...the curiosity reminds me of the Mama!

I see some really big feetz and earz in those pictures. Hopefully, that means some nice big Flemmies!

 

[wabbitmom12]

Peg, I really love your (Art's??) Hollands! The girls are so cute! And the buck reminds me a smidge of our Mr. Muffin who passed away last year.

I love, love the 'helicopter ear' stage...so adorable.

 

[TinysMom]

Well, tonight I'm the most horrible, awful, meanest bunny mama/breeder around.

I'm separating the "kids" and giving the showable ones their own cages.

They've started fighting in the big cage so the one that was trying to be alpha male was caged (and he wasn't showable). I know they love to be together in their cage and often snuggle together....but it is time. They're three months old - and I'm able to tell the ones who have potential from the ones that are pet quality. I need to "protect" the showable ones so they don't get hurt.

It doesn't help that one of the bucks somehow hurt his eye and has an eye infection that I'm going to be giving him shots for (along with eye ointment).

I'm sitting here looking at them across from me (less than 5 feet away pretty much) and I just feel like I'm a horrible mommy - and I've only locked up two so far. (One girl is driving me crazy by playing with her hanging bell...).

This is just tearing me apart. I'm ok with rehoming them asap...once I find them good homes.

But the breaking them up like this - and them being upset - that is hard.

 

[mistyjr]

Very Very Cute Babies and Your new Babies!

 

[TinysMom]

wabbitmom12 wrote:

YAY!!!!!!

Thanks for the baby pictures!! :inlove:Now, I can die happy! LOL

This is my favorite...the curiosity reminds me of the Mama!

I see some really big feetz and earz in those pictures. Hopefully, that means some nice big Flemmies!

Those babies are driving poor Nyx crazy. I come out in the mornings and she's shaking on her cage door with her teeth trying to get it open.

She is a good mama - BUT - she is not enjoying being a mama right now. She is always desperate to get away from them. (I asked her if she was like that with her mama and she just flicked me off as she hopped away).

I am hoping for one or two out of this litter to show some potential.

I think the hollands are more mine than Art's. He loves hollands - but I didn't realize how hard it would be on him to have broken hollands around. He walked out of the rabbitry sorta shaking his head going, "Looks so much like Puck..".

So I think he's struggling a bit.

 

[wabbitmom12]

TinysMom wrote:

Those babies are driving poor Nyx crazy. I come out in the mornings and she's shaking on her cage door with her teeth trying to get it open.

She is a good mama - BUT - she is not enjoying being a mama right now. She is always desperate to get away from them. (I asked her if she was like that with her mama and she just flicked me off as she hopped away).

Poor Mama! It was so much easier when they couldn't make it out of the nest box....

 

[TinysMom]

Well - I'm going to start off with the bad news....we lost one of Nyx's babies. We were sad to lose it and hope we don't lose anymore (it got out of the cage and had an accident).

I had moved Nyx and babies to a cage with a shelf in it and thought it was baby-proofed enough. Oh well...we've hopefully fixed the problem.

A short update on the hollands. I think while Art loves hollands - he's struggling a bit. I'm sure it didn't help when he came out today and found their drop pan on the floor (dumped over). No idea how that happened...the two girls must've been really playing a lot. (I plan to separate them in a week or so but for right now they're doing great together).

The problem is - Cindy's personality is SO MUCH like Puck's...and Sher looks so much like Puck even if she isn't as outgoing and playful.

I'm sure he'll adjust to them and start laughing at them soon...

In the meantime - he spends time with Milina (our chocolate lop) and with Truly - who I have yet to introduce to y'all.

So here is Truly's story - then her picture.

Our local TSC (Tractor Supply Store) was not supposed to be getting in bunnies and the manager seemed pleased about it. Then someone approached her about bunnies they had for sale - I get the impression they had called headquarters before contacting her because she felt like she "had" to take them. (She told me that as did someone else).

Well - I happened to be in the store the day after they arrived and I started marking in their ears if they were boy/girl so they could at least know what they were selling. In addition - I gave them a mini-lesson in what sizes the bunnies would be and how they could tell (ear size, feet, etc).

One little girl that was in there was a chocolate - which is one of my absolutely favorite colors. While I was standing there talking to the manager and someone else - a man came up and was looking at them. I had been holding her and put her down...and he looked at her and started asking questions about breeding (it was obvious that he knew NOTHING about breeding). He was like, "So could you breed her to one of these other ones and get more like her?" - specifically pointing to her.

The manager deferred the question to me and before I knew what I was saying, I said, "No - because I already told them I'm buying her and was just putting her down for a minute so I could look around the store."

He was like "oh..ok. But could you do that?" and I said, "No - genetically it is hard to get her color unless you know what you're doing and have invested lots of money into your rabbits and stuff. Breeding is a VERY EXPENSIVE hobby."

He was like, "oh..ok" and walked away.

(I was later told by one of my favorite clerks who was there that day - that he came back by later to see if the chocolate rabbit really was gone and that she discouraged him from buying any rabbits by asking about his cages and making it "appear" as if she couldn't sell to him if he didn't have cages).

So...that is how I got Truly.

I brought her home - half in tears cause I thought Art was going to be upset with me. But I couldn't let her just be bred over and over again by someone who knows nothing about rabbits.

Art took one look at her...and here is the result...

I was going to name her Cadbury or Godiva or something but he said she was his and he got to name her...so her name is "Truly Scrumptious".

Can anyone guess the movie that is from?

Now about the rest of the rabbits that were there....I went back a few days later to check on them and they had ONE rabbit left. I was told they had sold about 2 per day...and that the majority of the people that they sold them to had rabbits in the past. One man raised rabbits as a 4H'er and wanted his children to experience the joy of rabbits and he had to buy some supplies - but most of the people didn't need cages because they'd had rabbits in the past.

They also made sure to give out the ARBA brochures I supplied them with on how to train a rabbit and how to take care of a rabbit.

Anyway - that is Truly and her story.

 

[hartleybun]

:inlove:well done for saving a bunny. truly looks a beautiful lady who knows how to wrap a gentleman around her dainty paw

 

[Never2ManyBunnies]

Beautiful rabbits! I love all the pictures of the Flemmies - especially the babies.

Congrats on the rescue of Truly! She is adorable and it does look like your husband is hooked!! I too "rescued" 3 rabbits from TSC this time last year. I went to TSC many times over the course of aweek or two and visited the babies and watched the people that were buying them. Some were going home with cages way too small, others to live outside - in central Florida! Most also seemed to have no idea on what a rabbit needs or eats. So I convinced my husband and myself that we were rescuing these rabbits - just a bit sooner than others are rescued. They now live in NIC condos and are nicely spoiled!

 

[TinysMom]

Thanks for your comments Cindy. Truly is very much loved here and gets lots of playtime and is becoming more confident around us. She is just a cutie.

Today the holland lops got to go out to the dog kennel and play around. TALK ABOUT HILARIOUS! No - I didn't take photos - I was laughing too hard at their binkies and running into each other and stuff. It was hilarious. I think they were trying to out-binky each other at first. I notice the girls are currently "crashed" - I think we wore them out.

I also played with Nyx's babies for a bit. I forget now if I figured we might have 3 girls and 4 boys or vice versa. There are three that I'm going to watch - they have nice heavy bone for their feet - good heads. Two are females and one is male. I am thinking that they are steel though - I need to take pictures of them and send to Pam Nock to find out.

Mercury had some playtime out - it was sort of funny. We decided to open the back door and let some fresh air - so I blocked the rabbitry since he was playing in the bathroom/hallway area.

I told Art, "He never jumps...he won't go out".

Ever notice how rabbits love to make liars out of us?

When we caught him - we put him in the dog pen outside for an hour or so - he was in 7th heaven.

Tomorrow Hermes will get some time outside if the weather is nice.

Well - I guess that is it for now. I'm dead tired and I barely did anything today.

 

[wabbitmom12]

Aw, Truly looks so happy! What a sweetie. Art looks totally, happily, bunny-whipped.

Sorry to hear about the loss of the baby Flemmie :tears2:. That had to be very difficult! As you know, we lost our Lil' Blue to an accident a few months ago. You just feel bad when that happens, even though you know that sometimes accidents justhappen. Thankfully,Nyx still has all the other kits to drive her nuts, and since rabbits can't count....she's just fine. :hug:

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Well I had some reading to catch up on. I hadn't been getting any notices about your blog being updated.

Its hard at the rabbit shows and having to resist all the cuteness. I tried to convince Karen to let me get a couple of e-lops at the last show we were at. Being the voice of reason she convinced me not too (and she said NO!). Being the well trained husband that I am, I said yes dear, your right dear, what was I thinking dear and sat down.

Sorry about the loss of the baby from Nyx's litter. Reading about how she was wanting out of the cage reminds me of her mama doing the same thing. Sweetie was so anxious to get out one time that she jumped over 2 NIC tall panel enclosure and 2 feet horizontally from a standing jump. She then raced down the hallway into the living room and hid behind a chair.

I love the pictures of Nyx's kids and the holland lops you got are so beautiful. It looks like you may have some competition from Truly for Art's attention.

Its always nice to have a spouse that enjoys your hobby as well as you do.

 

[TinysMom]

Today was "interesting". Nyx got most of the day for her playtime and her kids (the "itty bitties") were in the bathroom where they could run and play and not hurt themselves. She did NOT want to stay in there with them after she nursed them.

Hermes got about four hours outside in the dog kennel - he's really crashed for the night. He had a ton of fun.

The five "kids" who have been caged separately got let out for playtime. You'd think they'd run and play and enjoy their freedom - and they eventually did....after four of them got into one of the bottom cages and cuddled together in a tiny cage for about 20 minutes.

Two of the boys had a disagreement and I had to lock one up. Looks like we're going to start to get into separate playtimes for the boys. One is really nice but one ear hangs and he has a bad eye infection that I'm treating. The other buck is....already making junior weight and I'm really proud of him. I am most likely keeping him.

Nyx's babies are starting to explore - hard to believe they'll be a month old on the 11th.

Oh and a final update about something. I was talking to a lionhead breeder who is a friend and she made an interesting observation. I was telling her how I was going to retire Athena and just breed the two new girls and she suggested that since I do like Athena's babies...and flemish mature more slowly than other breeds - I might want to consider breeding Athena and Calyspo and Harmony at the same time (a day or two apart) so I can see how the litters compare before I go making any major decisions. She stated that this way I'd be seeing them all at the same age.

It is something I am thinking about doing. The holland lops can't be bred for another 3 months...so this might work.

I guess that is all for now.

 

[TinysMom]

I am going to make this short because Harmony and Calypso are on the floor and I want to get down there and spend some time with them....it seems like they don't get as much of my attention (sometimes) as the others - and then there are times like today where they get more attention.

I had a breakthrough with Athena last night. Ever since coming back from the show (even a bit before the show) - she's been very aggressive - even towards me. She would charge at me and be upset. She was particularly bad this week. She almost seemed angry a lot and she would hide in the back of her cage.

The night before last - we moved her to an upper cage so she is at my waist level - and its almost like she's a totally different rabbit. She lets me pet her when I open the door and while she's not affectionate like she used to be - she is now standing up to get my attention when I'm in the rabbitry.

I think it is because I don't have to bend down and tower over her now and she didn't like that - perhaps she felt threatened by it. I don't know.

She reminds me though of Ainsley - one of my first lionheads from my litters. Put Ainsley in a corner cage and she was fine...put her in the middle of a row and she had fits and growled and got very unsettled. Apparently she had some bunny form of claustophobia...and she didn't like having rabbits on both sides of her cage.

Oh well - off to pet my girls if they'll let me....then check again on Zeus who is getting some outdoor time. I'm a bit worried about him as he's turning down his food and banana even. But I did notice he ate some grass and leaves while he was outside a few minutes ago...

 

[silvermoon]

I've been away from the forum for a while. Just wanted to say hi! Nyx's babies are cute

I am sooo excited about your lops. Oh my gosh. I think I want my next bun to be just like your new does. So cute!

 

[wabbitmom12]

TinysMom wrote:

Hermes got about four hours outside in the dog kennel - he's really crashed for the night. He had a ton of fun.

The five "kids" who have been caged separately got let out for playtime. You'd think they'd run and play and enjoy their freedom - and they eventually did....after four of them got into one of the bottom cages and cuddled together in a tiny cage for about 20 minutes.


Oh and a final update about something. I was talking to a lionhead breeder who is a friend and she made an interesting observation. I was telling her how I was going to retire Athena and just breed the two new girls and she suggested that since I do like Athena's babies...and flemish mature more slowly than other breeds - I might want to consider breeding Athena and Calyspo and Harmony at the same time (a day or two apart) so I can see how the litters compare before I go making any major decisions. She stated that this way I'd be seeing them all at the same age.

Awww, the "kids" missed each other so much! Bunny cuddling is such an important part of their socialization from birth to puberty. I forget...are some of them caged side by side so they can snuggle some through the bars? I could see where that might be tough given one's set up and cage space...just wondering.

Interesting idea from the lionhead breeder. It makes a lot of sense, in that you could get a really good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each litter, which could really come in handy later if you need to introduce or reinforcecharacteristicsin your line.

 

[TinysMom]

The kids are cute - the ones that are still together will come running out and tease the ones that are caged...and then when the show kids are out - they will go tease the ones that are grouped together. I do think they miss each other sometimes.

But the boys are starting to want to fight when they're out...and I may need to separate the 5 that are in the big cage...

I have come up with a plan for rehoming them in the future. But more on that later.

Before I forget....Nyx has spent almost 24 hours with her kids now. When I last looked - she was doing well with them.

Well - time to lock up Princess Athena and let out Meatloaf and her kids. I'm going to be taking her away from them today since they're 8 weeks old....I need to see if she is still nursing or not. I might just take the bucks away at first not sure.

Oh - and I know what I meant to share - it looks like I'm keeping two does and a buck for sure (for show) - so I'll be asking for help naming them fairly soon. I really like how they are developing.

 

[TinysMom]

Well - the "kids" cage is now down to three bunnies in it. Two more got cages today (old crappy cages for right now) because we had some fighting going on. Sheesh...they love to cuddle together but boy can they get upset at each other too.

I took out the two largest (one had a small bite by her ear - the other one was the one that had done the chasing when I watched) and looked at them and went "oh my....when did you fill out?"

They had both been lopping their ears a lot - but I'm noticing now that when they want to pay attention to something - they hold their ears up like the others.

I called my mom today - it was her 82nd birthday. We talked for a while and she made sense most of the time. I hadn't talked to her in a bit - I just couldn't handle it - but to her - it was as if I'd been calling all along.

I guess that is pretty much it for now. More to come later I'm sure.

I just can't get over the fact that my "kids" are so big now...that they're almost adults (well - not really - but young adults?) and that my tinies are as big as their mama almost (who is being removed from them tonight) and that the itty bitties are getting so much bigger.

 

[JimD]

TinysMom wrote:

I was going to name her Cadbury or Godiva or something but he said she was his and he got to name her...so her name is "Truly Scrumptious".

Can anyone guess the movie that is from?

It took me soooo long to go through your blog and update myself. I love all of the pics and stories. I'll probably dream about bunnies tonight!!!

"Truly Scrumptious" is from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!!!
It's so funny, because my Tootsie's nickname is "Toot Sweets"....from the same movie!