The Diaries of Merlin Puffsbottom and Naja Seraphina

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks Ana, glad to be of some entertainment.

Haha! I can't believe both my bunzos have opposite-sex twins on here. Merlin&Nessa, and Sasha&Silver, separated at birth! Ana and BunnySilver, I must've gotten stuck with your buns' evil twins. Lucky me.

Well, on Sunday we are going to take the two of them on a nice long car ride, here's hoping they don't annihilate each other on the way. I've been waiting for this day for a week - cuz I've got a sneaky present lined up for bubs! Hee hee. I'll just casually direct him to drive to the hobby store where we can pick it up. It's been a stressful year for him, he deserves a toy. We fight so much but I know he's the man for me because once, I shat my pants, he found my poop-filled undies on the bathroom floor, and he's still attracted to me. Heck, he'd probably change my tampons for me if I asked. He's cool that way. Still a mega arsehole though.

Anyway, so. On the drive I'm going to be in the back monitoring the box o' bunny. If the box doesn't become a Bunny Blender, I might even get to take some pics for the blog.

Oh speaking of which, adorable Sashybun pic I forgot to post earlier!

She is MUCH more willing to flop out and even DBF near mummy than the Puffsbottom is. This time I was on the floor to be around her, because Sasha really doesn't like being on the bed. Lookit all those exposed wires! BAD BUNNY MUMMY. Yes. As you can see, that Apple charger covered in green electrical tape is testament to my imprudence. That was all Merlin and Rosebun though - Sashy for some reason doesn't chew on stuff.

 

[pani]

We fight so much but I know he's the man for me because once, I shat my pants, he found my poop-filled undies on the bathroom floor, and he's still attracted to me. Heck, he'd probably change my tampons for me if I asked. He's cool that way. Still a mega arsehole though.

:laugh:

Your relationship sounds perfect!!!


Looking forward to hearing about how the car ride goes! Here's hoping the two of them will get along. Good luck! Also, love the flop pictures of Merlin on the bed and Sashy on the floor.

 

[ChocoClover]

Why is sashy not chewing those wires?! I'm so jealous!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Charlotte: If you say so! :spintongue Our relationship is super dramz. We're "that couple" who are always cussing and insulting each other and fighting over every little thing. If he's not being an arse to me, it's probably cause he's too busy getting peppered by my punches because he was being an arse 5 seconds ago. If we ever did get married, he would be the Groomzilla, of that I am sure. But I haven't decided if I could possibly bear a lifetime of him yet.

ChocoClover: Hmm, I don't know. She's very human-friendly, that one. Bold with humans, loves being pet, toughs out handling easily, doesn't destroy people stuff...I can't believe some idjits out there threw out my perfect little Sashibibun princess. She is nippy, but only when she's pissed off. I guess Merlin must piss her off royally.

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UGH I can't believe what happened last night. Mr D. Head Whiskylollipop left the cage door open. I woke up to the lovely sounds of cage bars clanging and rattling, and I ran outside to find both bunnies going at it in the pen. Fur was everywhere, and I could scarcely believe my eyes but most of it was Sasha's. Merlin must've smashed her! Neither was hurt, thankfully, but ugh. UGHHH.

I bought new undies for the first time in probably years, they arrived today. Praise ye Victoria's Secret and your $5.30 per pair deal! I have 10 new pairs to poop in now. Yayyyyy.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Ok so we didn't get to take the bunnies on a drive today. There was a lot of nipping going on in the box before we could even get out of the house, so we had to nix the idea for now. I made the executive decision to put them in the shower instead, for a much more intense stress bonding experience.

And it kinda worked! We had one minor scuffle and 5 nip attempts in total for about 10 minutes of shower time. We actually got to see the two of them side by side in relative peace for minutes at a time! What we did was, turn the shower on and let it wet most of the floor, leave it running threateningly pointed to one side of the shower, put a folded towel on the other side to force them to sit together, and block the exit. No violence whatsoever. The most intervening we had to do was hold their heads down when they tried to nip at each other.

That was fairly encouraging. We stopped it after 10 minutes because they were just looking miserable and slightly damp from the one scuffle. They weren't being aggressive when we pulled them out and dried them, so I like to think that was a decent note to end the date on. We're going to do the shower stressing every day, then put them in a large box and see how it goes. A box is the only neutral space we've got left in the apartment really.

I was too antsy to take pics this time, but I'll try to remember tomorrow.

 

[pani]

Good idea! Sounds very stressful but I'm glad to hear they seemed to get along, kind of.

 

[squidpop]

The shower sounds like it worked really well. My suggestion is if you try the car again put the empty carrier in the car first with the car running and then take the rabbits to the carrier and put them in. I think the vibration of the car helps a lot.

 

[Chrisdoc]

These two are just so cute. I love the pic of her with the wires. Mine would have destroyed those in two seconds. I cannot leave anything dangling when they´re out and about. It is such a long process for some and you do get to the stage where you are about to give up but don´t. They will suddenly decide that they´ve had enough nipping and just get on with it. Keep faith and it will happen, I am sure :wink

 

[whiskylollipop]

Date 2 at the Shower Hotel didn't go quite as well as Date 1, so I didn't get a chance to take pics. Sasha's less afraid of the running water now, so she's gone back to being her nippy self. She's tough!! No matter what crazy stresses come her way, she just rolls with it and stands back up with her fists (teeth?) out. I want to be Sashabun when I grow up. They weren't actually fighting, which is still a win in my book, but she kept nipping Merlin every few seconds or so. He didn't reciprocate, but man he looked like he was STEWING. Like a little boy who was being annoyed by a girl and really wanted to hit back except his mum told him not to hit girls. Eventually my poor baby got so pissed off that he just started thumping.

I tried spraying water at Sasha when she nipped, tried holding her head down, but I tell you Sasha was having none of it today. She was stubborn about nipping, and strong. I was pressing down on her head with nearly all the strength I could muster, thinking Big Dominant Bunny thoughts, and she was honestly lifting my arm up with just the strength of her neck and spindly little front legs. Talk about signs that you need to start working out.

I waited it out till we got half a minute or so of no nips before ending the date. I don't think I'm ever gonna get actual positive notes to end on at the stage, so that'll have to do.

 

[whiskylollipop]

There's been a large increase in the number of rabbits looking for homes on TradeMe recently. This make me sad. I wish I had a big house.

The past two shower dates have been more of the same. Merlin sitting hunched down looking miserable, Sasha wandering around and giving him a passing nip every so often. She's not afraid of getting wet at all now. This is a plateau we need to break through! But how??

ullhair:

 

[pani]

On the plus side, you can take Sasha swimming.

It sounds like they're tolerating each other more on their shower dates, even if they're not necessarily getting alone. Hopefully that's a good sign.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Yeah, just slap a child's arm floater around her body and she'd probably paddle around happily. I hope we do get some progress soon!

It's amazing how bunnies make you fall in love with them just by being around. You hear the sudden "th-bbh-thh-bh-thh-bh-thbhhthhbhthtbhtbhtbtthtbth" of a bunny 500, and you just have this weird smile on your face. They can boss you around and be stuck-up and give you the bunny butt, and it's STILL adorable and sweet.

Bunnies take themselves so seriously. Sometimes I side-eye Merlin and think, look at that solemn expression on your wee puffy bunnyface. Do you even know you are a ridiculously fluffy plush toy who moves in hoppities. I bet rabbits see themselves as serious businessmen. They're so absurd and ridiculous and I want all of them.

 

[pani]

I know what you mean!! My bunny space is right behind my computer, and I can't even count the times I turn around and just watch them do their important bunny business. Flopping, bunny 500s, running after each other, chinning a new box... it's all perfect.

 

[Azerane]

Perhaps with Merlin being afraid, and Sasha not being, it will allow her to establish some dominance and he might follow her? I don't know Just trying to be hopeful!

 

[whiskylollipop]

That's what I'm so, so hoping for! But Merlin is a stubborn little dingus and always has been. He was the dominant of his and Rosebun's bond simply by being too uppity to groom anyone but himself. And Rosey was a gentle, giving bun, so he just groomed Merlin and they settled into their hierarchic roles that way.

I think Sasha keeps trying to nip him into submission but it isn't working and it's just making him miserable. I don't know how long I'm supposed to keep this up for, she's showing no signs of giving up and he's showing no signs of submitting. Argh! It's frustrating.

I haven't really had anything new to update on recently. We're stuck in a rut. :/

 

[Azerane]

I think you just have to keep pushing through that rut. It could continue for a while, but eventually, something has to change, one way or the other. It may just take a little bit of time, we all know how stubborn bunnies can be when they want to!

 

[whiskylollipop]

It's been a busy week for me so we've taken a second break with the bonding. Ugh, we need to stop doing that. Some days I think, just chuck them in the shower and close the door, leave them there overnight and see if they're friends by morning. But then I remember Sasha's teeth start chattering about 10 minutes into a shower session because she invariably walks fearlessly through the warm shower and then ends up cooling out just from being soaked all over.

:nosir:

You'd think she'd cuddle up to Merlin's fluff for warmth then, but no. She's a soldier. She's a Mini Bear Grylls. She's a strong independent bunny who don't need no fluffy man.

Meanwhile Merlin drowns his sorrows in veggies.

Bubs still hasn't finished building his model boat. (The present I got him a while back). The parts and paint stuff are taking up half the lounge, and I'm starting to maybe slightly regret that particular choice of present... but it makes him happy and was a rare find that helps him build up his model ship collection, so that's alright I guess.

Hope yall doing fine this winter! Or summer if you live up north.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Two weeks in, Charles was still the only one of his siblings who had fully mastered the handling of his invisible hover-bike.

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Having your first kiss last much longer than you imagined because both your braces got stuck together is especially tough when you both have to jump up a high ledge to get to Mum for help.

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"Bonjour, bonjour. Welcome to ze France. Please follow ze red carpat, I hope you enjoy your evening."

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"Good heavens," Mary-Anne exclaimed, "How did I end up in this flowerpatch?" Last's night's rock and roll rave party must've hit her harder than she'd thought.

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I come across too many rabbit pics because I spend entirely way too much time online. But it amuses me. And I think up funny captions...right? Aren't I funny??

 

[whiskylollipop]

I check the ads for cats and rabbits looking for homes on TradeMe (for non-kiwis, it's a huge online marketplace down under, kinda a mix between eBay and Etsy) at least twice a day, even though adopting more animals for our little apartment would be an entirely bad idea... I must be some hardcore masochist.

Sigh.

In happier news, my skin has never been better! I've suffered from bad acne, extreme combination flaky skin and perioral dermatitis for YEARS, and believe me when I say my parents and I have spent hundreds on dermatologists and expensive creams and such. But the answer was so simple, and so cheap. Handmade glycerine neem soap, available for $4 on TradeMe, plus this little amazing balm thing called Pot of Gold, $35 for 100ml but I've only been using their little sample pot that's $5 including shipping. GUYS. It's truly unbelievable. I started using the soap and the Pot of Gold two weeks ago when I figured heck, my expensive face stuff isn't doing much of anything at all, why should I keep spending the money? So I decided to go all hippie dippie and try all-natural handmade whatevergoo.

In those two weeks, I haven't even gone through half my tiny sample Pot or made a dent in my soap, and my skin has calmed down and cleared up like a dream. I don't know if it's the milder natural soap or the magic bee elixir that is Pot of Gold that's making a bigger difference, but it ain't broke so I'm not fixing nothing. My skin flakes much less. The dermatitis is GONE. I'd say my acne problem is 75% better. I still have oily combination skin, but the dry part is no more. I'll take that!

Almost-perfect skin for less than $10, in less than 2 weeks. Doesn't that sound like a scammy internet ad. But it's FOR REAL. Eat dust, Proactiv! If you can get hold of a good handmade soap maker in your area that does glycerine neem soap (or you can make your own), and if you can find Pot of Gold (they do seem available in a number of other countries besides NZ/Aus), I'd say it's more than worth a shot if you've got similar skin problems.

Anyway, this is Merlin and Sasha's blog really so sorry about that digression my fluffies. Back to bunny news now. I recently found out that my grocery store which delivers (New Zealand is SO great, I never have to leave my house again if I didn't want to) had added to their rabbit feed ranks Harrington's, which is actually a very decent pet feed. I have been supplementing the Oxbow with it, in tiny amounts because it's alfalfa-based. Sasha LOVES it. She goes nuts. She paces herself with the Oxbow so I thought she was simply too fancy to eat like a pig, but she turns into a mini-Merlin with Harrington's. Merlin's enthusiastic about it too, but it's food and he's Merlin, so yeah obviously.

 

[lovelops]

There's been a large increase in the number of rabbits looking for homes on TradeMe recently. This make me sad. I wish I had a big house.

The past two shower dates have been more of the same. Merlin sitting hunched down looking miserable, Sasha wandering around and giving him a passing nip every so often. She's not afraid of getting wet at all now. This is a plateau we need to break through! But how??

ullhair:

Good question. It sucks when you have two rabbits that grew up together (like my Chico and Chica which will be 2 years old tomorrow) and then new guys that won't play nice together (like my two rescues Lady and Brooke). It's frustrating. My husband is getting pissed because we have to keep them in different areas of the house instead of putting a large area together on the porch for all the bunnies to play together.

I'm going to have to resign myself to the fact Lady wants to be the only rabbit in the house and did the same thing you listed above, even though she is a Lop and Brooke is a giant mix and Lady beats the heck out of Brooke whenever we try to do the bonding stuff. Like you there was fur all over the place.. I'm giving it up for now and will pick up in another 6 months... but in the meantime I wish you luck. I know you want them both to be friends..

Vanessa