Wabbitdads Wabbit Herd 2008

[Wabbitdad12]

I think my daughters new bun Pudge really misses her. I am curious to see how he is on July 6th when she comes home from Schroon Lake, New York on Sunday. He has been letting me pet him in his cage but doesn't like me to pick him up. She never has any trouble.Whenever anyone goes into the bunny room he is up and looking to see who it is.

I replaced a couple of pieces of plastic I place under the rabbits cages yesterday and man it smells worse then it did before. Things were getting really messy between Barney and Sweeties cage and I thought Barneys litter pan was leaking. I just happened to be in the room one day when he hiked his butt over the pee guard and let go. I guess thats what happens when you buy pee guards designed for a bunny half his size!

Well it is time to clean cages before my family goes to my in-laws for the traditional July 4thcook out and then to the fireworks.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

My usual routine is shortly after I get up, I go and take care of the buns, around 6:30am. Being Saturday I slept in and did not get in to take care of the herd to much later then normal.

When I finally did get into the bunny room, I got the "back" from most of the herd! I was in serious trouble with them. Lilly who comes out of her cage in the morning when I am feeding and watering the other buns stayed in her hutch for several minutes. Even when she did come out, she didn't come over to me to get her lovin right away. Once I got everyone's food and water taken care of I was forgiven. I guess I can be a bun slave for another day!

Its been quite a week though. The county fair is next week and my daughter wants to show a couple of the buns, Muffin a Holland lop and Thumper a blue Flemish buck. Potential problem is one if not both may be sick. I've heard some rapid fire sneezingoccasionally. When I've been in the room, Thumpersneezes every once in a while. Hopefully its just from dust. They are all eating and behaving normal so I am crossing my fingers.

I've check their temps andno fevers. I am going to start some probiotics today.

 

[Leaf]

Wabbitdad12 wrote:

I think you should make that in to a postcard and send it to your daughter.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

That is a great idea! She's home already, but I bet she would like it printed onto some nice photo paper and framed.

 

[juliew19673]

Leaf wrote:

Wabbitdad12 wrote:

Fantastic photo! I must second this as a postcard! Send it to our troops over seas!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

What a crazy week getting ready for the county 4-H fair!

On July 10th it was rabbit club meeting and pre-check in for the fair. My daughter wasn't able to go because she was sick. So I did it all except turn in her project books. They said she could turn them in at check in on the 17th, we looked and could not find them for a week. When we went to check in her rabbits, they were a requirement. We filled one in from memory there so she could check in the rabbits and put them in their cages, get the parking pass and fair pass.

Upon returning home from check in we tore the house apart looking for the missing project book. I checked were my wife looked and she looked where I did, then we checked were my daughter looked. Could not find the goofy book, after I was done putting the buns to bed, I decided to check this wicker basket in the hallway. I don't know why, I had looked the week before, my wife and daughter looked in it earlier. I went through it and found the missing project book. My wife works in the same city where the fair is and she dropped it off to the 4-H rabbit club. If we could not find it, my daughter would have had to remove her rabbits. God looks over all things even minor things like 4-H project books, I don't know why else I would have looked in that basket.

Every year the rabbit club hosts an open rabbit ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) sanctioned show for youth on the Saturday of the fair. My son showed a couple of our Flemish and my daughter showed one of our Holland lops and her new bunny Pudge.

Pudge was not able to be shown. He was disqualified, turns out Pudge is a girl!:biggrin2: The breeder was a friend from 4-H and she thought Pudge was a boy and we thought he was a boy. That was back at the June club meeting and Pudge was just barely old enough to leave her momma. So in the few weeks, SHE grew enough that when the judge looked at him, he was able to determine that he is a she.

So let me re-introduce Ms. Pudge.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I have been intending to post these pictures for some time now. These are just a few pictures of the faces I see when I hand out the banana chips after everyone has their food and water for the night. These are faces of additiction.

This is Skippery, a Lionhead, she moved too fast to get the best picture of her shoving her nose through her cage (that plus the batteries were dieing on my camera didn't help).

This is Mr. Rudy, my French Lop, he too was moving too fast to get the best picture, but he tries to shove his pudgy face right through his cage!

Oreo, I believe to be a dutch satin mix, trying to chew through the wires of her cage to get to the banana chip.

 

[JadeIcing]

Hey I was wondering if you would post pictures of your setup. I am always looking for ideas.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I forgot to add something about our rabbits and the 4-H County fair. Yesterday, my daughter along with other rabbit club members rode the float in the parade. So instead of going home and coming back to get her later, my wife and I decided just to go to the fair (due to the price of gas and traffic later in the day),check on the rabbits andwatch the parade as it went past the grand stand.

I mention all that to set the stage for this story. While waiting around we checked on the rabbits,filled water bottles and fed them. We decided that it would be a good time to give them some attention. I got Blueberry out of her cage and held her and my wife got Mr. Muffin out of his. She decided to put him on his back, when she went to put him back into his cage, he bit her on her index finger and on her wrist as she was placing him on the floor of the cage. Mr. Muffin drew blood!:shock: This is so very un-muffin like.

There are signs all over the rabbit barn and announcements are made to not place fingers inside cages for the safety of the rabbit and the people looking at them. She went to the counter in the rabbit barn to get a band-aid. A adult club member on duty (who didn't know my wife) asked her what happened and he said sure I'll get a couple of band-aids but thats why we have signs not to put herfingers in the cages. I found this funny, but he was slightly embarrassed when she said oh I know they can bite this was from one of my own rabbits. (I held Muffin and he gave me bunny kissess).

 

[Becca]

JadeIcing wrote:

Hey I was wondering if you would post pictures of your setup. I am always looking for ideas.

[align=center]
:yeahthat:[/align]

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Here are pictures of my "Bunny Room". It may not look like much, but the room and cages are clean (probably cleaner the other rooms in my house) and the buns are well loved.

The poops you may see on the floor are from Lilly's time out this morning. She oversees me feeding and watering of her brothers and sisters. This way it gets done correctly and I get a whole bunch of Lilly kisses!

This isfacing north. I have a shelf in the corner where I have a tub for hay, another tub for extra water bottles, bowls etc. and some hooks to hang nail clippers. On the far right side (not in the picture) I have a couple of small shelves for hand sanitizer, teeth trimmer, cable ties, vinegar for cleaning up pee spots, treats and other supplies etc.

Thiswall faces south, but the window faces west. On the far left, is Moo Moos cage, although her windows need to be cleaned, gets dusty in the bunny room. Underneath her cage I have a tub of the wood pellets I use for litter and underneath that shelf on the floor I have a tub for their food. On the wall I also have a clipboard for writing down supplies I need to pick up. To the left (not in the photo) there is a small peg board on the wall where leashes and harness hang.

This is making the most use of the space available, this is the closet.

 

[JadeIcing]

Cool.

 

[Wabbitdad12]

May not be the best setup in the world but it works. Actually, I will have more room in ayear when my son Josh goes to college! When he comes back his room will be Bunny room South!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Latest 4-H report in, Thumper and Lilly took 1st place, Muffin came in 5th. Muffin is not as bulky as the judge would like to see.

 

[juliew19673]

Wabbitdad12 wrote:

I got Blueberry out of her cage and held her and my wife got Mr. Muffin out of his. She decided to put him on his back, when she went to put him back into his cage, he bit her on her index finger and on her wrist as she was placing him on the floor of the cage. Mr. Muffin drew blood!:shock: This is so very un-muffin like.

She went to the counter in the rabbit barn to get a band-aid.(I held Muffin and he gave me bunny kissess).

It always just cracks me up that I've heard this from you before... Bun's mess with Mom and then give you kisses!!!

Funny story!!

 

[swanlake]

love your new avatar!

 

[Jess_sully]

wow, lots of cages! Wish I could have that many buns...

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Last 4-H update; my daughters blue mini rex got disqualified because the judge told my daughter she had a white nail. We have shown this rabbit many times and I have trimmed her nails and I have never seen a white nail. Oh well, my daughter still had a good time, so that is all that really matters.

The herd will be back together today! Muffin and Blueberry come home from the fair this afternoon.

Ms. Pudge is getting so big, its amazing how much she has grown since we got her a little over a month ago. I will post some pictures this weekend. Now that the fair is over, its one month closer to Chicago Bear football!!! YEAH!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Our county fair ended today, although for the rabbits it ended yesterday afternoon. My daughter picked up the rabbits from the rabbit barn at the fair and brought them home Friday afternoon. I think Blueberry and Muffin are glad to be home in their own cages.

It was also rabbit barn clean up yesterday, who knew 300+ rabbits could be so messy! I don't know much a manue spreader holds, but it took 3 trips to get all the bunny poop and bedding off of the barn floor. I didn't think it was ever going to be done, I shoveled for what seemed like hours. No problem going to sleep last night!

Pudge'scolor is changing from black and white to a more of aaghouti browncolor. She is really growning! I tried to take some pictures of her doing binkies, but wasn't fast enough with the camera. I tried to took a video with my digital camera of her binkies, but lets say I need practice with that function.

This picture was taken Thursday night, when my daughter was looking at the ARBA standards for Mini Lops. Pudge decided she would prefer to read them herself.

Pudge and I were spending some time together and she was in the process of hopping into my lap.

 

[Jess_sully]

I can't even imagine the mess. Good for you for helping out, though!
Pudge kind of looks like a broken steel to me, for some reason. But I could just be crazy and way off!