Becoming Texas Bunnies

Hello to everyone on the Heartland Bunny Blog. This is my first attempt to try to post a blog, so the format may be a little wierd.

Here are a few pictures of Rhoda and Joey in the back yard of their new home.

Andrea was wondering where I purchased the tent. It came from Target.

We made our first visit to the vet last week for a routine checkup. Joey is 5 lbs and Rhoda is 5.25 lbs. She thinks they are both healthy but Joey needs a little more exercise to tone up. He has been going outside in the evenings to play "Texas Ranger" in the backyard.


Here is a picture of their indoor home made by my husband.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I disapprove of Momma right now

So I am not too happy with Momma right now. Let me tell you all about what she did and then you all can get on to her for me. I have been shedding lots and lots. Great big gobs of hair. Momma has been brushing me and lint rolling me everyday for the last two weeks. She came home from work the other day and there were no poops anywhere and I seemed to be straining in my litter box. She picked me up and looked at my butt (how rude) and there was a wad of poop the size of her fist on my butt. I couldn't get my behind clean and I couldn't get anymore poops out. I also had a big chunk of something that seemed attached to me so Momma didn't want to tug on it. Momma cleaned my butt and then I made lots and lots of poop pellets everywhere. I felt so much better. Well, Momma woke up today and we had the same problem. She said the dreaded words "we are going to see Dr. Rachel"
Momma got me ready and off we went. Now I like to ride in the car A LOT and never get scared. I was munching my salad the whole way. I got to meet a dog at the vet that weighed 254lbs pounds. The man said he was an English Mastiff. The doggy came over and looked at me in the carrier and I of course, came to meet him. He gave me a big yucky lick through the bars and left slobber all over me. ( I hope I dont get cooties) Another dog came to look at me and the Mastiff puppy growled and snapped at the other dog. Then he lay down in front of my carrier. I think he was protecting me. The man he owned said he was like that with all little creatures. He was so nice.
The vet helper called us and we went to see Dr. Rachel. I love her lots. She calls me "honey" and "sugar" and gives me lots of kisses. She checked me all over. I had some yucky wax in one ear and she cleaned that out (hated it) and then she got to the booty. She told Momma that she was going to give me a "potty trail" and got out some scary clippers. She shaved my behind hair way down. See, it is because of my head tilt that I have trouble getting my butt and ears clean. She told Momma that my scent glands were very full and she cleaned those out. (hated that too) She looked at my teeth, in my ears and squeezed my belly kinda hard. She said I was doing my first big bunny shed and I had a lot of undercoat that needed to come off. She made the vet helper rub me and rub me and lots and lots of hair came out. The poor guy was sneezing when he was through.
Dr. Rachel declared me healthy. I weighed 2.5lbs on my first visit and now I weigh 3.12lbs. Dr. Rachel said I was looking good and that I was the best bunny patient she had ever had. She gave me another smooch and we left to go home and get salad. Momma said just salad tonight cuz Dr. Rachel said I need to go easy on the fruit. Too much banana may be part of my butt problem. That hurt my feelings a lot because banana is my favorite thing.
I am going to let Momma rub my head quite a bit for this ordeal. Can you please tell her that I really need some banana? That I don't like my ears cleaned and to never never never let someone shave my behind again? I would most appreciate it. I thumped at Momma when I came home and made a nice big pee on the carpet. That will teach her.

Puzzle of the Month - June 2008

Bun Skin Problems

Okay guys,

My vet is stumped, I am at my wits end, and Spook is miserable. This first started in April. I took Spook in because it looked like he had mites (walking dandruff). Dahlia, his bonded partner, has never shown any symptoms. He started out with just a patch on his back, flakey skin, and some hair loss. The vet actually found the little bug on him. Since then we have been giving ivermectin at regular intervals and a month ago he got dosed with selamectin (Revolution) topically on top of the ivermectin. Through out all of this we have treated Dahlia since we assumed she would have it too; but she has not shown any signs what-so-ever. However, Spook has just slowly gotten worse. It has spread all over his body, but not his face. He acts like he feels fine and he doesn't really act like he itches, but his skin is very tender. He can barely stand being brushed. And he is losing all his cute fur (those pics I posted were not recent, I just got them off my camera). My vet is a hightly recommended bunny vet and he can't explain it. He even insisted I start bringing Spook in for his doses (the only thing he could think of was that I wasn't giving the shots or I missed sticking him, like that's possible). I don't think he is getting re-infected because it has never gone away and I have cleaned my house top to bottom. I was just hoping that some of you long-time bunny owners might have some advice. As far as I know the selamectin was supposed to be the best thing to get rid of these things. Another possibility (since we haven't done a skin scraping since April) is they might not be there anymore and this is some sort of allergic reaction, but it looks the same as it did in April. Anyway, three months is long enough. Has anyone heard about anything like this? Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks for your help in advance.

-Dahlia's and Spook's Mom

Heartland Impressions

Bunny Love, the Real Story . . .

Dahlia and Spook, a match made in bunny heaven . . . . .most of the time.


Dahlia, I love you more than carrots.

Spook, I love you more than hay.

Sweetest Dahlia, you are lovelier than lettuce.

Darling Spook, you are sweeter than yogurt treats.

Beautiful Dahlia, you are . . .



Wait! I think our pet is going to give us something to eat. At least she is good for something.

About time, I was starving!



You are hogging the kale!

I am not! You are!

Back off buddy, this is mine!

You are so selfish, I just want a nibble!

I rue the day that girl brought you into my life!

How do you think I feel? All I get now is leftovers.

15 minutes later...

I am sooooo full! I think I am going to explode. I can't even move.

Serves you right for being such a pig and eating all my food.

*sigh* Dahlia . . . . you know I love you, right?

I love you too Spook.

A Cute Brand for Bunny Lovers

I stumbled upon this brand at Big Lots. I thought it was just too cute, plus it is organic and tastes good. I had to go to the website http://www.annies.com/ and learn more. I found out it is somewhat pricey; but if you happen upon it on sale, like I did, I would definitely recommend it. Plus, who can turn down cereal called "Bunny Love" and "Honey Bunnies"?

A Very Bold Baby

Born April 24, this wild youngster is not threatened by us in the least. He (or she) was the subject of one of Andrea's blog entries a little while back and he still prefers to hang around the warrens. Yesterday I spied him in the 'weed bed' and hurried to get the camera. I thought I would have to be quick and hopefully have some luck in getting pictures of him doing cute cottontail things. But as it turned out I had plenty of time. I lost count of the pictures he allowed, and I suspect he enjoyed the star treatment as he POSED throughout the 70 some pictures I got! What was incredible to me was that the camera was on the macro feature which requires that you be very up-close to the subject. These pictures were taken about 12 inches from his nose! He didn't balk once, an extremely rare behavior for a wild bunny. We are lecturing him on safety, and telling him he should not trust humans to be that close. I will resort to thumping my foot if necessary.

Fresh laundry ... the 2.

I enjoyed Christina's post so much that I had to "publish" a second part to her story ...

Queen Bee spotted something she will need to explore further ...

Using a wicker basket to do the laundry .... MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Mine! Mine! All MINE!"

"WHAT???????????"

Is she coming Dudley?

You better hurry Tango!!!!!! I think I hear her.

Thump if you see her coming Dudley. I just need a minute to make this laundry smell better!

Too Hot, Too Stressed!

Our bunnies will overheat in a matter of minutes. Putting them in a car adds stress and therefore more heat, even though the car's a/c is running. Many times we have arrived at our destination with an overheated bunny. Some of our friends are planning trips in the next few weeks and must take their bunnies with them. Here is a cool solution - the poor man's a/c. We found the instructions last summer on the 3 Bunnies website and built one to see how it works. It worked well for us for several reasons: it was portable; it was small enough that it fit in the floor of the van between the seats(can be placed on the seat too - just make sure its level - placing a shallow tray under it is a good idea); bags of ice are available all along the trip(although the frozen 2 liter bottles worked best); our power source (a battery charger) was renewable and portable too. Note that the fan on the lid needs to be at the opposite side of the box so the air can be drawn across the ice and out to the bunny. The instructions are found at www.3bunnies.org, click on Caring For Your Bunny, then Housing, then Bunny Chill Box. Note: we had to place the vent holes right up against the door of the bunny's pet carrier for maximum cooling. Keeping a close eye on the ice supply and the power supply, seeing to it that the a/c is still operational, is very important. David Fisher, 3 Bunnies web master, and the inventor of the 'poor man's a/c' has given permission for anyone to post it and share it(but please don't take credit for it). He has placed it in the public domain to benefit bunnies everywhere. Way to go David!