The State of Affairs

The insatiable Amelia drives Tyler around the bend.

In case you have been wondering about Tyler and Amelia's current state of relationship let me just say he still loves her and she is still insatiable. To see Tyler as romantic lead click HERE. Tyler has also been seen grooming Sydney and flopping in front of Harriet. I hope once the girls get themselves sorted out he'll just snuggle right in. I had thought today of putting Tyler in the bonding tub with Harriet and Amelia just to see what would happen, but as soon as I had this thought he disappeared behind the couch and wouldn't come out until it was over. He is a very clever boy.

Up close and personal with Tyler and Amelia.

After rubbing the two girls with parsley I placed them in the tub, which, this time, was without towels for footing, just cold and slick and inhospitable. As you look at the pictures you will notice that the tub isn't very clean and that is true. It's not hooked up and we just keep plants in it. On this date Harriet seemed quite subdued, at first I thought she was angry with me. Maybe she thought I was going to take her into the garden and here she was in cold tub with that damn Amelia who gets all Tyler's attention. She kept pretty still and had her head down. For a bit I thought I had somehow hurt her, then I realized this was her demanding dominance posture. Somethings when I stroked her ear tips she would tooth purr. They tried to nip at each other a couple times, but mostly nothing happened. I then took them both out and let them loose in the bathroom to see what would happen there.

Both girls tried on Lavender hats.

With better footing they were more interested in a bit of a fight. I stopped this before it happened each time and petted and kissed the perp until she forgot her evil thoughts. Amelia seemed bent on cornering Harriet behind the toilet, but Harriet had her moments as well. Between the tub date and the bathroom foray both buns were out for an hour and very little fur was lost! For tub bonding movies click HERE for a quiet date, HERE for fashionable buns, and HERE for Bunny Spa Lavender Treatment.

Monday Bunday: Scenes From a Bathtub

In order to keep momentum on the bonding front and to see what would happen if I put Amelia and Harriet in the bathtub, I did just that. This time I took the sensible precaution of wearing gloves and putting on an extra sweatshirt. I put some towels in the tub, I didn't want any dangerous scrambling, though maybe one is supposed to present the bonding buns with a uniform, slippery, cold arena. I'm not sure. At any rate, once in place the two showed some curiosity, then some biting. I rubbed them both down with Rosemary so they'd smell the same and they had a Parsley snack. It seemed like a good sign that they would eat together. At one point they were both asking the other for grooming, so I rubbed both their heads simultaneously.

Who is cuter? I am! No, I am! No c'est moi! Not! it's me, me, me......

This is a technique one of the Rabbit Haven bonders showed me. Nipping and tousling still happened, but I stopped it as soon as I could and settled them both down with head rubs.

I am thinking the important thing is to change the energy from attack to calm. At one point both rabbits were happily tooth purring under the gnarly garden gloves with which I chose to arm myself .....Finally I felt like they done as much as they could and it was nap time for bunnies. I tried picking them both up at once and that really did not work. Someone who is mostly white is just too big.

Harriet waited in the tub while I ferried Amelia back to her room.

Settled again with the fence between them they napped within 6 inches of each other. I am curious to see what Tyler and Harriet would do in the tub, or even Tyler and Amelia, Or if I could get a hold of Sydney try her and Harriet, or put three in the tub, not sure if I could get all four in, or what about........The movies that make up Scenes From a Bathtub can be viewed HERE, HERE and HERE.

Now the girls, a fence just is not an attractive fashion accessory, so can we take it down and be happy with each other?

Bond? James Bond?

No rabbits were harmed in the making of this video and the little fight where the Not Very Bright Rabboratory Assistant got bit and had to have stitches,well, that happened after filming. We have had a couple of little luncheon dates without the fence and with a chaperon. You can see that there are some nerves firing and although everybun is eating, it is a bit tense. Since Sydney has taken to chasing Amelia more, Miss Girl (Amelia's alternate name) is a bit hesitant to join in. You can see the second video by clicking here. Harriet is quite territorial as regards her little part of the world and would like to plant her flag in the rest of the house as well.

After these were "filmed" Tyler wisely left and Sydney followed a bit later. Amelia went outside and Harriet followed, there was a chase and a scuffle and then an actual fight where both rabbits seemed to be two feet in the air and writhing around and kicking each other. I stuck my hands in, got bit and captured Harriet. After checking her, I deposited her in her pen and checked Amelia. Two minutes after that they were both by the fence eating together as if nothing had happened. All the rabbits are keyed up now, even when not actually on a BunBonding mission. Amelia and Harriet seem to be vying for my attention, indeed Amelia bit my butt while I was cleaning a box. Luckily no skin was broken as a result of that dental venture. Sydney is skittering and thumping and Tyler left his vegie dinner a tad early to have some quiet time. He can be a very emotional little fellow.

Next time: gloves and a smaller neutral space.

Just a few words about Urgent Care. I barely had to wait 5 minutes and the waiting room was not filled with a bunch of coughers. I told my story to the nurse and added that rabbit bites were not as likely to get infected as cat or dog bites. She took my vitals and said my blood pressure was perfect. She asked when my last Tetanus shot was and I said a very long time ago and she said she'd order one up for me. I inquired what sort of preservative the Tetanus used was it Thimerisal (Mercury) and she immediately said no one used that any more. I quietly countered that I had read otherwise. She met with the Dr. outside the door and I could hear them talking about rabbit bites, then they started whispering, then I heard the Dr. say "Let's give her the insert." Whereupon the Dr. ( a woman) presented me with and insert saying "it's all in really small print." I was undaunted and started reading right away as she had gone to get something or other. I think she thought I was a real weirdo. She explained that they usually don't stitch animal bites, but she could tack it in a few places to keep the skin stretched out over the wound which is slightly bigger than a nickel and the flap is about as thick. I was moved to the "Procedure Room" where I finished reading the insert and found that the booster was not just tetanus but also Pertussis (Whooping Cough) and Diphtheria. I declined the jab having an aversion to being vaccinated extraneous conditions. By this time I think the Doc thought I was definitely a weirdo, I'm sure they get plenty, I didn't really care since all I wanted was to get my hand tacked up. I even let her numb out the wound so she'd feel better about the needle bit. I told her I get all my dental work done without anesthetic, then she thought really was a dangerous weirdo. She started talking about horses, she was getting nervous, but I can talk about horses and pretty soon we had a good conversation going. Then she said she had rabbits, that her son had found a pair of white rabbits with black noses in Scotts Valley. Ha, ha I had her now "Is your husband J___ S___?" I asked "Yes! I'm getting chills, how could you know?" I explained that my Facebook avatar is California rabbit face and a friend of a friend had commented on it saying he had two similar rabbits etc, etc, etc.....Then she remembered that he had indeed shown her the picture. It is a small world and with a little luck you can pull just about anyone down the rabbit hole.

Monday Bunday

Yes, yes, soon the fourway bonding attempt with begin. Harriet gets her staples out on Tuesday, her incision looks like it healed nicely as there was no redness or swelling and she was a good girl and didn't lick it. She has seemed a bit depressed, probably a result of the surgery and no being let out of her pen.

Harriet in her willow tent and all matching floor towels. I tried putting the Snoozy pad in the tent but it was pushed out. Once arranged near the food bowls she often stretches out on it. Harriet has some definite ideas about BunShui.

Her appetite has not been as sharp as her pre-surgery self (or as the other rabbits who seem to think they are being starved). However in the last day or so appetite is seeming better and she was skittering around her pen and working hard at pulling a towel through the bars. There were two meetings without bars, one inadvertent and one planned, between Amelia and Harriet. The first was when, in an attempt to let Harriet have more room I barricaded off half the back room. Amelia was engaged with a nap in her lean-to. Harriet was quite stimulated by the whole arrangement and within a few minutes had broken down the barricade and was nose to nose with Amelia, who did absolutely nothing. This seemed like a good sign so later I opened the outside annex (AKA the Bunnex ) and let Amelia out. She immediately found the pumpkin I'd put out because it was molding on one side and began to help herself, not to the moldy part which was really very small. I let Harriet out for some room exploration, but she was more interested in finding Amelia. Play the video to see what happened.

This event happened twice, each time ending in a light scuffle. Now I have an idea of what to expect.

If I can bond all four rabbits I think it will be a pretty busy place here at the Rabboratory. Just this morning all the rabbits were in the back room. Harriet was tossing her dish around, Amelia was being groomed by Tyler and Sydney was in the small box house. Minutes later Harriet was messing with her fence and pulling a towel through it, Amelia was rolling the snack ball around and Tyler and Sydney were shacked up in the box house, which is very, very cosy for two rabbits.

Tyler (L) and Sydney (R), Spots got to stick together, mostly......

Tyler thinks that if we are going to have ANOTHER free range bun about the house that the door needs to be just a wee bit bigger.....

Have a great week everybun........

Late addition: The Qi Papers now has 200 followers!!!!!

Monday Bunday

Tyler considers our new art photo......

It has a been a rather busy week both in and out of BlogLandia. First we WON the signed calendar page from Alice at Potentially Nervous/Crazy. The page was so GORGEOUS, I had to frame it. For some reason 17 x 11 is not a frame size where I live unless you do a custom frame and buy the glass separately and such and such. However after more thought than seemed necessary, I realized if I bought the 16 x 12 frame I'd only have to trim an inch from the length and I could fill in the gap at the bottom with the Angora fur that Alice so kindly sent along in the package. It looks pretty good! it's fun to have some new art. I am going to hang it low so the rabbits can continue to admire it and commune with the image of their friend, FATS. Amelia, especially, considers him her special friend.....

Amelia thinks about Fats and wonders what a Winter Wonderland would be like....

Harriet got spayed last Tuesday, it was a little scary when the vet said she was having trouble waking up and that sometimes happened. She was slow to eat and pee and poop and I had to give her a couple of doses of Medicam. She seems to have fully recovered judging for appetite poops and boxing matches with the other rabbits through the fencing and gets her staples removed on Friday or next Monday Bunday. Then we shall see about the bonding......

Harriet watched her favorite Potentially Crazy screen saver as part of her recovery therapy.

And then we got an award from Crafty Green Poet: the Kreativ Blogger Award. In order to accept this accolade I have to list 7 (!) things about myself that you don't know and list SEVEN fellow bloggers to pass this on to......

7 Things you DON'T know ABOUT me, but soon you will.....

1. I was born in New Jersey, but only stayed for two months.

2. I was once mistaken for a dog.

3. In High School I received a special art award for creating the most Rhinoceroses as prints, drawings and ceramic pieces.

4. I dropped out and returned to college 4 times.

5. Sydney does not like bananas.

6. I don't like coconut anything.

7. In a small notebook I kept throughout the 7th grade I wrote that I wanted to write and illustrate stories and train horses when I grew up.....

To carry on this award, it was very hard to pick, I choose the following Kreativ bloggers:

1-BunnyGirl because she is a writer too.

2-RoadBunner because she takes great pics of Mario and knitted a rabbit.

3-Silver and/or Ankles because she is also a fabric/batik artist.

4-Friend of Animals because she makes really charming handmade cards.

5-Pensacola Paula because of her excellent photos.

6-Fez and the Gang because of funny caring posts and some super pics.

7-Raspberry Rabbits because she just is very creative, no matter how you spell it.

I apologize if anyone mentioned already got this award, these things tend to travel round and round repeating their appearances........