Bun Appetit to All!

Bun Appetit Pet BowlToday is a day set aside in the US for giving thanks. Many have the day or a long weekend off to be able to spend with friends and family. I am so thankful to be celebrating 24 wonderful years of marriage this week and to have a happy healthy bunny rabbit friend in Leo for this past two years. I’ve been quiet here on Rabbittude because we have been working through some business challenges and juggling some illness and injuries. When things get a bit too much, I get quiet and just try to work through everything to the best of my ability.

I hope for those who are traveling this weekend that you will have a safe journey and be able to spend some wonderful quality time with loved ones. Food is very much on the minds of many and in the works, so Bun Appetit to all from Rabbittude. Leo received some goodies from a friend and is enjoying his first taste of cranberries. I have no picture to share of that because Leo will sometimes approach new things with secrecy. He is eating the cranberry treats when we aren’t watching him. They say a watched pot doesn’t boil, well a watched Leo doesn’t like to show that he might be liking new things, fussy bunny.

If you are shopping this weekend and want to check out some things with a bunny twist, we have some coupon discounts in our Buntique shop through December 2nd:

THANKSUS – Free Shipping to US addresses – minimum order $25
THANKS25 – $2.50 off – minimum order $25
THANKS50 – 25% off – minimum order $50

Wherever you are this weekend and whatever your plans, I wish you safe travels and lovely times! If bunnies are there too, give them some head pets from us!

 

Curveball Thursday: Booda ???

Booda Dome ???So my plan for today had been to write a throwback story about our previous bunnies that had not yet been told. Yesterday I had written about how Leo had finally accepted his Booda Dome after initially not wanting to even be in the same room with it. You can read the Booda Don’t and Booda Do posts for the rest of the story and pictures.

Then today Leo throws me a curveball when I walk in to the room and see him flopped at the doorway of his Booda Dome. So what is the message behind that? Is he back to not going in? Is he laying stronger claim to it by blocking the entrance? Ah Leo, what does this mean?

I have a feeling that there might be more to the story to be told over time …

Turning a Booda Don’t In to a Booda Do

Booda Dome Clean Step Litter box
Leo avoiding Booda Dome
Baiting the Booda Dome TopAnd Leo takes the bait ...Success with the Booda dome
 I wrote in Booda Don’t about how the minute the new Booda Dome  Clean Step Litter Box went in to the room, Leo exited and hesitated to even come back in with that thing there. It is a bit mind-boggling to us since Tigger and Shadow were so intensely curious about everything. We had rabbit supervisors for every new thing and they would break new things in so fast there was never any issue of it keeping any new look or smell for long. So we started out with Leo hovering across the room from it. We began by separating the top and the bottom of the Booda Dome and putting them on opposite sides of the room. The bottom we with litter and a hay pile in one corner to encourage Leo to make use of the facilities and remove that new litter box smell and replace it with his own scent. That was a fairly easily accomplished mission.

On the other side of the room sat the Booda Dome top and that was studiously avoided by Leo. A suggestion was made to put some treats inside to see if Leo could be enticed in. So I laid down a papaya trail leading in and he hopped in to consume one of his favorite treats. I did this several times over a period of several weeks allowing Leo to get used to the idea and feel of hanging out under the dome even if his inhabiting the space was as brief as the length of time to wolf down the papaya bits.

So we left the two parts separate for a month letting Leo adjust. Then one day I joined the top and bottom together again and wasn’t sure of successful use of the dome at all. Recently I heard a strange noise I didn’t recognize. When I went to check, Leo was in the Booda Dome. When the halves were separate, he must have just been hopping over the side of the litter box bottom. Once the Booda Dome was assembled with the top on, his first use of the entry ramp was quite noisy. You can barely see him inside now, just the white of his back with his brown spots.

Ah sweet success, at last … the Booda Dome is now a do.

Hanging With My Bangin Bunny

Leo the Bangin BunnyThe one thing I can say about Leo that is different from Tigger and Shadow is that he is a very relaxing rabbit to have around. Leo is cute and quirky rather than being wired for constant action and activity. Tigger and Shadow were massive amounts of fun, but could really wear us out at times trying to keep up and ahead of them with bunny proofing so that they didn’t get hurt with some of the crazy things they would try.

So I am just hanging out here in the office with Leo today, enjoying a midweek day off that I am gifting myself. I’ve been snapping a few pics of him as he relaxes too. Once again I am so attracted to what first caught my attention in his Petfinder.com ad, those awesome bangs. Leo loves having his head petted and those bangs are like a head petting magnet. If you have ever had a troll doll, Leo’s bangs have the same fascination. You just cannot resist playing around with his bangs this way and that and in the process he gets lots of the head pets that he loves too.

Everyone who meets him just loves that little mop top. Leo’s fur is just so very soft and silky to the touch, it is hard to describe just how very wonderful it feels to run your hand over him or run your fingers through that mane of his. It is yummy relaxing fur therapy.

Off to enjoy petting a little bunny rabbit head some more … oh and I was so busy looking at Leo’s cute bangs, I fogot to mention the adorable little milk mustache look he has going too. His coloring and fur pattern is just so different from any other rabbit I’ve seen.

Leo and His Pet Bed

When we first got Tigger, we had a small pet bed for her that she just loved. I wrote about how she would just put herself in to all kinds of bunny model poses on that bed. When Shadow joined our household a few months later and we started the bonding process, we found that the pet bed was something that was going to have to go because Shadow insisted on eating them. If we gave him opportunity, he would attempt to shred the beds and try to eat them. So we ended up with keeping the beds only for lining carriers on vet visits when it was really cold or they were really sick.

Leo isn’t the chewer that Shadow was and he is a bit more like Tigger in some ways. So when we came across a really cute bed with a big mark down at the pet store, we thought it was worth a shot to see if Leo would like it. I just love the bed which looks like a mini sofa with a throw pillow. Leo has absolutely no idea what to do with it. As you can see from the pictures, he will wander all around it, put front paws on it and that is the full extent of his interest in the pet bed.

Leo has never once been on it to sit on it or lie down on it. We tried draping his blankie on it since he just loves his blankie and plays with that lying on it, burrowing under it and dragging it around to play with. The blankie draped on the bed was what finally got Leo to at least set his paws on the bed, but that is as far as he was willing to go. You will notice in the pictures that when he appears to put his paws on the bed, he has actually carefully positioned himself so that he is really standing on his blankie.

Unless we get another rabbit who likes the bed, this is likely to be one of the least used pet beds ever. We have had it more than a year now with him and it still looks brand new.

Ah well, there is at least some hope today that Leo might adjust to his new Booda Dome litter box. He stayed in the room with it today for a bit. At some point he did hop in and check it out since I found he had used the facilities. I’ve still got the top off of it waiting to see if he will venture in to the top just sitting on the floor and then maybe we can see if we put it together whether he will hop in and use it.

Booda Don’t

Booda Dome Clean Step Litter boxSo this is the Booda Dome Clean Step Litter Box. We picked it up for Leo over the weekend. We thought a manly deep brown color was just the thing for our little bunny boy.

We had a Booda Dome without the steps with Tigger and Shadow. They liked it. We thought this one with the step ramp in to the litter box would be more to Leo’s liking since he loves to hide places and he isn’t as adept at hopping into and out of things as Tigger and Shadow. So we thought the step ramp would be something Leo would like better. We forgot though that there is one thing Leo hates more than being out in the open and that is new things.

Leo avoiding Booda Dome So now we have the Booda don’t. As you can see in the picture, Leo isn’t willing to enter the room with this new “thing” in there. You can barely see where it is way across the room behind the cardboard cottage. I even removed the dome top trying to make it a little less scary to him. Leo alternated between hovering at the doorway and running top speed down the hall and back in to the office. He sits at the doorway just staring at it.

I have no idea what Leo thinks it is going to do, but he clearly plans to keep an eye on it and maintain a safe distance. I’ve read that the eyes on a Lionhead are more prominent than other rabbit breeds. What that means to us is that when Leo gets scared about something, he really looks bug-eyed.

Leo avoiding Booda DomeOkay, so this picture is a bit later and looks like progress. Except Leo never likes to be out in the open in this room and is never in this spot. His favorite spot is behind the cardboard cottage. However now, the new litter box is behind the cardboard cottage. So Leo is more willing to expose himself in the open than go back by that new “thing”.

I do hope this isn’t going to be a repeat of the pet bed. I’ll share that story tomorrow.

Follow Friday: Rabbittude on Pinterest

Rabbittude Pinterest Account

There are several dozen boards of all things bunny rabbit on the Rabbittude Pinterest account

I’ve worked a lot on the Rabbittude Pinterest boards. There are now several dozen boards dedicated to bunny rabbits and things that bunny rabbit lovers might enjoy. When you get a chance check it out. I just cannot resist collecting and surrounding myself with bunny rabbits! The Pinterest account provides another way to do that and then to share all the lovely finds with others who love big eared fuzzy tailed friends too.

Leo’s “Hillow”

Leo and hillowAlthough we buy things that look like good fun for our rabbits, I also look to repurpose things we already have for rabbit use. And sometimes what I repurpose, the rabbits have repurposed even further. That is the case with Leo and his “hillow”.

When I was having some back problems, I bought a body pillow to see if it was more supportive, but didn’t find it helped me out much. I was thinking about giving it away. Then I decided to put it on the floor in Leo’s hallway run area and wrap it around the corner as kind of a bumper and to keep him from chewing carpet right at the corner. With Tigger & Shadow we had always found corner areas to be the place where they seemed to go after the carpet the most.

It didn’t work out exactly as planned, because being a pillow it is light and easy for Leo to move it. And move it he did. At first he pushed it over a lot and was climbing around on it. Then one day, he just kind of burrowed in between it and the wall creating a little space just wide enough for him to fit between the pillow and the wall. He loved it. After that, he kept burrowing the pillow away from the wall. It became a place for him to hide out, but if he is sitting up, he can still see anyone approaching him from any direction. He loves to run around it and through it and sometimes he still goes over it.

Leo and hillowWhen I realized how much he liked that semi-protected space he had created, I always make sure now to set the pillow down curved around the corner just wide enough for Leo. I realized it looked a bit like an earth mound, especially since the pillow has a green cover. That is when I started calling it Leo’s “hillow”. I put some ceramic floor tiles down over the carpet around the corner so he doesn’t chew the carpet there. Leo hasn’t tried to lift or move those and actually likes to hang out right in the corner of his “hillow” sitting on the tiles.

I would love to hear if others have some things they or their house rabbits have repurposed just for bunny use.

An Afternoon With Leo

With our previous rabbits, they spent a lot more time out in the open. We used to see a lot of the plotting and planning going on and know by how they looked what was about to happen. With Leo, much of what he does is out of our sight. We usually ;don’t know something is in the works until it is executed. So I took a couple of pictures of Leo this afternoon, being his usual quiet bunny self and had no idea that he had plans …

Leo and his tunnel

Leo in the in the doorway of his tunnel

Leo and his tunnel

Leo back in the corner shadows plotting and planning …

Leo and his tunnel

Mission accomplished, tunnel overthrow achieved and Leo is back at rest

Leo is just a bunny full of surprises. I took the first two pictures of him at rest and then went back to work. A little later I heard a whoomp sound. I walked around the desk and found the tunnel completely over turned and Leo back at rest in his favorite little corner as if nothing at all had happened.

Leo is forming a habit of throwing over his tunnel. Since I can’t see what brings it on, I’m not sure if he gets mad at it, does something accidental or does it just because he can.

What Is Up with Rabbittude?

Close up of Leo #1

First close up picture attempt with Leo

Close up of Leo #2

Second close up picture attempt with Leo

Close up of Leo #3

Third close up picture attempt with Leo … success

Sometimes in life, you just have to stop talking about things and just work through them. It has been a bit of a rough patch here since last fall. There were some significant changes in some of the services we use and a really bad fall allergy season was followed by one of the worst winters we’ve had here in a long time. It all became a bit too much juggling. I decided to just keep focused on working through it all and bring the blog back when we were on a more even path again.

Today is a really good day to start talking again. As of today, we have officially had little Leo the Lionhead with us for two years. I will sometimes call him Le Li for short, pronouncing that as “lee lee”. I would have to say that Leo is the shyest bunny rabbit I have ever known. He holds back a lot. It has made getting to know him a real challenge.

I decided this afternoon to try to get a good close up picture of him now. LOL, camera-shy he is not. Every time I put the camera on the floor, he had to make sure the close up was really up close and personal. In trying to get a good shot, he nosed the lens, chewed the small tripod I had the camera on and I think probably got a whole bunch of  bunny fur, dander and just general essence of bunny rabbit all over the camera.

As you can see, first attempts were way too up close and personal. I finally had success with the third shot by literally putting the camera right down and clicking the button as soon as the tripod hit the floor. If there had been a fourth shot, it would have looked like the first two all over again.

So maybe I need to get the camera out more often if I want Leo to come straight to me … Rabbits are all such different personalities. Each new rabbit we come to know is very unique and different from every other rabbit we have known.

 

Do You Have a Bunny Rabbit Story to Tell?

Four Rabbits

We have a lot of bunny stories yet to share here and expect Leo will create many more to come. We would also like to include the stories and images of other house rabbits too. So we would like to consider some guest blogging posts here on Rabbittude.

If you have a story idea you would like to share in the comments here on the post or via the comment form under our Contact page, we invite you to do that. If you have things you would like to see us share more of here on Rabbittude, let us know that too. It will help us to decide going forward what we should put in our long-range blog planning.

If you are a writer, we would be looking for something 500 – 1000 words with an image or two. If you are a storyteller, you can consider sharing an image or video you might have on YouTube with some behind the scenes comments about the story behind the image or video. This is your opportunity to pitch ideas to us of anything you might like to share here on Rabbittude. Nothing needs to be submitted at this point except ideas.

We will be working to see about ways of people being able to share images of other rabbits to be able to have some gallery ability of house rabbits here too.

Story Behind the Dust Bunnies

Save the dust bunniesThe thought for the dust bunny art began a decade ago and was inspired by Tigger, Shadow and Portia. All of them were properly fixed so that there were no worries about them reproducing and creating any baby rabbits. But I realized after a time, they had found another means of creating bunnies.

Rabbit shedding season is amazing for the volume of dust bunnies that begin to appear. Tigger almost seemed to delight in crawling underneath things and coming back out with dust bunnies clinging to her whiskers and fur.  It was almost a message that she was seeking out or wanting to protect these little bunnies of hers, because it was hard then to catch her to relieve her of the dust bunnies.  Then Portia joined us and as a Chinchilla rabbit, her dust bunny creation ability was awesome. Little poofs of furry dust bunnies would float around in the air when she would shed.

As I would sweep the dust bunnies away, the dust bunny creators would seek to interfere in my gathering up their little dust bunny babies. I started to envision all the little dust bunnies rising up in protest against me. I pictured myself tied up someday in a fuzzy version of Gulliver’s Travels. Over time, I had seen many  protests about saving various things.  The one protest that finalized the thought for saving dust bunnies was seeing a button that said Save the Chocolate Moose. That tickled my funny bone and made me think of the dust bunnies picking up signs and beginning a protest march against the clean and organized movement that was threatening their existence.

I started the Dust Bunny art with one little bunny protesting. Then that dust bunny was joined by another and another and then finally, they just all had to get together in an all out dust Bunny rally. If you would like to check out the dust bunny art …

Remember to check out our contest this month. If the dust bunnies from our Rabbittude Buntique shop interest you, they would be some of the items to choose from with a gift certificate.