Sunday, July 09, 2006

Stuck

Beautiful day, but I felt like little bunny *no-name* stuck on the inside looking out. I just had to stay in and take care of mundane things like housecleaning and laundry and bill-paying. What a drag! My DH cut the lawn and then went off crabbing, but I had to stay behind and *get something accomplished* - not very good at that lately. Blame it on the lazy days of summer, I guess.

The stray bunny is still here and is settling in, sort of. She (I'm guessing) is badly in need of a *fix* - I'm nearly certain that she was dumped by someone who couldn't deal with the negative behaviors associated with sexual maturity in a rabbit. Most folks won't even consider spending the money to neuter a rabbit. Too bad really, because neutering is the key to a good houserabbit. I can put up with the boxing, grunting, and circling because I understand what it's about and that it's a temporary behavior and how to fix it. I've scheduled an appointment with the vet for her to be spayed later this month - until then I just have to put up with a sex-crazed bunny. It's sad to think of all the hutch bunnies that spend their lives in such a state! She's given me quite a scare today, pulling out a mess of fur from her belly and arranging it with scattered hay in her litterbox to make a nest. I'm praying that she's not already pregnant and is just practising.

As if nest-building weren't entertaining enough while trying to get the house cleaned, Cricket, destroyer of cardboard boxes, got into a tussle with the vacuum cleaner while I wasn't paying attention. She isn't afraid of it at all, unlike Boomer who runs for the other end of the porch. Any time I try to vacuum their bed, she pushes the vacuum hose out and tries to bite it. This afternoon while vacuuming I set the hose down to move their toys out of the way and turned around to find the hose attached to sweet Cricket's face! Poor thing - I couldn't stop laughing, but felt so guilty for doing it! Gotta wonder if she'll ever try that move again.

11 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

OMG, poor Cricket!

I had a scary bunny vs vacuum incident once. Our last bunny was a cord-chewer, but also was afraid of the vacuum, so I wasn't too worried... until I went to unplug the vaccum and found it hanging by only a couple of wires.

Why the vacuum was still running and the bunny was still alive remain mysteries to me.

Bunnies and vacuums... not a good combo!

silverlight said...

People who think animals are 'things'. Make me crazy. Poor bunny. I guess you were meant have this bun.
Hope it settles down soon.
Maybe sit down with it and just talk to her(it).
You have a very generous heart.

Anonymous said...

Laura, she could be Hazel's twin in that first picture! Is she really that big? Gawd I loved that soft orange fur on the back of her neck, I see it on your girl too! I hope it's just hormones making her build the nest. I have never had an unspayed mature female, Tink got fixed as early as possible.

Poor Cricket! But I too would have had a good laugh had I turned around and seen that! Chopper is intruiged by the vaccuum and I am ever mindful when I am cleaning their room - I have even had Doug come and stand guard while I dashed out to dump the canister! They would take out a cord in a heartbeat LOL.

LauraHinNJ said...

Michelle no, she's a little thing, but long. This morning she greeted me running around the cage with a mouthful of hay looking for where to stash it. ;-( Uh oh.

The flemmies don't have very much interest in cords (thank goodness), but I'm going to have to be more mindful of the business end of the vacuum from now on.

Susan Gets Native said...

Start boiling the water, Laura!

LauraHinNJ said...

Not funny Susan. I meant to do a good thing here, but as the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished."

What am I going to do if she is? I don't have a flipping clue!! I would never be in this situation with one of *my own*, but taking in a stray; who knows where she's been? lol!

The spay appt. is set for 7/28 - guess I'll keep my fingers crossed until then. If anyone has a suggestion - I'm all ears!

Susan Gets Native said...

Sorry, Laura...couldn't resist.
I was in the same boat, remember? With "unwanted" rat babies? Thank goodness she only had two.
What's the average litter for bunnies?

LauraHinNJ said...

How did your rat end up preggers? I forget?

I don't know what average litter is for bunnies - never paid attention to any of that info - didn't think I would ever need to know.

**Burying head back in sand**

;-)

Susan Gets Native said...

My hussy of a rat jumped into Nic's cage while I was cleaning it and rat sex lasts about 2 seconds.

You poor thing. How does your hubby feel about bunnies? Is he up a wall about one of them maybe expecting?

LauraHinNJ said...

Susan: ;-P on rat sex.

The hubby is a dear. He doesn't say a word. Whatever I want.

What's sort of funny is that I'd probably have ended up with this bunny no matter what. The neighbor who took it from the person who found it called the SPCA to see what they recommended. They wouldn't take it directly from her, but told her to call Animal Control. My hubby *covers* for the Animal Control officer, so had the neighbor called them, my DH would have picked this bunny up. Think he wouldn't have checked with me first? HA!

Got a response to the flyers I put out today - a lady called to say that she had seen a flyer for a LOST bunny - but it was big and white. Wonder if I could dye her fur white? ;-)

LauraHinNJ said...

Thank you for the links, bunny daddy! Good info there, should I need it.