Rabbit News

[poliphilo]

Shally and Tosh have been fighting for command of the warren. Rabbit wars are intense and scrabbly and generate lots of flying fluff. Tosh was bleeding all down Ailz's nightdress yesterday morning, so we've put a fence across the middle of the room with Tosh on one side and the two does on the other. There are ways of making rabbits be friends. One is to confine them together in a small, neutral space- a bathroom for instance- and stand guard with a squirt gun to shoot them if they start rucking-and carry on until they're huddling together for comfort.  I'd rather not take that route.

If the object was to liven up Tosh's existence after the death of his companion, we've succeeded. The bleeding was from a ripped out claw. He seems a whole lot better this morning. 

Shally and Shaz are still little more than babies, clumsy and lollopy, with feet too big for the rest of their bodies. They spend their waking lives exploring and haven't yet got the hang of what litter trays are for. They don't particularly like being touched- few rabbits do- but if I sit on the floor they'll come over and check me out. This morning Shally tried to eat a silver ring off my finger.

Comments

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I read your first rabbit post and lost it in the morass of the reading backlog. I know they don't live that long, but I'm sorry to hear of the poor wee thing's demise.

It must be infinitely better for the rabbits to be tearing lumps out of each other than sitting in solitary confinement. At least they're not called Hazel, Bigwig and Woundwort...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Tish lived to be four. That's a reasonable age- and longer than any rabbit could expect to survive in the wild.

It's a shame to keep rabbits in hutches. They make lively pets if they're allowed to roam.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

And they can be house-trained! I wonder which Champion of Rabbitkind finally made the intellectual leap from keeping the unfortunate creatures confined in a box to having them free-range.

A girl I knew in primary school had a rabbit roaming free in a garage. But it sounds a lot better to have them living communally with other rabbits.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Rabbits use droppings to mark their territory- so they can never be completely house-trained- but the droppings are dry and inoffensive and easy to sweep up.

They're social animals- and need companions- not necessarily of their own species.

[(Anonymous)]

Somehow, that makes the traditional picture of a rabbit stuck in a tiny hutch harder to bear.

We had a rabbit once - just briefly. Our cat brought her home, and we considered it our duty to look after her. We made her a hutch, took her to the vet to cure her cat-bites. And then she promptly died of myxamatosis (how DO you spell that??). The poor girl didn't really get much out of her short life...

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Sorry - that was me! Cocked up the login...

[ron-broxted.livejournal.com]

You wanna post that rabbit aggro on You Tube. On a more serious note...good luck with your furry friends, never equated yobbery with rabbits.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Rabbits are like droogs- only without Little Alex's redeeming fondness for Ludwig Van.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

How do you know they don't like Ludwig Van??

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Good question.

As far as I can tell they're indifferent to any kind of human noise.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Maybe they just PRETEND to be indifferent...

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Rabbits are intensely territorial, something I learned while gardening. It is essentially impossible to fence out a rabbit. Even if you buy woven wire fencing especially made for rabbits, and install it as directed, they may still dig under it, if you happen to cross an established path. I eventually got tired of fighting and just gave up.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Territory is even more important than sex and companionship. Present Tosh with an attractive young female and his first instinct is not "come up and see my etchings" but "get the hell off my front yard".

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Who knew?

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I squirt the cats, too, when they get physical while angered. It works. I dont know about them "huddling together" though. They seem to like each other OK, playing games together, etc., but when things get rough somebody gets mad, and then there's a pretty rough fight which I have to stop. My chum Kathy's father raised rabbits when we were kids. Kathy made a pet out of one of them, called him "Senator". He enjoyed being held and petted, unlike yours.