::sigh:: I'm going to have to take Bunny in again

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This post probably won’t go anywhere, so forgive me in advance.

My best friend has a bunny rabbit. She’s about six years old now. She’s actually quite beautiful: soft, black coat, lop-eared, and adorable as all hell. She’s the kind of bunny who needs the run of the house, all day. She’s litter trained, and the top of her cage is open so she can hop in when she needs to eat.

My friend’s going to Australia at the end of the month, and I’ve volunteered to take Bunny in. I’m used to the care of small animals, seeing as I had two guinea pigs - Priscilla and Polpetta (Italian for “meatball”) - for several years. (Polpetta died in 1998, Priscilla died in 2000. :frowning: ) I took Bunny in for six months five years ago, and she was quite lovely. She quickly learned when I’d be home from work, and when I’d come in the door, she’d be waiting there for me. Then she’d dance around my feet. She also knew when I was sad. She was forbidden to come onto my bed, but one evening I was sad, the TV wasn’t on, the computer wasn’t on, and the radio wasn’t on. (Unusual for me.) She hopped up onto my bed and proceeded to lick my wrist. In bunny language, this means “I love you.”

At night, she’d stretch out on my carpet, and sleep there. She’s also play with my guinea pigs, when I’d let them out of their cage.

Problem is, she’d chew things. She destroyed the dustcovers of many of my books. One evening, I was doing some music sequencing with my headphones on. I went to the fridge for two seconds, and returned to my keyboard only to see she had severed the headphone cord. She’d eat buttons off my remote control, so I had to always put it out of her reach.

My friend says she doesn’t chew things anymore, and I believe him, because his place has a lot of wires going every which way that Bunny hasn’t chewed. I’m worried that a change of environment would cause her to start chewing on things again. As well, she recently had a tumor that was removed. I really don’t want her to die on my watch, and have to deal with taking yet another pet to be cremated. On top of that, while I know where I can put her cage (where Priscilla’s cage used to be), I don’t know where to put her litterbox.

Of course it will be nice to have a little friend again, hopping around, and what not. It gives me a sense of responsibility. (Bunny must have her pellets, Timothy hay, fruits and vegetables, litter…) But I just don’t want her to chew up all of my cords and cables!

That is all.

  • s.e.
2

Rabbits cute and cuddily, nother critter on the Can’t Bring Myself To Eat list. :slight_smile:

But yah, as long as she doesn’t chew on things, it should all be ok right? :slight_smile:

A litterbox trained bunny? COOL all the Bunndies that I have ever seen just deficated where ever. :slight_smile:

3

Is her name really Bunny? I love that!

4

This just now reminded me of my Elementary school years; one of the teachers had TONS of pets of EVERY type in her room, just going in her room was a blast. ^^ Tropical birds, the entire room was made up like a rainforest (hehe, lots of plants for all of the various animals top play on. :slight_smile: ) She must have had 5 or 6 different critters (or types of critters even!) in there. ^^

Then there was the school libraries’s gerbil which escaped through a hole in the wall and got into the cafeteria freezer.

Eventually they got to it after a few months.

Good thing the health inspector never learned about that one. :slight_smile:

Of course Rabits a-bounded, had one in my Second grade class, had two in fact. Yah! :slight_smile:

5

No, my weird friend named her - get this - Luther Viola [last name]. So she’s a female bunny with a male first name, and a female middle name. I’d just call her Bunny. Like, “Hi Bunny!” when I’d come in the door.

Maybe I’ll just rename her Opal. “Hi, Opal!” every day… :wink:

  • s.e.
6

I would just watch her as carefully as you can to see if she does in fact start chewing things, and if this is the case you may have to resort to enclosing her in her own semi-bunny proofed room while you are away from the house. My friend who is semi-permanently housesitting Payton, The Prince of Bunnies, encloses the bun in a rabbit wire enclosure at night and lets him out when my friend gets home at around 3:30PM. Payton has room to runb around, places to hide, plenty of stuff to chew on when he’s pissed off/hungry.

You might look into something like that.

7

I had no idea rabbits were so affectionate. I thought they were rather standoffish.

We must have pictures.

8

IME it depends on the rabbit, and on how many you have. My family had two rabbits for awhile (which promptly led to nine rabbits…oops!), and they were always much more interested in each other than us. Now that the mother is the only one alive, she’s very affectionate, and litterbox-trained too (barring certain rabbity diseases that are probably TMI anyway).

**

Agreed. This rabbit sounds exceptional. Would breeding be out of the question?

9

I’m currently subletting an apartment from my friend and playing Cat Sitter at the same time. Two little tabby cats. They’re adorable, but there’s a lot of things I just don’t want them to tear up, eat, or just simply get cat hair on. So, I have to take precautions. It’s all part of the job, you’re just going to have to be extra careful while she’s there.

I don’t think the chewing should be a problem. When she was last at your place, she was really young, she’s grown up, grown old, and most likely beaten the habbit. Of course, as Bun Bun explained to Torg when the poor bastard found himself surrounded by zombies and all the guns in the house destroyed:

“Hey, I’m a rabbit. I chew things. Deal with it.”

Just bunny proof your place, and you should be fine. I don’t recommend locking her up. It’s okay if you do it for a bit, but it really effects the animal. While moving in, I locked the cats in the bedroom for about fifteen minutes. In the entire bedroom, they kept themselves under the bed, and stayed there for another fifteen minutes after the door was openned. Keeping the bunny locked up for the day will just make her a little angry. Plus, keep her in a confined space where she’ll probably just chew everything out of “IhateyouIhateyouIhateyou.”

Put the litter box in the bathroom closet. Assuming your bathroom has a closet. Otherwise, somewhere away from the shower where you won’t end up stepping in it.

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I don’t think I should lock her up for any period of time. If she’s upset about a change of environment, she’ll probably stay in one place anyway. I’d like to think that she’d remember me, from my scent or what not, having lived with me for over six months, but that’s not guaranteed.

The only place I can think of putting her litterbox is in the front hall closet. A bit unsightly, but there you are. Well, I guess I could put it under the dining table, but that’s a bit gross.

In any case, if I have to re-litterbox train her again, I know how to do it.

  • s.e.
11

I’ve never heard of a bathroom with a closet!

The bunny sounds cute, and I hope there are no problems :slight_smile:

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Scott, I understand about the chewing…

FWIW, the boys don’t chew nearly as much as they used to - I think they do it more when they’re young.

I think you’ll have fun - give Bunny’s ears a tug from me. :slight_smile:

13

Well, my roomates years ago decided a pet bunny would be a cute idea.

THEY WERE WRONG!

It ate through the entire couch until it was nothing more than a hollow shell, our phone service was constantly disrrupted due to the bunny eating through the wires, and it would freakishly run circles around us all day long.

The bunny was tha DEVIL, I tell ya!

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The rule in my house is, if it’s on the floor, it belongs to the bunnies. Books are very tasty. Mmmmm, remote control buttons–nummy!!! You can take your chances with your cords, but it is possible that Bunny could start chewing again, when she’s stressed out with all the changes. For things you really don’t want to be chewed, block them off so Bunny can’t get to them.

Yep, the rabbits run my house.

<hijack>I used to bunnysit Trixie, the cutest (and biggest) lop-eared bunny girl. She was the kissiest bunny…mine are sweet, but they don’t give me bunny kissies. She died last year, right before Christmas. I miss her. :frowning: </hijack>

ME
and Billie and Murray, Destructo-Buns