TBT-Bunny Edition

I've never done a TBT for myself, but like any good bunny slave, I'll do anything for my bunnies.  Here's my three boys back when they were just bunny babies :)

And The Award For Best Bunny Slave Goes To

I am convinced that bunnies are the most sensitive pets in the world.  Not only do they require daily brushings, lots of attention and the freshest of foods, they also refuse to drink or eat from any bowl other than their own.

To say bunnies are territorial is putting it lightly.  Everyday, my bunnies will mark their territory by chinning everything from their food bowl and litter box, to their hay basket and toys, clearing indicating to the other two what belongs to them.  If you so much as let another bunny near their bowl, they will share their thoughts on the matter by having a full-out bunny tantrum.    

All my bunnies are given their own pellet bowl, water bowl, salad bowl and their own hay basket.  Rigby and Pilot have the same kind of salad bowl and the same kind of water bottle.  

In order to avoid giving the wrong bowl to the wrong bunny, I have to look for subtle differences.  For instance, Rigby likes to chew on his things, so his bowl has little bite marks on it, while Pilot’s is smooth and clear.  Rigby’s water bottle has red writing on it, while Pilot’s has blue. 

Unfortunately, the other week, I messed up, and accidently gave Rigby’s water bottle to Pilot, and vice versa.  Being the oblivious bunny slave that I am, I didn’t notice the mistake.  It wasn’t until Rigby refused to drink water, that I noticed something was wrong.     

Mind you, Rigby is like a little camel, he loves his water, and is always the first one to need a refill.  Well, on this particular day, he didn’t even touch his water, and I couldn’t for the life of me, figure out why not.   It wasn’t until I noticed the mix up and switched their bottles, did he finally start drinking water.

Jojo is a different story.  Just the other night he threw a bunny tantrum, and tossed all the hay from his basket all over my living room.  Jojo has a fondness for the fuzzy, cattail-like pieces of hay, in fact, he prefers eating these over the straw-like pieces. 

Now, I do a lot for my bunnies.  Unfortunately, picking out and serving only their favorite pieces of hay is not one of them.  Jojo didn’t like the fact that he had to dig through the entire basket in search of his favorite pieces, and decided to let me know this by tossing his hay all over the room.

In the end, I ended up having to search through the mess of hay that covered my floor, in an attempt to appease the bunny.  I spent the rest of the night feeding him his fuzzy hay pieces.  Luckily, I was rewarded for my efforts, and given plenty of bunny licks all over my hand.   

Bunny Slave to my three boys

Let Them Sleep

Bunny-mohawk! :)

You know that phrase, “let sleeping dogs lie?”  

Well, that little nugget of wisdom perfectly sums up my past weekend, except it’s about bunnies and I literally mean sleeping.  Let sleeping bunnies lie...literally.  There, that’s more appropriate. 

Moving on, this past weekend I experienced what could only be explained as the grumpus lagomorpha syndrome, or in laymen’s terms, the grumpy bunny syndrome.  Side effects included a sour attitude, grumpy appearance and an acute reaction to the smallest pinprick of light.   I guess this is what happens when you stay up until seven in the morning watching Netflix movies and Looney Toons.

While I was fine with my all-nighter movie marathon, the bunnies were another story all together.  Around 4 AM, after sulking around the living room a bit, Jojo voiced his displeasure with me by refusing to acknowledge me or my attempt to pet him.  Instead, he decided to glare at me before hopping inside his doghouse.  He came out about an hour or so later, plopped down in front of his house, and continued to glare in my direction.

Rigby and Pilot were also displaying signs of grumpiness, as the night progressed.  Pilot did his thing, and thumped at anything and everything that irritated him, including me laughing a little too loudly at something.  Rigby took a different approach, and decided it would be more beneficial if he reminded me of how tired he was by constantly stretching and bunny flopping onto his side.

The rest of the weekend was just as bad, as the bunnies recovered from their all-nighter.  All day Saturday, they lounged about very lazily, and refused to move around.  The entire day they slept on and off, and were only active long enough to eat their salads and treats.  And whenever I tried to play with them or call them, they refused to move out of their bunny loaf positions.

It wasn’t until Monday, when the bunnies finally got out of their funk, and started running amuck and making their usual mess.  Not wanting to have to experience their wrath anymore, I have since taken a more conscious effort to try and be in bed no later than one in the morning.

One For You, All For Me

Picture this: It’s a normal Tuesday evening; I’m watching a movie on Netflix and eating cookies.  I place the package of cookies on a bench in my living room and get up to go to my bedroom.

I haven’t even made it out of the living room before Jojo, who was previously lounging about by his doghouse, gets up and goes hopping over to the cookies.  As I’m about to shoo his little butt away, I see him stand up on his tiptoes, place his face in the package of cookies and see his little tongue dart out and lick a cookie.

It’s only when I’m taking away the package do I notice the tiniest bite mark, and see that part of the cookie is now missing.  In short, Jojo not only licked a cookie, but he took a bite out of it as well.

If you didn’t know, bunnies are notorious for having a sweet tooth.  If it were up to them, they would eat nothing but fruits and treats.  Jojo is no exception to this; in fact, he could be the poster bunny for rabbits with sweet teeth. 

Raisins, bananas, oranges, apples, mango, papaya, the list could go on.  It doesn’t matter what kind of fruit it is, Jojo will inhale his serving and still demand more.  Because of this, I have to be careful whenever I’m eating fruit around him.  One sniff of a banana and he’s standing by my feet, nudging and demanding I give him some.

Being the impressionable bunnies that they are, Rigby and Pilot have modeled after their big brother, and have also recently taken to demanding treats from me.  While their method of begging is a little different, they’ll just stick their noses out and stand up, they won’t stop until they have been given something sweet as well.

The point here is don’t eat fruit unless you’re prepared to share, and make sure everything is located three feet or higher from the floor.

One of their favorite treats, dried orange-flavored cranberries
One of my favorites too :)

Procrastination Does Achieve Something

Procrastination was at its finest the other night, as I avoided my responsibilities by doing everything but my homework.  In my attempt to hide from the world, Jojo learned a new game.

So, the bunnies have this pile of popsicles sticks that they like to play with.  Rigby likes to chew and bite them half, Pilot only nibbles them, and Jojo prefers arranging them into a nice little pile.

On this particular night, I was sitting on the floor with Jojo, completely ignoring my homework.  I started petting him and massaging his jaw, when I noticed his popsicle sticks were thrown nearby. 

I stopped petting him, picked up one of the sticks and held it out in front of his face.  As curious as he is, Jojo started sniffing the stick and even went on to grab it with his teeth.  He then pulled the stick out of my hand, turned his little head and placed the stick beside him. 

Time after time, Jojo took the sticks out of my hand and placed them in his little pile by his side.  Even when he placed one of the sticks a little too far away, Jojo stopped to pick it up again and rearranged it into his neat little pile.  

Our little game continued for a good ten minutes or so before Jojo became bored and hopped away, but not without licking my nose first.  Apparently I did a good job at playing, and Jojo was very impressed with my stick holding skills.

Rigby on the other hand was not as thrilled, and instead, settled for a game of human fetch.  I held out a stick to him, only to have him grab it and toss it off to the side.  I went and picked it up, and held it out to him again, but he just did the same thing.  Over and over, Rigby threw and I fetched, just like the obedient bunny slave I am.  

Pilot though, couldn’t be bothered, and opted to just sniff at the sticks as he stretched out lazily.  He did however manage to find the energy to thump his foot at me when I scolded him for eating paper later on.  Needless to say, the remainder of my night consisted of not doing my homework.

Bunny Approved!

The Bunny Creed

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom” will keep these three bunnies quiet.  It doesn’t matter how late they stayed up the night before, if it’s the weekend or if it’s pouring cats and dogs outside.  Everyday, between 8 and 9, these three boys go into alarm mode and will start the day off by making sure my hearing is still intact.

They proceed to test if my hearing is good by rattling their cages, throwing their bowls around and scratching at their floors, you know, just to make sure I can still hear and whatnot.  It’s only after I have come out of my bedroom and reassured them that I can hear them and that their food is coming, do they quiet down.

My bunnies are actually really considerate, you see.  On a daily basis they like to remind me where my assigned seat is, and will even point me in the right direction if I happen to forget.  I no longer have to worry about getting preoccupied sitting on the floor, because Jojo will let me know that I don’t belong there by gently nudging my legs until I move to the sofa. 

Their kindness doesn’t end there.  My bunnies know how I like to sit with my feet folded underneath me, and will do everything in their little bunny powers to keep it that way.  Should I grow tired of sitting in this position and decide to put my feet on the floor, Jojo will come by and nudge my feet until I’m sitting back in my former position, all for the sake of my comfort of course.

And it’s not just me who the bunnies like to help out.  They also like to look out for each other’s health and wellbeing.  For instance, Pilot likes to remind his brothers of the risks of spreading germs, and will get mad at them if they try to take his food.  Pilot will kindly encourage them to stay away from his food by thumping his foot at whoever is eating his hay.

 Rigby NOT sharing his dinner

Jojo helping himself to some pre-lunch pellets