You may recall that a couple of weeks ago Emily adopted a new member into the family by way of a small ginger-colour rabbit appropriately called “Ginger”.
Well it was always intended that the little mite not be left to the sole attention of Emily, but that it would at some point in time receive a little rabbit companion to help it while away the hours (you know, those ones it spends in blissful peace whilst Emily is at school).
On the weekend, that companionship became a reality with a brand new ball of fluff coming home. It’s a tiny little grey haired girly rabbit, placid as the day is long. We spoke at some length to the people that we bought the rabbit off, considering amongst other things, the best way to introduce the two of them to each other without there being much in the way of territorial issues. It is Emily’s hope and desire that the two be very very good friends and in fact produce more little bunnies. Caroline seems to think that a litter or two would be ok. I have reservations, but will go along for the ride.
One of the surprising things that I learned was that a rabbit can have a new litter every 31 days. Ye gods! Talk about getting back on the horse … no wonder they call it rooting like rabbits (for the Canadians that read this, rooting is a whole different ball game over here … you just keep cheering). We also of course asked about when we could expect the young male thing (Ginger) who was already in the house to first start having amorous feelings. We were told that this would be at about 12 weeks. We figured Ginger to be at about 10. That should provide a small buffer whilst they got to know each other.
Anyway, we decided that we’d introduce them to each under the front verandah, on neutral territory as had been suggested. So tiny little Grace (the new addition) was allowed to explore whilst Emily went inside to get Ginger. Well, it wasn’t really until she brought him out that we realised just how much he’d grown. The size difference was rather pronounced, but we ploughed on regardless, really having no choice.
Ginger was set free to go and nosed his way around the verandah, completely missing the little bit of fluff that was cautiously nosing past him in the other direction. Then there was that moment where a scent must have drifted across the young boy’s nose and his attention was suddenly diverted elsewhere. Suddenly there was a bit of sniffing going on as Ginger investigated this interesting phenomenon. The next bit was like watching pheromones to hormones in seconds or less as Ginger, just a young little rabbit himself was overtaken by hundreds of years of instinct as he jumped the poor little Grace from behind and did what rabbits do best. Given that Ginger is currently about 2-3 times the size of his new playmate, it looked like it just may have been a little scary for the new girl on the block. They were quickly separated and Emily needed some reassuring that Ginger wasn’t hurting Grace.
Several more attempts at introduction made it very clear that there really was space for one thing in Ginger’s head and he was going to do what ever he could to get it. At one point, after Grace had been hopping about and exploring in the living room (sans Ginger of course) Ginger found the cushion that she’s spent some time sitting on and decided that if he couldn’t have her, then he’d at least have some good old fashioned cushion loving fun. Must have smelt good, that’s all I can say.
Needless to say, the single little rabbit hutch that we bought clearly wasn’t going to cut it until we’d determined that young Grace was up to the trials and tribulations of mother hood and so a hasty ‘insta-hutch’™ was produced from one of our left over moving boxes so that the boy could be separated from the girl.
He pines for her, it must be said. He’s been found sleeping outside of his hutch, right alongside that box and if you look carefully inside, she’s not far away. Being the adventurous rabbit that he is, its going to take some planning to keep these two bunnies apart for a couple of weeks until she’s ready. He’d previously been found lazing about on the arm of the couch, having hopped his way up there progressively and then last night he managed to find his way up onto the top of the A-framed hutch. Given that it’s a piece of wood about an inch wide, he did well to last as long as he did before falling back down again.
This morning he managed to find his way onto the top of the box that has become the ‘insta-hutch’™. Of course, there’s a rather large flap been cut into the top for the purposes of extracting and inserting litter trays. He didn’t know this. He found out rather quickly though as the floor of the world dropped away from beneath him and deposited him inside the hutch. Fortunately Grace wasn’t in there at the time.
So, watch this space, because it’s not likely to be long before nature takes it course and Bunny Love becomes more bunnies than this one man might be able to handle!
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