Monday, June 15th, 1998

We met the bunny. He was very cute - big jowels and nose, all albino with pinkish blue-ish eyes, and big floppy ears. He was in a tiny cage, we guess about 1'x1'x2'. Mike picked him up - he was a total mushball. He sat flat on Mike's legs, as if gravity was somehow stronger for him, with his chin on Mike's leg. We each held him for a while. He was shedding profusely. He was physically relaxed, but breathing hard - we thought that he seemed a bit nervous.

We put him on the floor just to make sure him could walk (he was so limp!) - he immediately hopped around (loped around) and was quick.. we scooped him back up. We said good bye to my boss' kids, and sat him on my lap on a towel in the car. Mike thought he'd feel better in his cage, but I really wanted to hold him.

He panted heavily on the way driving down the hill (Bolton Mountain). We went slowly to not pop his ears too quickly. We stopped 1/2 way down and gave him some grass from the road side. He nibbled a bit. We turned the vents on in the car because he seemed very warm and was panting (or breathing hard and fast, anyway).

Half way home, he peed a huge puddle on my towel, wetting my pants. oh well. I removed towel and held him for rest of trip on my lap (I figured he was empty, so it was safe :-). The pee was really concentrated (dark yellow and thick looking), we wondered if that was normal.. we found out later that indeed, bunnies seem to have very concentrated pee normally, and it actually dries to a white chalky consistancy.

We got him home and set him up in is cage in the pantry. he seemed ok.

Hilary came and looked at him (he was near her food). She promptly walked over and started to destroy one of the plants. We figured that this was a classic sign of anxiety/jealousy on her part.. We showered her with attention and one of us paid attention to her while the other played with the bunny, so she didn't get too jealous of him.

We gave him some fresh grass and dandilion greens and parsley which he ate.

We held him for a while that night, let him run around just in the pantry area and a bit in the kitchen. We wanted to hold him all the time, but felt like he had enough stress already, so we left him alone as much as we could.

Tuesday, June 16, 1998

We gave him a small piece of apple and some fresh hay and grass. He ate the apple in about two seconds. He doesn't like the hay very much, hopefully he'll start eating it soon.

We bought more bunny food Monday night, as well as a soft cat brush for him, a medium sized litterbox, and some Timothy hay. We mixed the new food 1/2 and 1/2 with old food to get him used to it.

We put hay in a litter box, but he doesn't care about it right now. He hopped in and out once.

We let him wander around a bit in the living room/kitchen area. One of us watched Hilary, the other watched the bunny. We decided to call him Gus, short for Snufulufugus, since he seemed kind of floppy and lopped around in a silly way. At one point in the evening, he stood on the threshold of the kitchen, and Hilary came up.. they sniffed noses for a few seconds. Mike was behind the bun, I was behind Hilary, spotting her... Gus lifted his head suddenly, realized that Hilary wass a cat, turned around and bolted. Hilary seemed scared from the noise and pranced away quickly.

From then on, she watched but doesn't get very close.

He ran around the living room with us supervising for over an hour. He liked to lie near wood stove, and behind the plants (on tile/slate areas). He also liked to lie near front door. Mike made a barrier of speakers and boxes, so he couldn't get behind the stereo or reach the cords. Before I put him back in his cage, I put him in his litter box. He peed in it - a lot. We were happy. We return him to his cage and he pooped a lot. We were happy that he didn't leave any droppings anywhere in the house, and we hope he starts to use the litter box more freely. We poured out the excess pee from the litter box (stinky!), but left a bit in to remind him that that's the place to do it. So far the box just had hay in it, no real litter.

Hilary has been very needy recently. She meows all the time, rubs against us, follows us around, and often sits in the living room looking forlorn... we try to give her lots of attention. It's hard to see her being like this.

We went to look at cages. We looked at a pet store, and at a local Agway. None seemed quite right. Some were too small, some were too short in height, some were tall and had two or three levels, but the one with two levels had no ramp and the top level was very high, and the one with three levels was just too cramped with all the ramps and stuff in there. Because of the ramps and levels, there was effectively very little headroom. It would have been fine for a ferret, but not for a bun. Many of them would have been adequate, but none were just right. We went to Agway, and saw some standard cages, but weren't impressed. They were not tall enough and the door opened in, which is annoying. They were ok, but we were looking for something nicer. The metal poop tray would have rusted easily, too - we were hoping for a plastic tray. We priced cage wire, hoping to build our own. Unfortunately, the 1"x1/2" stuff which is what we'd need for the bottom, they only sold in 100 ft rolls, and a 100 ft roll was about the same price as a pre-made cage. We thought about building our own vs. buying, and left with nothing but ideas.

Wednesday, June 17, 1998

We picked up carrots at the store and gave him a bit. he devoured it.

We let him run around for a long time in the morning and again in the evening, watching him fairly closely. He has nibbled on our oregano plants and shows passing interest in philodendrons and African violet flowers. Any plant that brushes him at face level, he sniffs, but he hasn't actually eaten the aloe or Norfolk Island pines. We're keeping an eye on plants. He likes to hop into their pots, annoyingly. He also like to hop into sprouting seedling trays, annoyingly. We'll move some up away from him. We moved coleus, thinking it was poisonous. He likes to sit under the plants.

At one point, Hilary walked over to Gus. they both inched forward.. then they sniffed each other's face for a good 5 seconds, then both took a step or two back. Gus then hopped forward to check Hilary out. Surprised, she backed off and sauntered away. From this point on, Gus shows no fear of Hilary, and she doesn't seem to do anything but watch him. If he gets within a foot of her, she usually stands up and flicks her tail, and walks away quickly.

He's more apt to run away now when we go for him. We try to make a habit to approach him often and pet him, but not pick him up, so that he doesn't equate our approaching with being put back in his cage. He tends to lunge chaotically into his cage (usually scratching me in the process) when I put him back. Mike showed me that if you hold his rump up in the air like we do when picking him up, he tends to be more docile when you put him back.

He has lost all fear of Hilary. He walks up to her frequently ("through her", as Mike says, as if she's not there). She backs away and sits and stares at him in response. She is fairly jealous and seems annoyed.

He took her spot near the back door a few times, which we think she resented.

Gus hasn't ventured upstairs to the bedrooms yet, though he noticed them today. we have a child gate ready when he decides to expand his universe. He likes the carpeted living room, but we decided to keep him out of there, so he won't chew wires or furniture, pee, or hide under the couches. His roaming space is big enough.

We have to cut his claws soon. Mike also noticed that he nibbles on clothes on occasion, which is really annoying. So far, he seems to find Mike more tasty - he's taken a taste of his favorite shorts, and also of a nice t-shirt he has. We'll either have to de-train him from this, or hold him while he's sitting in a towel (which is better if we're wearing shorts anyway).

We notice Hilary watching Gus when he's put back in his cage. Hopefully she's realizing that she can sit on the couch with us, not him.. she can be anywhere in the house, not him.. she sleeps in our room, not him... she is free to roam all day, he's in a cage... we hope this makes her feel a little more secure.

Hilary sits on the couch and is petted while we eat Mike's birthday cake. All 3 of us watch Gus the Scamperer run around, sit, sniff, crouch, flop down, hop, flop down... etc.

Mike talked to a colleague about rabbit cages, and he said that they don't really use a big cage, they don't need more than 2x3' during the day, if they can get out and run every day. He also suggested building a run downstairs for the bun, with indoor/outdoor carpet if he's litter box trained.

We have some heavy chain link fence from the dog who used to live in our house.. we scheme about building a big run down in the basement. We think about buying a cage too though, just in case... more ideas fly, but we don't buy anything.

Thursday, June 18, 1998

we let him out in the morning, so far so good. He scares Hilary away from her tuna treat. I move it to the living room for her. she seems annoyed, but it's hard to tell. She watches Gus constantly, and notices when we pick him up. we try hard to offer her lots of attention and a few extra treats.

We are a bit nervous about Friday, when we'll have to move Hilary's litter box up here for the day.. this is to allow the previous owner of the house to remove remaining stuff from the basement that was being stored here.. we don't want her to escape, so she's being kept out of the basement. Hopefully the stress of having her box moved compounded with Gus won't be too much. Mike is going to take 1/2 a day off work, so be with her in the afternoon. We think this'll help.

We feed the bun a spinach leaf, which he eats all of, and a bit of carrot for his night time treat. Our theory is that he was probably given lots of carrots and other veggies, but he has probably never seen hay, and doesn't quite know that it's edible yet. Mike suggests that we only give him small amounts of veggies to encourage him to eat hay. I agree, but it's hard to resist feeding him at least a few sprigs of parsley every day. :-)

We call another Agway and they have a deluxe cage that looks good. We go check it out, but it's not so great - no door on side, and smaller than we thought. They had some larger cages (30"x30"), but they were only 1 foot tall, which we've decided is too small - he can't even fully sit up in a cage that tall. They sell the 1/2"x1" wire for making cages, as well as clips for attaching sheets together, but it's pricier than buying a whole roll, if we wanted to build a large cage out of it. After some discussion, we decide to try to build a permanent large run downstairs, and then re-evaluate what our cage needs are. If the run succeeds, we may not need any additional cages. If the run doesn't work, we may need to buy wire and build a large cage/run.

We have started letting the bunny out with only light supervision. One of us is in the room at all times, but we may be reading, eating, etc. He mostly sits under the plants. He hasn't chewed anything but a few plants so far, but we're keeping an eye out in case he gets a taste for furniture or wires. He has become more daring in his explorations, and doesn't hesitate to jump over baseboards and wiggle past our boundaries. So far, he hasn't used his litter box, but he does hop in and out occasionally, so we know that he knows where it is, etc.

Hilary continues to stare at him intently, and backs away when he comes closer than 2 feet or so.

We bought him a soft bristled cat brush, and I sat him down and brushed him well.. he is on the tail-end of a large molt, we think.. I ran my fingers through his fur the wrong way, and then slowly brushed it down again... over and over. I got several handfuls of fur off of him, mostly from around his hind legs and bottom. Although he breathed heavily, he didn't seem to mind being brushed. He has incredibly soft, light, puffy fur. It's amazing stuff. His cage has quite a bit of fur around the perimeter. He still hasn't eaten much hay. It was nice to brush him. Hilary stared at me the whole time, as if to say "that's my lap, and my attention he's stealing, and I know it!". We were careful to give her a good rub afterward.

When he flops down and I pet him, he seems kind of thin. He's probably perfectly healthy, and I'm just used to pets with rather liberal bellies.. still, I hope he likes the food we're giving him (Blue Seal bunny feed). We'll keep a close eye on the food container. The cage he's in came with one of those dispensers designed to hold several days of food, but I think we'll only put in a day of food at a time, so it stays fresh and we can keep track of how much he's eating. I don't think he has a tendency to over eat, luckily.

Friday, June 19, 1998

He didn't eat his carrot from last night. We let him out this morning, and he was fine.. he hopped around, flopped down under the futon, sat in the plants, etc. Mike had a terrible time catching him though. We'll have to try to approach him more often, and not put him in his cage, so he doesn't run away from us as much. He definitely doesn't like his cage.

Interestingly, when we first open his cage in the morning, he lifts his head up in the cutest way, and perks up, but doesn't actually hop out. After we take him out, he zooms around freely, and if we put him back and leave the cover off, he'll immediately hop out, but there's something about the first time in the morning, where he's a little sheepish jumping out. Mike proposed turning the cage on its side, so it opens downward on the side.. we'll see if it'll work. The whole cage is 1/2"x1" grid, so it would work fine from that standpoint. The cage "feet" won't work the same way, but we can prop it up on some bricks or something. We'll give it a try.

We took the fencing and fence gate in from the workshop, and will try to build a run this weekend.

Saturday, July 20, 1998

No time to build the run today, but we let Gus run around upstairs for most of the morning. One of his favorite spots of lounging underneath of the futon/couch. We weren't watching him very carefully, and before we knew it, he had left a pile of poops under there. Luckily, he's kept his pee in his cage so far (although we've never seen him use his care or litterbox while loose - we have to leave him in there for a while for him to use it). We scooped up the poops and put him back in his cage. We think he might be trying to let us know that behind the house is "his".

Sunday, July 21, 1998

We built the run! We used 2 pieces of plywood (~4' high by 8' long by maybe 1/4" thick) leftover from the workshop construction, and another small piece for the door (maybe 2' wide, 4' tall and 1/2 inch thick- 3-ply). We bought 4 8-foot long 2"x4" boards (well, not really 2x4", but you know..)... and hammered them to the floor joists in the ceiling. Then we hammered the plywood to the boards, and bought hinges and a sliding lock (bathroom door style) for the door. It works really well! There is nothing stopping the walls from being pushed outward except gravity and friction, but so far that's been plenty. He might chew at it, but we think it'll take him years to actually chew a hole through the thing. We were originally going to use wire mesh, but this was a much cheaper solution. We hung an incandescent light above the run, on a timer, set to come on around 6am and go off around 9pm. It's nice and bright in there in the daytime, but there are shadowy spots too. We put cardboard on the floor (covering about 2/3 of it), and put his cage (open always) inside too. We put his litterpan in one corner.

When we put him in the run, he seemed to have a good time. He loped around and sniffed everything, and stood up peering at the top of the walls whenever he heard a sound. I don't think he likes not being able to see out. We might cut him some windows sometime (with wire mesh as a "screen"). We also made a little nest out of some boxes, and put some hay in it. He flopped down on the concrete and looked quite content lying there... we decided he'd be ok for the night, and left him there.

Monday, June 22, 1998

When I went in the run this morning, he ran around in a circle and thumped. I think he wants to let us know that we're invading his space. I'm glad he's attached to it. We try to talk to him as we're approaching so we don't spook him too much. He pooped all over the place. We swept it up and dumped it in his litterbox, which seemed to annoy him (he followed us around as we did it).

We try to spend time with him every morning and every night. He didn't come upstairs today because we got home so late, but we sat on the floor of his run and brushed him for a while. He's still friendly, which is good.

Tuesday, June 23, 1998

We realized that he has been peeing in the "nest" we made for him. We took the box out and left it to dry... Mike sprinkled some baking soda on the concrete where it was damp. Gus started licking it, but then stopped (silly bunny!). We're thinking of putting the litterbox in the cardboard box, to help convince him that he should pee in the litterbox.

We also bought a cheap foil lasagna ("roaster") pan and put the peed on hay in the pan. We also added some poops from the floor, which is where he insists on putting them every day. The lasagna pan was bought because his previous owner had thrown that in his old cage (which was a dog kennel thing), and he had used it. We were hoping to trigger some mental association by using the same kind of pan. So far, he's sat in it and munched on the hay, but hasn't actually used it.

Wednesday, June 23, 1998

We've noticed that morning snacks are better than evening snacks. Morning snacks (carrots, dandilion greens, parsley, etc) are always gone by evening, but the same treat offered in the evening is often there in the morning. Except of course strawberries, which are absolutely devoured (we only give him about 1/4 tsp. worth every few days, when we have fresh ones). He isn't pooping on the floor so much anymore, but still hasn't used his litterboxes for peeing, as far as we know.

We had to cage him all day and leave him upstairs, because we got fuel oil delivered and the basement was stinky. We turned a fan on and left all the windows open (first day we haven't had thunderstorms in our forecast in weeks!), and the smell was gone by that evening. He was really annoyed at being in his cage. We let him run around for quite a while that evening. It could be my imagination, but he seemed happy to be back in his run that night. He ran around, and then flopped down next to his litterbox.

Incidentally, I mentioned to a friend that we had a bunny, and he said, "want another?". His dad apparently has one that he's sick of, so he put the cage in the back yard and opened the door. The bunny was still in the cage after two days (smart bunny!), so he dumped it out. It still hangs around the yard and tries to get in the garage (smart bunny!). We're going to see if we can pick him up next time we're in town, but meanwhile, I told him to close the door, put the bunny in the shade or inside, and make sure it has fresh water... ugh. I didn't think people *I* knew could be so stupid and heartless. I sent him some web sites with photos of rescued bunnies, maybe that'll help bring the point home. Ugh.

Thursday, June 24, 1998

He's such a cutie. He's getting easier to catch lately upstairs, although he often still runs away from us - "I'm not done playing!" he says as he skips behind the futon. No change from Hilary - she still watched him at a distance. She seems a bit less concerned - she'll lick her paws in his presence. I think she's annoyed with him when he barrels up to her as she's sitting by the door, though..

We have to find a new source for hay, the pet store hay is quite expensive. Also, I'm a bit worried about his diet in the winter - we'll have to give him something other than free greens from the yard as treats. We also took the remaining old food from when he arrived out of his dish (I decided that 10 days was too old for food anyway), and gave him about 1/3 a cup of new, fresh food. I hope he likes it. So far, we've been giving him as much food as he wants, and he's still pretty slim. We'll keep an eye on his weight, and ration the pellets if he seems to increase in size.

The rest of June, 1998

Well, in the last week or so, things have gone a bit downhill. Mike found a rather large, established pee puddle under the washer and dryer Saturday afternoon. We have no idea how long he'd been piddling there. Luckily it was on linoleum, and cleaned up easily. Since then, there have been no "accidents" upstairs. We figure he probably was being left out for too long without a potty break. He will readily pee right in front of us, in his run (in either litterbox), but for some reason he won't touch the same litterboxes when we bring them upstairs. He hops in and out, but never uses them.

He did pee once in his run, near the door. I have no idea why. It got on the plywood and concrete. We wiped it up and put a litterbox there for a few days. Of course, he'd move it every time. It hasn't happened again, but we're not sure why he did it.

He has started using the green plastic one we bought though, which is nice. He doesn't pee in his cage anymore, which is really convenient since it has a metal bottom and is harder to clean. Every morning and evening, one of us goes into his run, pets him, checks his food and water, replaces soiled litter with fresh, and sweeps up all the poops that he has liberally sprinkled all over his run. He has moved both litterboxes into the middle of the room. We kept putting them in the corners, but he'd move them immediately, so now we leave things alone. It's his space, so we figure that as long as he doesn't pee in the corners, we don't care.

Relations between Hilary and the Bun have been a little more tense. Once this weekend (Friday maybe?), he hopped right up to Hilary when she was standing near the back door. She was semi-cornered, because the door was only open to about a 60 degree angle. She watched him in alarm, and when he came within a foot of her, she swiped at him with her paw. Of course, we were alarmed - I ran toward the bunny, Mike toward Hilary... we stomped, said NO, and stomped her out of the room. Then we ignored her for about 20 minutes (that's the worst punishment, believe it or not). We checked Gus out, but he looked fine, though shaken up. She must not have had her claws out.

We clipped Hilary's claws, so at least they're dull now and probably wouldn't penetrate deeply if she swiped at him with them out. We watch them more carefully now. We'd ideally like them to be friends, but if that's not possible, we do want them to not hurt each other. Hilary's got to stop this behavior, but it's a two way street - Gus needs to learn to be wary of her and not treat her like part of the furniture. We certainly don't want him to be hurt, but we're not going to interfere unless we have to.. Sunday night, Hilary was sitting on the carpet, and Gus went by on his way to the plants.. she hissed at him, but he seemed oblivious. Seeing a big angry animal bigger than me hiss at me would definitely give me the heebeegeebees, but Gus was again oblivious. We're not sure what the next step is, so for now we're just watching them.

Although Gus hasn't peed upstairs since the washing machine experience, we're still more careful to not leave him upstairs for more than 1-2 hours without putting him in his run for a potty break. We put litterboxes upstairs every time, but he hasn't used them up there yet.

Wednesday, July 1, 1998

Another interesting thing about Gus is.. when we clean up his run, he seems very interested in our sweeping. He sniffs the dustpan and brush, and follows around us closely. I put the dustpan down on the floor last night and stepped quickly out of the run for a minute.. he immediately began pushing the dustpan (a metal one), picking it up with his mouth and tossing it around... shuffling it across the floor. He definitely manages his own space. I don't know whether it was annoying him, or if he just wanted to play with it.

We've also finally noticed a few of his famous "cecal" droppings.. they're about 1/8 the volume of a normal poop, and are so soft that if you try to sweep them, they'll just smear onto the floor. We've seen a few single ones (they do harden with time), as well as a few little clusters of 8 or so.. lying here and there. I assume it's normal for him not to eat every one, and for some to be found later.. we'll keep an eye on him.

With all the weird weather we've been having (85 one day, thunderstormy and 60 and pouring the next..), we're glad Gus is in the basement. Although it's not very exciting in terms of external stimuli, it's a stable, slowly changing temperature, stable lighting, and no scary noises in general. He lies on the concrete frequently, and seems to enjoy the temperature. He's not shedding all that much anymore, but we're not sure whether that has more to do with the basement temperature or his natural molting style.

Early-July, 1998

Things have been going well. Gus is easy to care for and fun to have. He has been using his green plastic litter pan again (not the lasagna one or his cage) for peeing exclusively, and lately, at least 90% of his droppings also end up in the litter pan. This makes clean up much easier.

Every morning, we take his litter box out, scoop out any soiled pine shavings, replenish with a new layer (just a thin one, less than an inch), and return it to his cage. We do the same thing when we get home from work. He still seems annoyed when we sweep up his droppings from the run, but it doesn't seem to bother him when we clean his litterbox. We have read that pine and cedar shavings aren't good for bunnies, but since he has such a large area to run around in, and such a small litter box, he doesn't have to breathe in the volatile pine aromatics for more than a few minutes a day. We wouldn't use the shavings if he was standing on them all day, but we think it's probably ok in this situation. It's definitely cheaper than any other litter we've seen that composts. My mom uses "Cobby Cat", which is about the consistancy of clumping cat litter but is made from corn cobs, but we haven't found any at a store yet. It would probably be better than shavings because my guess is that it composts much more easily. Perhaps we'll use it with Hilary too, if we can find a good source for it. I'd love to be able to compost her waste, but newspaper litter, the only other non-clay litter I've seen, is fairly expensive around here. I've also seen a wheat based litter, but that's pricy too, and not ideal for bunnies (who might over eat on it).

He's recently started to shred the cardboard we had on the floor, making himself what looks like a nest, in the process. We give him fresh hay almost every day, and it does seem to be slowly disappearing. We give him fresh parsley and dandilion greens (or a small piece of carrot) in the morning, and I've been putting the greens on top of the hay, to encourage him to associate the hay with food. He seems healthy and chipper.

We're trying to figure out how much food he eats, and we've been measuring it, but sometimes he runs out and sometimes he doesn't, so it's tough. He seems to eat about 1/3-1/2 a cup a day, and is slender and healthy feeling. We clipped his front claws again, but left his back ones alone, since they seem to wear themselves down on the cement floor in his run.

Mike took some wooden scraps this weekend and built Gus a little cubby - just two 2"x6" legs and a piece of "texture 1-11" for the top. It's about 8" tall. He sits under it sometimes, and hops on top. We're hoping that he considers that a nice safe place. If he decided to chew on that rather than the walls of the run, that would be nice too. :-) We might make him something more elaborate, but this was a good start.

July 9, 1998

Rachel and Mom came over for dinner yesterday, and we showed them Gus' run. My mom seemed to like the idea. I noticed that Gus has been chewing a little bit on the 2"x4" board near one wall. We aren't concerned, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Gus spent most of the evening upstairs, largely entertained by Rachel. She picked him up almost constantly, rubbed his head ("hypnotized" him), smooched him, carried him around like a baby, put him in boxes, etc. He put up with her very well. I think Celeste had him trained to accept large amounts of... well, I won't say abuse, but let's say... very bold forms of affection from small children. Hilary was under the bed the whole evening, so she didn't bother Gus one bit.

At one point, we noticed that he wasn't in plain sight.. after searching most of his usual lounging spots (under the futon, under the wood stove, behind the plants, behind the stereo cabinet..), we found him hanging out in the bathroom, between the toilet and the waste basket. My first thought was that he was going to pee there, but there were no signs of bunny pee or droppings. We found him there again later. I guess he just likes the quiet cool dim area - maybe it reminds him of his run. :-)

We could tell that he was tired by the end though.. he just lounged around..

The next day, Mike held Gus on his lap for a long time, while he was using the computer. Gus hasn't nibbled me at all, but he nibbled on Mike's shorts. Mike gently pushed his head away from his shorts a few times.. and then, chomp! He bit Mike's shirt, and part of his skin! tsk tsk! Of course, how do you discipline a bunny.. Sigh.

We also borrowed a digital camera, and have been snapping pictures. Mike and I took some really cute ones, which we'll be posting ASAP. :-)

Mid-July

Yay! We finally got some pictures of Gus on the web!!!! Good thing we don't have a digital camera all the time, or I'd have to buy a few more hard drives... :-)

End of July

Well, we've been gone a lot in the evenings and weekends lately, so Gus hasn't enjoyed his daily living room romps as frequently. He's been taking it pretty well, but he definitely wants "out", and runs up to the door whenever we come or go. He still has a nice, steady supply of fresh clover, dandilion greens, parsley and sour grass, but I worry about what we'll feed him in the winter. I'm thinking about starting a bunny garden, and keeping some of these plants over the winter. If I fertilized them and gave them lots of sun, they may produce enough to feed him. He also likes carrots, but you can only eat so many of those... :-)

Fall, 1998

Things are humming along quite well. We take Gus out for most of the day on weekends and almost every evening, if we can. He sometimes romps around, sniffing and exploring everything, and other days, he lounges under the plants or falls asleep behind the couch. I can't predict his moods. He and Hilary seem to have a fairly stable relationship - he ignores her and she stares at him. Not exactly a match made in heaven, but it could be worse. We trust them alone together now for short periods of time. Neither one of them one of them has shown any signs of aggression.

For the first few months, Gus didn't chew on anything at all upstairs. Then slowly, he began to sample certain things - plants, plant pots, and cords. As we got used to him and gave him more freedom for longer periods of time, we started to notice little nibbles where we'd seen none before. Over the last month, he's developed a real taste for cords. We had no idea until our lamp wouldn't turn on, and Mike discovered that the cord had been chewed through! Luckily the lamp was on a switched outlet, so there wasn't any current going through the wire - or the bun! He's not allowed into that room, but he managed to sneak in there one day when the gate wasn't put in properly. Sigh!

So we have moved almost all cords out of reach, or closed doors to computer equipment and other beckoning wires.. I think we'll have to put plastic tubing around the rest, or put some vicks on the cords. So far, he's shown no apetite for furniture, which I am grateful of - I'd rather bunny proof cords than tables and chairs. Still, we're watching him more closely now.

One peculiar habit that he has is.. he loves to sit under the wood stove. This is a fine cool safe place for the summer, but he doesn't seem to understand that it's a bad idea when the wood stove is in use! We have tried to coax him out, but he keeps coming back. He actually lies on the stones, inches away, and roasts. I don't understand it. He hasn't gotten hot enough to put himself in physical danger yet, but he has sat there long enough to have quite toasty fur. I think he's a little weak in the brain... and we may need to pen off the stove while it's being used, if he proves to be a determined pyromaniac.

Another thing to note is that he STILL refuses to use a litter box in any way, when he's upstairs. We have tried putting his box from downstairs (which he uses faithfully in his run, without reservations, even if we're in there with him watching) upstairs with him, and he'll hop in and out of it, but won't use it. We've tried putting boxes of hay or hay and shavings up there, but still, he refuses to go. He just holds it and holds it, until we put him back into his run, when he promptly hops into his box and lets loose. Poor bun! I don't know how to cure him. I'm glad that he doesn't leave presents around the house, but I'd like him to feel comfortable up there all evening or on a weekend day, and as is, we can't leave him up there for more than 2 hours or so, before we worry about his bladder. If you have any suggestions for how to encourage him to "go" upstairs, I'm all ears. :-)

He's also started shedding again (started in late October). So far there is a thin circle about 5" in diameter on his back, but no other fur has come loose. Gosh, I feel like we just finished a big shed, and he's starting at it again! Another random note - since he has an 8'x10' run down in the basement, and the floor is about 1/2 covered with cardboard box material (for digging, insulation and fun), and the other 1/2 is bare concrete, he seems to wear his claws down rather quickly - especially his back ones. We should probably clip his front claws, since he seems to have very digging instinct whatsoever, but we probably won't clip the back ones, since they seem to be ground down enough already.

We have decided that Gus needs a buddy. We read what we could on the HRS web site and other web sites, as well as our HRS book, and decided that we'd try to get a female companion for him. We went to the Humane Society in Burlington, and they had almost a dozen very cute, tame, nice rabbits (as well as a billion cats that my heart screamed out for, but alas, Hilary would hate us for it, and she's our top priority). We were introduced to several rabbits, but after looking carefully at the signs, we realized that they were all male! I've recently e-mailed the HRS contacts in Vermont, New York state, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, so hopefully we'll hear back soon. I never thought adopting a bunny would be this complicated! We're hoping to have a new bun soon.

Mid-November, 1998

Mike and I have been re-reading J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and since we are both total immersion readers (hopeless addicts), we have been spending quite a lot of time lounging on the couch reading. We had found that (in general) when we brought Gus upstairs and "let him run around", he often just sat somewhere, and didn't "do" very much when weren't in the room. However, we discovered that if we sat on the couch and read, he almost immediately hopped up onto the couch and our laps, and energetically explored every inch. He licked the blankets, our arms and hands, sniffed our faces, tasted our books, hopped all over our blankets, clammered onto the back of the couch, back down, back and forth... hopped off the couch, came back a few minutes later, hopped up, etc.

We enjoy this attention so much that we've been hanging around on the couch much more lately (tee hee! Sure, we sit on the couch for the rabbit's benefit, yeah, that's it! Hum!). He often sits next to us, and goes up on his hind feet, seemingly listening to some small noise that we can't hear. It's VERY cute. He also doesn't mind it when we pet him (especially on his forehead), but it bugs him when we pick him up, move him against is will, or smootch him, which I inevitably can't help doing now and then. :-) We're also a little worried that he'll chew on our clothing or on blankets or part of the couch, but so far he's only licked things.. still, we're keeping an eye on that munching face of his, since he's been known to chew people's clothing when sitting on their laps, without them even noticing (though he has only done it when the person had had him for a while.. I think as a statement that he's frustrated and wants to get down).

Occasionally one of us goes down into his run and sits down, either reading or just watching him. I'm not sure whether he thinks of this as a positive visit or an annoying one, but he typically runs behind us (we can't lean against a wall because he noses his way behind us), and off and on our lap quickly.. sometimes sniffing our face or licking it. He's quite adorable. :-)

End of November, 1998

It seems like every week or two, Gus just blossoms, showing us a side of him that we've never seen before. Lately, he's been following us around like a puppy (much to Hilary's dismay, since she too likes to be in the same room, but doesn't like Gus..). If we are using the computer, we often let Gus into the room.. it has carpet, and he almost always goes absolutely nuts. He runs around in circles, does lots of "binkies", leaps into the air, climbs and sniffs everything possible.. and explores every inch of the room. We try to keep a close eye on him, and not let him linger in the cord areas.. After several minutes of crazy behavior, he usually settled down and washes himself for a while, and then plops down right next to one of us, lying there contentedly with his eyes almost closed (just like a puppy!). We have to be careful moving our chairs when we stand up, because he's usually right next to one of the legs.

We have also been letting him into the living room if we're eating or watching TV. This is a little more risky because he's already tasted the speaker cable and lamp cord, but so far he hasn't cause any additional damage. He likes to hang out under the futon, and sometimes on top of it (again, bugging Hilary to no end - that's HER spot!). He seems to really enjoy jumping and running in rooms with carpet. We really need to bunny proof them and remove all the cords from nibbling range, so we can let him into those rooms more regularly.

November 29, 1998

Gus had been upstairs for an hour or two, when we suddenly noticed that we hadn't seen or heard him in a while. We looked in all of his usual hang out spots, and saw no sign of him. Finally, we went upstairs to the bedrooms. Mike looked in the Winnie the Pooh room, which has all of our stuffed animals and toys from when we were kids. He looked in the corners, and .. in the middle of the pile of stuffed animals, saw a wiggly bunny face staring out at him (reminded us of the scene in E.T. where he's hiding in the closet!). We sat in the bedroom for a while with him, while he scampered and binkied around..

Since then, we've found him up there several times. We don't really want him up there without being supervised, both because Hilary hangs out upstairs (and we mostly, but don't completely trust her with him alone), and because there is a lot of trouble he could get in up there. We've been putting the gate up at the bottom of the stairs most of the time when we let him out now. This bugs Hilary, since she doesn't quite have the confidence to jump over it (although I'm sure she could).

A big important thing! We found a companion for Gus. Most of the HRS contacts who I e-mailed wrote back to me, and after talking to several and searching on the web, we came upon Cleome. We're in love. We contacted the foster parents, and have arranged to adopt Cleome and two of her offspring (a boy and a girl). Since the babies are too young to be fixed, we called local vets, and found at least three who are comfortable with rabbits. Mike's picking them up on Friday, on the way back from a class he's taking in Boston. I can't wait!!

In preparation, we built a wall through the middle of Gus' run, making two 5'x8' areas. The wall is composed of a vertical bale of hay, wedged between the foundation wall of the basement and a skid.. the skid has plywood nailed to one side. After that, we attached a large chain link fence door that we acquired from the original owners of the house, who had a dog... we were going to make the door swing or slide, but it was too heavy and awkward, so we just twistied it in with pieces of coat hanger. It's a stable wall, but we need to keep an eye on the hay since they could potentially dig through it if they were determined.

We also cut a door in the plywood and made a latch for it. It was a fun little woodworking project. When we were done, we had caught the hammer-nail-saw bug, and decided to make a little nesting/playing box out of some old pine siding we had (it had been put on the house accidentally and was removed a month later, so it was fairly new looking, though a bit greyed from the weather). We made a two floored platform with a hole in the top. I'll take a picture sometime. Now I'm even more excited to get the bunnies. This box is off the ground, so they should be able to stay warm, and it's fairly safe to chew, and fun to climb on. We're thinking of building a ramp up, maybe using some branches from our apple tree, which we need to prune this spring anyway.

We got lots of good advice about bonding bunnies from the Massachusetts Rabbit Rescue folks. It will be interesting bonding four rabbits. Hopefully Gus won't feel overwhelmed. He's still young (~2), so I think it will be ok. We've prevented him from going in several of the rooms in the house, so we'd have some left that Cleome and babies could claim as their own, and some that could be considerd neutral territory. We meant to keep Gus only in the main living room, but he seems to be stealthily acquiring new ground every few weeks..

I read on a web site that carrots are fairly high in calcium and should only be given to rabbits occasionally. Since the frost killed most of the clover and dandilions, we've been feeding Gus apples and carrots as treats, neither of which is particularly great for him. We picked up some spinach and fed him a few pieces. He loved it. We also picked up som fresh parsley, which we know he loves.. it's only $0.50 for a big bunch of it, right now. We're planning on planting some herbs for him inside this winter, to supplement his diet. We also gave him his first taste of banana - he absolutely loved it. He's so cute. We need to be very careful not to overdo it on the munchies and snacks.. and stick to snacks that are good for him anyway. Luckily, there are lots of those available for most of the year.

One more thing. We composed our first Bunny Song (to compliment our Tuna Songs for Hilly). I have a feeling that many more bunny songs are soon to come...

December 2, 1998

Gus seems to be growing and changing constantly.. it seems like every day, he comes up with some new personality trait that we've never seen before. He's been binkying up a storm, now that we let him into a few carpeted areas. We still have to watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't start munching wires. We really need to bunny proof those rooms "for real".

December 4, 1998

Well, I found a web site with a nice list of veggies and how much calcium they have, and carrots aren't as high as I thought.

Note:On December 5, 1998 we adopted three new rabbits from the Massachusetts Rabbit Rescue. Rather than keeping two journals, we decided to merge Gus' journal with our notes on the other bunnies. Therefore, please see our Bunny Journal for the continuation of Gus' adventures. Thanks for reading!