Settled and Happy

Binkies in the Drawing Room is a weekly journal, filled with rabbits, binkies and the challenges that is the learning curve of raising a new pet.

WEEK FOUR

DAY ONE

I came home a bit late from work and the two of us sat outside her cub munching apples. She climbed up on me when hers was finished. Know how to beg already! House rabbit.

DAY TWO

Well, well. Ra Ra is becoming quite the settled little rabbit. After running around the drawing room and into the kitchen and out and behind the space-saver and back out into the drawing room again she 'binkied' her way back to the outer room and took a nibble of her goodies to re-energise herself for another dash around the rooms. I even took a nap and forget her out accidentally (in case my mother's reading this) and when I woke up, she was in her spot lounging behind the sofa, giving me her 'bored kitty' face. All the doors were closed so she didn't go out anywhere but I was more surprised at the fact that she didn't fill the whole house with poop!

DAY THREE

Ra Ra was not going to be bored today. While Saturdays are slow in my house, Sundays are full of pace, washing, cooking, cleaning, and the little rabbit took full advantage of me not having both of my eyes on her. So, outside she went! Twice! I found her flopping around in the mud!!! Bad Ra Ra! She did stay still long enough to let me clean her feet after I got her away from nibbling the grass though. She sniffed at the closed door several times during the day and finally decided it was a waste of her bunny time.

DAY FOUR

Given our little routine Ra Ra and I seem to be getting used to each others movements. I get up on mornings, let her out, and she lounges around the outer room until her suite is cleaned and ready for her, WITH room service! Once she's back in she munches away and goes to her second level for a mid-morning nap. She used to dash around her cub at the slightest movement near her cage but she understands now, 'I ain coming out again, until evening so I might as well relax!' She spends the day nibbling, sleeping, scratching her nails on the wood flooring underneath the paper, underneath the vinyl, that is UNDERNEATH the plastic in her cub. Yes, she rips it all up and I replace it again on evenings. She doesn't even budge if I happen to open the cub again before I leave on mornings to put in anything. By evening she's ready to run, and if I come on time, she's still lounging, if I'm late, she's shifting impatiently behind the wires waiting for me. And once she's out, it's Speed Racer around the house (or hide from my niece, it depends). I usually give her two hours then put her back in but once she's in, it's back to RelaxNation, see you in the morning!

DAY FIVE

My sister calls it the Hyatt spaces. The spots that Ra Ra loves to lounge in, her head flat to the side, mouth open, one eye vigilantly scoping out the area for any lurking babies. Behind the single seater couch, underneath the space-saver behind the full Lexicon Encyclopaedia series. Ahhhh. Nice and cool.

DAY SIX

I gave Ra Ra a piece of Bhaji today. A dark green veg. She nibbled some of it, and left the rest. Not too sure how she feels about that. We'll try again next week. Still not drinking any water. I hope her lounging is more about being utterly relaxed and happy and nothing to do with being lethargic from lack of water. Then again, when she starts to race, she races! No lethargy there at all.

DAY SEVEN

Ah, babies. Ra Ra seems as if she wants to play with my niece sometimes or at least sniff her feet but it's just down-right dangerous! They have a.. 'kinda' game they play. It's akin to 'hide and seek'. Ra Ra seems to not mind being chased quietly, once she isn't caught and almost strangled after ward. Apparently the only thing that my niece can do quietly and gently with the rabbit is feed her but it's only so long the rabbit will want to eat. Ah well, they do keep each other company during the day, so I hear. We'll see, if by next week (or next year) a quieter, less grabby relationship may arise, for all our sake.

Till next week. Enjoy this journey with your pet!

Invaders!

Binkies in the Drawing Room is a weekly journal, filled with rabbits, binkies and the challenges that is the learning curve of raising a new pet.

WEEK THREE

DAY ONE

"But look at how fat Ra Ra belly getting?!"

One after the other, the family 'considered' the bunny's growing roundness. She's not fat, she's pouffy! Healthy! (Hopefully) She doesn't even eat all the food I give her sometimes, just goes and lies flat down in a corner after eating. Ah, yes, here, in Trinidad, we call that 'macajuel time.'

She and the baby are getting along better not because the 'crazy bee' has stopped being so well...crazy, but because the smallest, my nephew has topped the list on being the #1 Dangerous Baby to Ra Ra's welfare which just makes my niece the better option. My nephew likes football and one of the colours in a football just happens to be, you guessed it, white! Let's just leave it at that. This week was turning out to be quite nice, if only it would have stayed so.

DAY TWO

Today, Ra Ra was out most of the day. It was the weekend and I was home so I gave her a freer reign. She spent the day moseying behind the arm chair where it was cool and eating the pieces of watermelon I slipped her. Then I noticed something. On my way to clean out her cub, I saw a leaf cutter ant, waltzing casually over the ground. I killed it and moved on. Then I saw one waltzing towards the door with a bit of leaf in it's mouth. Without thinking of where an ant could get a leaf inside a house with no plants again I just killed it and moved on. Then I saw one, taking it's tender time across the floor with one of Ra Ra's pellets onto it's back. 'Great, I wonder where you got that?'

Yes, all, the ants are invading. Sneaky little devils and once they find a spot, they leave a trail and the troops march in. I spent the majority of my Saturday, sweeping ants out of Ra Ra's cub and crushing with little satisfaction as they just kept coming back! And Ra Ra didn't seem to like the look of her intruders on her munchies so she snubbed her food the majority of the day. I didn't think it wise to spray the ants as it might just irritate Ra Ra and the ant powder was a no-go as well. What if she licked it and she got sick? I even tried stopping up the hole by the crack they were coming in by. They found their way around it. Eventually, by nightfall, I gave in and used a bait of crushed pellets strewn around the entrance of the hole on the outside of the house, hoping that that would occupy their little workers during the night long enough before they ventured inside for more.

DAY THREE

Today was a busier day. With washing and cleaning and cooking in the forefront Ra Ra spent more time in the cub, and the ants seemed to finally give it a rest. I kept sprinkling the bait outside until I could find a safer way to get rid of them. It would have been easier if I could have just found the nest. Some hot water woulda deal with them sweet! The same evening I caught her nibbling the Christmas tree. The fake Christmas tree! And the cords for the DVD player! She was given a time-out in her cub for that. The experts say you have to be stern with rabbits when they want to chew everything in sight, especially the things that can be potentially dangerous to them and you. By the days end, the ants didn't come back but then the rains had been falling heavily for most of the day. Is it possible for ants to drown? What, wishful thinking?

DAY FOUR

Bodi. A Caribbean vegetable that looks like a foot long string bean. I love it and so does the rabbit! It holds a lot of water as well so it's perfect for my water-hating baby! I did some more research on that and everything they had suggested I had already tried to get her to drink any water at all. So, I came to the conclusion that a rabbit that pee-ed that much MUST be getting enough water!! I guess I'll just leave her 'cover' bowl in there for if she ever decides to inspect the contents.

DAY FIVE

After pinpointing certain spots outside her cub that she liked to do her thing over the past weeks I laid paper down in the 'acceptable' spots (by acceptable I mean my mother wouldn't kill me for letting her pee there, threaten yes, actually kill, maybe not) and banning her from the other areas for the two weeks and by golly! (ha! I always wanted to say that!) it's working! She has virtually stopped 'doing her doo-doo' in the kitchen, even though she still runs through there every now and then and even in the front room which is mainly her space, well for now. She only does it in the spots I've put paper on, which is her cub and the back hall. Now there are still some hmm...'mishaps' but that's never going to be perfect.

DAY SIX

We've got a jumper! On the chair, on the outside table, and then binky all the way down! Ra Ra's been exploring and developing her agility. I tried to get a picture of it but 'blur'. Cause she's too fast! Speedy's (another nickname for her) been burning up the rubber on the vinyl floors, and loves to sleep behind the chair covers hanging over the drawing room couches, laid out flat on her side, her mouth open, ha! happy rabbit!

DAY SEVEN

I've started crumpling up paper, big wads of newspaper for her to play with. She rips them up, attacks them and then runs off like it will come after her. Normally I don't let her in my room but given the fact that she's gotten more control of her bowels or rather where she lets it down, I decided to let her browse through while I run in and out quickly. The new surroundings sent her crazy and in no time she was on my bed and in my CD's and on the clothes hamper! Phew! If she wasn't so bloody cute. Down, girl, down! Literally. Get off the books!

For next week, well, we'll see if we can get outside even though she is a bit of a scaredy-cat. I went looking for her nibblies on Sunday and when I came back my parents were frantic because they'd left the door open and she was no where to be found inside. Frankly, I knew she was inside, somewhere. I've been outside a lot of times and she's never followed me but just to be sure I checked the whole yard and around it but she was just sleeping in a corner by the couch (hidden by the chair covers!). Maybe when she's older I'll have to worry about her exploring outside territory and given the fact that MOST of our neighbours have dogs, that won't be funny. But I'll worry about that then. Until next week.

Clash of the Babies!

Binkies in the Drawing Room is a weekly journal, filled with rabbits, binkies and the challenges that is the learning curve of raising a new pet.

(Ra Ra's very first picture!)

WEEK TWO (18^th-24^th November 2011)

DAY ONE

I GOT A LICK! Now this is precisely why I don’t really care for dogs. The licking, urgh! But a rabbit’s lick…hmm, it’s okay. Small and quick, no fuss and a lot less gross and according to the experts it means, ‘I like you!’ which is good! This week I started out veeeery tired. I burned out the last week trying to give Ra Ra enough time to run on evenings and sometimes nights as I had to wait till everyone was asleep so as not to get too many protests. When I did this, cleaning up after her also meant that I had to cover a bigger area. Little sleep and up at five every morning equals a giant pain in the neck, literally! Quite simply Ra Ra was doing much better than me. Note to self: try to keep her playtime within a confined space. Please. As of now the only confined space is her cub. The only doors in my house are on bedrooms and bathrooms otherwise every room leads one into the other. Solution: Start the litter training!

DAY TWO

Today, despite being unable to turn my head properly I decided to clip Ra Ra’s nails, wrapped her in a cloth as the experts advised to keep her calm. Absolute waste of time. I barely got to cut her forelegs as it was. Ra Ra struggled without pause and when she did pause it was because I paused to give her a minute to calm herself! She almost wiggled and turned and kicked her way out of the cloth so many times that I just let her down after I did her forelegs. Her eyes were ready to bulge out of their little sockets and her heart was beating double time and given the fact that a rabbit’s normal heart beat is already clocking 130-325 beats per minute, you can imagine! At least I managed not to clip her nails too far that it would cause any bleeding. I don’t think either of us are looking forward to doing that again but I’m going to tackle those hind legs next week. Well, eventually.

DAY THREE

I’m still in a fix about how to vary her diet. She’s not drinking any water. In fact she just knocks the container over when I put it in so I stopped putting it altogether. I rinse out the water cress and other plants she eats and give them to her still dripping so she gets a bit more water in her system and she likes the cucumbers so I guess she’s getting enough. Have to research that tomorrow. Is it okay for rabbits to not physically drink water?

DAY FOUR

It’s not. Shucks! According to What Should I Feed my Bunny by Dana Krempels (http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html) rabbits can get enough water from the plants that they eat but without enough water they can get a serious stomach problem. They should drink an equivalent of at least the same amount that they eat every day. So I go home and examine Ra Ra from ears to cotton tail, I watch her race around the room and come to the conclusion that she’s not sick, yet. Putting back the same container with water is out of the question as we both know what she’ll do with it but I need to put some water in just so I know that if she needs extra water it’ll be within her reach. So I screw the top off a jar, it’s about ¾ of an inch high and about 4 inches wide, I fill it with water and put it next to her food bowl. I hope that for the most she’ll step into it on her way to nibble and notice it enough to take a lick and at least it’s not tall enough for her to knock over. I also add some patchouli to her diet. Just a little. See if she likes it.

DAY FIVE

Ra Ra still hasn’t touched her water but I have another problem and it’s in the form of a ‘crazy bee’. No, my rabbit hasn’t been afflicted with a troublesome flying pest but with a hyper screaming baby girl who loves to run behind her and push Ra Ra's bottom every time she stops like it’s a ‘GO’ button. I did remember reading somewhere in my first week that rabbits are not good pets for small children, especially the ones who go into ‘crazy bee’ mode every time they see what seems to them to be a moving stuffed animal! Unfortunately my smallest niece is still at that age where she hasn’t yet reached that stage of enlightenment to see animals as creatures that can be hurt like people. It’s just a game for her. Ra Ra runs, she chases. If the rabbit stops she shoves it to get it moving again. Ra Ra has taken to hiding under her cub when she’s out (by ‘she’ I mean my niece!) but that doesn’t stop my niece from bending down and shouting everywhere, ‘Ra Ra! Where are you?’ The poor animal’s scared stiff and most times when I clean out the cub (whereas she used to use that opportunity to frolic!) if the baby’s loose she just stays crouched by my feet the whole time or if spotted she hides and I don’t tell. Now I don’t mind keeping the two apart until ONE of them learns to listen, (don’t hit the rabbit means don’t hit the rabbit! The child’s a maniac!) but that means less ‘run around’ time for Ra Ra, especially since the other baby kicks a fit if she has to be banned from the area for a few minutes until I get Ra Ra's cub cleaned, and then I get the evil stare. Great!

DAY SIX

Ra Ra is not taking her confinement well. I’ve come home to see the newspaper I’ve lined along the bottom of her pen ripped with pieces of it scattered about. Another dilemma. The only time she gets out to really stretch her legs is when I clean her cub which is every morning and evening otherwise she has to stay inside for fear that the baby might squeeze her too tight or that she might just retaliate by nibbling her little toes or the little fingers that she keeps sticking into her cub. Sigh! And God forbid that she eats the paper in her chewing! And she keeps sitting down on top of the plants I put in for her to nibble. And then when they are limp, she doesn't care for them any more. Unfortunately for me, there is no 'hay' where I live which is the recommended main food for rabbits. I don't even know what it looks like! Is that the brown stuff that horses eat? Because the only people who have horses here in the Caribbean are special services, you know military, police. But bush! It's everywhere, and I've identified some safe plants that Ra Ra seems to like but what is with this sitting on the food! And then shunning the carrots and only eating the cucumbers and totally ignoring the water!

DAY SEVEN

Patchouli! Ra Ra loves it and it is now a full course in her meals and she is devouring it by the leaves! I stayed home sick today. So Ra Ra got a little ‘binky’ time, when the baby was asleep that is. My mother gave me the ‘you’re letting the rabbit run free in the house again’ eye but she let it slide. Speedy Gonzales made full use of the free time too, a little too enthusiastic though. She sped up a step and clean missed one of them and crashed into it instead. It’s times like this that I remember that my Ra Ra’s eyes aren’t the best with light but she was alright so I had me a little chuckle at her expense. Just shoke her head and kept going, bless her. Who knows when she’ll get this chance again. By days end after sitting on another bunch of water cress and 'rabbit meat' (I have yet to learn the right name for this) and then ignoring the limp leaves, I had a stroke of genius! Well, I'm sure it's common amoung other rabbit owners but I'm a new bee here! I tied them up! She may have to stretch a little to get to it but she's eating it now instead of sitting on it, peeing on it and then frowning on it when she's ready to nibble. My older niece called her out for eating the newspaper (I knew it) so I'll have to tackle that next week but in the meantime I'll try to keep her occupied with other things. Enjoy the pics of her below!

(this ones a natural!)

(getting down on her munchies!)

(the long awaited cub! the 'Pokemon poster' door as well, Ha!)

(Ra Ra sleeping with one eye open! One ear too!)