|
Thumper and Charlemagne came from a litter of baby bunnies
we had the privilege of watching grow this summer.
We had gotten a call from a family friend one morning in
early June. She said they had found a domesticated bunny
hopping around their yard. They didn't have a place to house
her so asked if we could take her. I had just recently lost
my rabbit this past winter so I had a cage available.
After driving over and then try to catch her we finally
rounded her up and put her in a carrier for the way home. I
noticed she was slightly round and very sticky and pee
stained. Later I also noticed she had a chunk of her ear
missing.
Once Pippin, that's what we decided to name her, was with us
for a week I thought she looked like she was getting rounder
and had a slight feeling she was pregnant. My sister,
Rachel, thought I was just seeing it because I was slightly
hoping she was. I started feeding her more food just in case
and if nothing happened after a month (that's their
gestation period) then I would know she was just plump.
Only 2 1/2 weeks after finding Pippin I checked her stomach
just to see if I could feel anything. I was surprised when I
felt three lumps and then two little fluttery kicks! Okay,
now I was thinking she is either fat and gassy or pregnant!
Since it was later and dark outside I decided that I would
put a letter box in her cubby the next morning. But I was a
little late because the next morning I woke up early to
check on her and there were the babies nestled in her cubby
under a thick padding of fur!
It was so fun to watch them grow from blind naked things
that didn't resemble a rabbit to fluffy little balls of
fun! I spent all summer playing with and training them. We
even took them with us when we traveled to our grandparents
in Michigan for two weeks. Thankfully I found homes for
most of them and still have three of the males, one of which
is moving to his new home soon with our aunt!
I am so thankful for SAA for donating 1 1/2 of the neuters
for two of the bunnies! It would have been very hard to
spend that much to neuter 3 male rabbits!
I wish I could write more stories about their growing up and
send more pictures but that would take up way too much space
( I took hundreds of photos!). So I will just have to write
a book and let you know when I've finished it.
Pictures below |
