Stepping Backwards in Time…

…to when the bunnies came into my life…

Buttons was a teeny weeny bunny when we got her. Although we had been toying with the idea of getting a bunny, we hadn’t yet stocked up on the basic essentials as we didn’t expect to get a bunny quite so soon. But when we saw her, we just couldn’t resist! So little Buttons got dragged on the car ride with us while we dashed all over to get hay, a litter box, some water & food bowls, etc.

Finally, we made it home. I don’t know whether it was the long car ride, or the strange new environment, but Buttons was rather apprehensive and shy initially. Although we left her cage door open, she didn’t venture out. Well, that shyness certainly didn’t last very long! Soon she started sniffing around, then stepped out tentatively… and that was the end of shy bunny and hello Boss Bunny!!

She was so adorable, running all over the living room, exploring every nook and cranny. And we saw a real life bunny binky for the first time! We had already read up on bunnies, their behaviour, etc. but nothing beats seeing it for yourself! This tiny little furry thing, jumping around, twitching her body… ahh, the simple joys in life

So, we didn’t have the heart to put her back into her cage when night came. She spent the night free in our living room. The next morning, we thought we’d try and see how she feels about being in a cage. Wow, she certainly expressed herself very clearly! She ran from one end to another, rattling the cage bars on all sides, non-stop. Then, she got fed up, and sat her butt down in her water bowl! Alright, fine… so she was let out, and has never been caged since. I always looked forward (and still do!) to coming home after work everyday, to find the little girl all sprawled out and relaxed…

I wish I had a better camera back then. I only have a handful of photos of baby Buttons, and they’re rather blur as I took them with the camera on my mobile phone. Oh well, I guess its better than not having any :p

She loved chilling out in her food bowl:

The curious bunny, busy exploring her new home:

Having fun with the bean bag:

Little rubber duckie!

SuperBunny…up, up, and awa-a-ay!

After a while, we decided to get Buttons a companion, a male bunny, since male-female pairs are generally easier to bond. And just our luck, TLR’s bunny had just given birth…lops, exactly what we wanted! That’s how Yohji came to join our little family. We waited, very very impatiently, for Yohji to be old enough to leave his mummy.

At last, it was time for us to go get Yohji. Buttons came along, we wanted to try a ‘bunny date’ to see if she would like the new guy. They were alright for a while, but then Yohji stuck his head under Buttons’ belly (maybe he wanted to suckle?? :p ), Buttons lunged, Yohji shrieked, we all panicked! Luckily he wasn’t hurt, just lost some fur. Buttons was less than 4 months old then. I was hoping that since she was still a baby, bonding the two of them would be easier. That wasn’t the case, we had three more bonding sessions, realized we were going nowhere, and decided to keep them separate ’til after their spay & neuter.

Our living room was divided into two with a long row of playpen fences, one bun on each side of the fence. Yohji enjoyed his space, running all around, jumping over his cardboard boxes and fiddlesticks. He really is quite the jumper! Anything with elevation, he’d get himself up on it someway, somehow. When he got bigger, he’d jump up onto his cage, sit there and look out the window (our windows extend quite low, towards the ground).

Yohji reminds me of a puppy, sometimes. Whenever he gets a treat, he runs to his usual corner and enjoys his treat there. Buttons just eats wherever she is at. He’s a real little piggy too, I have yet to come across something which he won’t eat!

Here’s baby Yohji, chilling out in his food bowl. Is this something all baby bunnies enjoy doing?

yet another rubber duckie!

Playing with his new chew sticks:

Checking out the igloo: