24 Hours Later....Post #3



Honeybunny putting her fur in the nest

Honeybunny likes to rearrange the nest and her cage. She's a true Cook!





 



 


Last night, Rich and I were relieved to see Honeybunny nursing her babies at around 10:30 p.m. She was right on time! What a good momma! We read that rabbits only nurse their young 1-2 times a day, ususally only once every 24 hours. Their milk is so protein-rich that it sustains the tiny little tummies for a whole day.

It is pretty amazing the way God created rabbits. In the wild, the momma bunny would hide her babies in a hole in the dirt and cover it completely up. She would not return to nurse them until between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the middle of the night/early morning when predators are least likely to find her babies nesting area. After learning about wild bunnies, we better understand why Honeybunny isn't very attentive to her young throughout the day. She occasionally rearranges their nest and sniffs at them, but she doesn't nurse them until around 10:30 each night. To nurse, she just stands over her bunnies. She only nurses for about 2-3 minutes. It was quick!

I wanted to be sure the babies were really eating, so I examined them last night, and sure enough...all 6 had fat little round tummies. They were full! Amazing and adorable!!!

Surprise!!! Post #2

One week and one day after bringing Honeybunny home from the farm at Cathy's Critters, she started behaving strangely. She began to dig in her cage and pull out large clumps of her own fur. We thought something was terribly wrong until we discovered a BIG surprise late Tuesday night on October 25.

Ruthie will tell you all about it:
At 10:00 at night Honeybunny had 6 baby bunnies. My mommy called out to my dad, "Rich, the rabbit had babies!" That's  when I  jumped out of bed and screamed, "Baby? Really? Babies?" I LOVE baby bunnies!

Ruthie found one of the bunnies on the floor by the cage. I guess it somehow got thrown out between the cage bars. Poor little thing! It seems fine, though. Another one was caught dangling between the grate bars at the bottom of the cage. Rich and I had to gently push it's fat belly between the bars. We were scared that we hurt the little thing, but it seems fine as well.

The new momma resting alongside her 6 babies....

We quickly looked around and found the unused litter box we had recently purchased  and decided it would make a suitable nesting box. We lined the box with newspaper and towels. Honeybunny added her own fur that she had been pulling out all day. The fur that I had taken away from her in fear that she was swallowing it, I quickly retrieved from the trashcan and added to it to complete the nest. We carefully put the babies in  and let mommy bunny sniff them and rearrange the bedding. Then, she laid down next to the babies and rested for awhile. Later, she got up and ate and ate and ate and drank tons of water. It was an exciting and tiring night for us all!

Happy Birthday, Ruthie! (How It All Began)....Post #1



Ruthie's expression when she first met Honeybunny.

On Monday, October 17, 2011, Mommy & Daddy surprised Ruthie with her very own rabbit as her birthday present. Happy 7th birthday, Ruthie!!! Mommy walked in the front door holding a very furry white and brown bundle of fur. Ruthie smiled and said, "What is it?" Mommy said, "It is your very own rabbit!" Ruthie squealed with delight! She couldn't wait to hold her new friend.

Ruthie's favorite thing about her pet rabbit is that she lets us hold her in our arms like a baby and cuddle with her. We all enjoy brushing her long coat of fur and petting her while she drifts off to sleep.

That is the day our family fell in love with a little 8 month old bundle of fur named Honeybunny. ......