Bunny Training Begins

Just as people take their new pet dogs to puppy-classes, (and really, it is more for the owners than for the dogs), I think new rabbit owners need some kind of training too. Sort of a Bunny Basics, perhaps?

It's been 36 hours (and counting...) and that Jasmine has nipped me 3 times (although I think it may be her way to tell me she needs to pee, because each time she did it I would put her down and she would flood the lawn... hmmm...), plus I have a 6mm scratch across the middle of my right hand palm due to a particularly long claw. This last injury I sustained this morning, and it has been itching like mad ever since. Maybe it's infected...

So Operation Banish Bad Bunny Behaviour (OBBBB - may have to rethink that name, because even the abbreviation feels way too long!) has commenced. Kohl-eyed Jasmine is the target. This bunny had better buck-up or beware of lambasting.

I thought that exposing the little fluff ball to all the scents of the family would help her become accustomed to her new home. So I instructed her to make the beds this morning. Which she duly did (I must be a brilliant bunny trainer!). She does, however, have a knack of scurrying under the blankets to hide - lazy bugger! Suppose I can't get too mad about this yet since it is her first day on the job.

What better way to be inundated with family odours than to sort the washing? Jasmine ended up in the washing pile for the next load to do. Here too, she scurried away to hide I found her inbetween a pair of muddy corduroys  and a sock. (Oh hello! I just realised why she bit me! Must have been due to sock-intoxication. May need to test this theory again at a later stage. With somebody else's finger, of course.)

After a fairly prolonged stroking, jittery Jasmine started to get antsy so I returned her to the hutch. I could have sworn that Holly rolled her eyes at her.

As I returned indoors, I noticed several clumps of long white bunny hair clinging to my fleece top,  and I realised that I have not yet been subject to the usual allergy symptoms that pop up when cats are around. No sneezing, wheezing or burning eyes. Hooray! I think we have a winner!!!

Guess the bunnies can stay a bit longer, as long as their temperament improves some. My darling husband suggested that if the grumpy rabbit doesn't defrost soon, we may need to get T-Bird another, friendlier bunny; one that can be cuddled and petted to her hearts content. "And what about Jasmine?" I raised one eye-brow at him. "You can have her," he didn't look up from his magazine.

3 bunnies? I don't think so! As it is, we are only assuming the two we have are girls. The odds of introducing a male bunny vastly increases by adding another creature to the batch. I'm not a statistician, so I can't tell you by how much, but I think it could be a bit of a risk I'm not willing to take. 3 bunnies could become 10 bunnies could become 50 bunnies within a few months.

And what would I do with so many rabbits? I don't think I know.