Calvin: "Whut happened?"

I wasn't feeling well today, so I stayed home from work. When I'm home during the day, on weekends and vacation days, etc., I usually let the rabbits out to run around or to lie behind pieces of furniture. (I always think that when I let them out of their house, their first thought is "Yeah, I can now lie down somewhere else for a while instead of just here in my house.")

Rabbits will "flop" - fling themselves onto their sides and sleep deeply for a while. Jessica loves to do it behind my recliner. Calvin did it the other day at the bottom of the ramp leading to the first floor of his house, making it look like he fell and injured himself or something. (I knew he was only flopped, but I laughed, which made him sit up and look at me as if to ask me why I ruined a perfectly good flop.)

Anyway, Calvin likes to lie on the little magazine shelf under the coffee table. It's about 2 inches off the floor. (Jessica often lies behind the coffee table and sets her head on the shelf, so it's a good bunny height.) This afternoon, I hear a thump, so I look over and Calvin had flopped on the magazine shelf, and he lay there licking his front feet. Well, his fur and the wooden table usually equal sliding, and he was close enough to the edge of the shelf that he accidently fell off. He turned over onto his feet and looked at me like "Whut happened? I was licking my feet and just lying there, minding my own business, and now I'm on the floor." I wonder if he thought I did something to make him fall. Um, no, I was sitting and reading a book for class, so he only has himself to blame.

I have to teach these guys about gravity, I think.

Mama

All is Forgiven

Hurray! Calvin is talking to me again :-) He started acting more normal around me last night - no running away, no cowering away from me. He actually approached me a few times to see what I was doing, especially when I was cleaning their litterbox.

I'm so glad to be on my bunny boy's good side again! :-)

Mama

Still in the Bunny House

Boy, can Calvin carry a grudge! Now Jessica I know will. I came home on Valentine's Day last year and pulled Jess out to give her a hug. For a week and a half, she'd stomp her foot and run to the first floor of her cage, thinking that I was gonna pull her out and hug her again.

Hopefully Calvin will forgive me soon. He's still shooting me looks that could kill. Sigh.

Mama

Oh, and....

Calvin's not talking to me. Usually when I give him a head rub (or barely stroke his head), he grinds his teeth, a bunny way of saying that they are very happy. Well, I got no grinding when I gave him the special "after ear cleaning" head rub, and I got none when I just petted him. In fact, he gave me the cold shoulder. I'll have to get into his good graces tomorrow night, for it's bed- and salad-time right now.

Mama

Mama's Side of the Story

I knew Calvin wouldn't be happy with getting his ears cleaned. But Dr. Horton saw wax in his ears on his annual checkup, so he gets to get them cleaned every so often, my lucky little guy.

I couldn't believe how different his ears were from Jess's. Hers are a lot longer and wider, so it was easy to clean them. His are narrower and since he wanted them pinned down, they were more constricted than they probably usually are, too. I figured he'd fight, and he did, but hopefully it'll get easier. Jess has given into the procedure, and he won't get them cleaned often enough to adapt, probably.

And Jessica is still licking his head. I didn't think he'd actually get sympathy from Queen Diva of the Warren, but I'm sure he'll milk it for all it's worth :-)

Mama

Calvin: "I am SO offended!"

Mama cleaned my ears tonight! Me!! My beautiful uppy ears were violated with smelly ear cleaning stuff and horrible cotton swabs. I couldn't believe it. She cleaned Jessica's ears first but, well, Jess always gets her ears cleaned, so I wasn't too suspicious when she grabbed me and carried me into the kitchen. When she wrapped me in the towel, I thought, "Hmm, what manner of evil is this?" but didn't struggle. In fact, I poked my head out and checked out the kitchen counter. Then, Mama grabbed the bottle that smelled like Jess after she gets her ears cleaned.

The liquid being put into my ears wasn't too bad, but when she started wielding the cotton swabs, I fought. I didn't growl like I usually do if she starts messing with my feet, but I wiggled and shook. After she was done and unwrapped the towel, I shot Mama a look of pure annoyance. She tried to placate me with what she called a "special head rub" that I guess she gives Jess afterwards, too, but I wasn't having any of it.

She gave me two papaya/pineapple treats before putting me back into my house with Jessica, but that didn't make up for the indignity. I always sympathize with Jessica when she gets her ears cleaned, but she was busy licking her own pride to pay me much attention. But now, though, she's giving me a good head licking, so I guess that is sort of okay. Sort of.

Calvin

Them Ears Say a Lot

Before I got Calvin, I had read-up on bunny body language at http://www.muridae.com/rabbits/rabbittalk_intro.html. When Calvin is really interested in something or checking out the apartment before he starts zooming around, his ears are pointing forward. When he wants a good head rub, he'll hold his ears apart, giving me more "scalp" to rub, an action that the people at the shelter had never seen him do before when he did it on the day we first met and I brought him home. I call it the "Oh yeah, Mama, give me some lovin' " pose. His expressions are usually pretty simple since he's such an easy-going little guy and has no motives other than attention and getting good food.

Though Calvin is easy to read, Jessica is a whole 'nother ballgame. Her lop ears aren't as expressive as Calvin's "uppy" ears, but I've slowly learned to read her ears as well. When she's interested in something, they sort of slide foward like a pendulum, usually blocking her eye so she has to turn her head to the side to look at me. She's able to lift her ears up to half mast, as it were, when she is grooming, but otherwise they stay down. With the wide range of emotions and expressions she shows, her lop ears makes it harder for her to express herself so I can understand, so she adds the thump of a back foot for emphasis a lot. ;-)

It's not so much that rabbits don't communicate with us humans - we just have to learn how to listen and pay attention to them.

Mama

Bury me under lots of hay

Whenever I go to give Calvin and Jessica's litterbox a new bunch of hay, one or both of them usually hop into it before I'm done (if one isn't already sitting in it). As I try to put the hay around them, they usually get covered with some of it. I brush it off, but they don't move - they just begin chowing down on the fresh stuff. I know that the ancestors of the domestic rabbit lived underground in warrens, but that doesn't seem to explain why my two wouldn't care if they'd be buried under a pile of hay.

I think they wouldn't mind being covered with hay because they'd have to eat their way out, and to a rabbit, that'd be a lot of fun. Um, okay, whatever :-)

Mama

The rabbit sense of taste

I know that rabbits must have a sense of taste - no, not in fashion (although Calvin always looks spiffy in his chinchilla coat and Jessica darling with her lop ears), but in food. Smell probably has a really big connection to what will taste good to a rabbit and what won't.

However, I can't understand how they can go from munching on fresh spearmint to eating fresh dill. I mean, that's like eating a pickle after chewing minty gum or brushing your teeth. Yuck-o, yet both Calvin and Jessica don't seem to notice anything odd about it.

Remind me not to eat any salad that they toss together ;-)

Mama

What I'm thankful for (Calvin)

I'm thankful for yummy salad and hay, for getting to race around the apartment, and for getting to lie around and relax and not have to worry about who will take care of me. I am thankful for Jessica. This is our second Thanksgiving together, and having another rabbit in the house to talk to and share thoughts with is the best. I'm thankful for treats and for balconies that are fun to dance on. I'm very thankful for not having to go to school like Mama is, for that sociology stuff is hard! I'm thankful for Mama and for her choosing me for her first pet rabbit ever.

Calvin

What I'm thankful for (Jessica)

I'm thankful for having a Mama that loves me despite my love of shredding paper and my lop ears that are so hard to keep clean. I'm thankful for hay, clean litterboxes with fresh newspaper to shred, and let's not forget treats. I'm thankful that Calvin chose me to come home with him and Mama. I'm thankful for getting to race around, to explore behind nooks and crannies, and to get nice, long grooming sessions from Calvin and headrubs from Mama.

Jessica

What I'm thankful for (Mama)

As I sat down to dinner, I gave thanks for my two little fuzzy stress relievers. I am so thankful that there are shelters and rescue groups that take in rabbits and find them homes. I'm thankful that Jessica recovered from her ear infection earlier this year, a very scary time for me when I had to leave her at the hospital for a few days. I'm thankful that they are both happy, healthy, and active. I'm thankful for being able to provide hay and salad for them, when most pet rabbits are fed commercial pellets that have to be so very boring.

And most of all, I am thankful that I didn't have to leave my pets behind like the victims of Hurricane Katrina did, for my buns are my kids and my family.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, and give thanks for the little fuzzy beasts in your life :-)

Mama

Mama's revenge

Tonight just happened to be the night that Jessica's ears needed cleaning. (They get cleaned once a week - lop ears are hard for the rabbits to keep clean themselves.) If she tries to tell you that it was done as revenge for her little project, don't believe her, no matter how cute she looks. :-)

Mama

Bunny projects (Mama's point of view)

"Rip, rip, fling. Rip, rip, fling."

"Fling, fling, rip. Fling, fling, rip."

"I'm a bulldozer."

"Uh, oh. It's a reporter. I'll be all over the tabloids for this."

Yes, bunnies love their little projects. I heard this one beginning last night after I went to bed. Now, I could have gotten up and tried to intervene, but rabbits can be stubborn (especially my little diva, Jessica). The best I could have done was throw the construction (or should I say, destruction) timetable off by an hour or two.

When I got up this morning, newspaper was everywhere in their cage. If I put the shredded paper back into the litterbox, Jessica will jump in and fling it back out. Calvin does contribute to the chaos here and there, but I think Jess was the forerabbit on this project. She was acting like a groundhog earlier, digging and pushing like a bulldozer. I don't know if she's trying to dig a warren to live in for the winter (her wild, European ancestors lived underground) or if she's trying to help the guys in the show Prison Break bust out.

Living with rabbits is always a fun time :-)

Mama

Bunny projects (Jessica's point of view)

"Some shots of my masterpiece."

Mama cleaned our litterbox last night, but something about how it was set up really bothered me. So, I decided to remodel.

You see, rabbits like to have little projects. We enjoy ripping paper, digging, flinging things around - so how perfect is it to rip up the newspaper lining the bottom of the litterbox and fling it all over the place? Talk about fun. I could do this all night and all day.

In fact, I think I will :-)

Jessica.

[I helped, too, but I'll let Jessica take the fall. I know where the treats come from, so I have to make sure my bunny halo is on straight. - Calvin]

I hate vertical blinds

In the two places where Mama has lived, there have been vertical blinds hanging in front of the big windows that go outside. [The balcony sliding glass door - Mama] I love to run by the big window, but these blinds always get in my way. I push at them, but they swing back to hit me. That's not very nice, so I shove them again, and again they come back to hit me.

Calvin

Dreaming of treats

I love to flop - to lie totally on my side and just snooze away. One or both of my ears usually stick up when I do this, too. (Mama says that the first time she saw a rabbit do this - at college with Auntie Sue - she thought the rabbit, Wellington, was dead. When Mama gasped, Wellie looked up at her like, "What? Why are you ruining a perfectly good flop?")

Mama has noticed that I move my mouth when I'm flopped. Well, of course, for what will I dream about other than oatmeal, raisins, papaya, pineapple, strawberries, Critter Berries, fresh hay, carrots, dandelion, etc.? Calvin tells me that he dreams of running around and racing through the outdoors, but I'm a lady, so I prefer more dainty dreams. Lady humans might be demure and only pick at their food out of some sense of propriety, but rabbits don't buy into that sort of thing. If I can't be scarfing down treats in real life, I can at least dream about it when I'm sleeping.

Jessica

That hairy time of year

Mama calls me her little shedding machine, and the fur has been flying the last few weeks. I know it doesn't make sense, but rabbits shed a lot of fur before growing in heavier fur for fall and winter. I'm always shedding (part of my chinchilla-colored charm :-) but it gets a lot worse in September. Jessica has been shedding a lot, too, and she gets so mad at Mama for pulling tufts of fur off of her butt.

The best thing about shedding, though, is the special treats Mama gives us. She got some dried papaya at the pet store, and she just brought home some dried pineapple yesterday. Both papaya and pineapple have special stuff in them that helps the fur we eat when we groom to keep on going through our systems and not become blocked and make us stop eating. We both love these special treats, so we might have to keep shedding all of the time in order to keep them coming. I'll have to talk to Jessica about that. :-)

Calvin

Mama needs four feet

Hurray! Mama went back to work today, letting us get back to our mischief-planning and busy nap schedules. She broke a toe on Saturday and went to the people vet. I, Jessica, feel sort of guilty, since she got hurt after kicking one of the gates she has up to keep us out of places where we aren't allowed to go. (She doesn't want us to chew on her books or her drum set, and I must admit that they do look tasty - Calvin.)

So, we think Mama needs to have four feet like we do. Then, she won't stumble and fall so much, for when have you ever seen a rabbit stumble? But, she still needs to have her arms and hands, for how else can she give us treats if she doesn't have any hands?

Mama walks funny now, too, but all humans walk funny. When she came back from the people vet on Saturday, she brought salad with her, and she told us that the salad supply was secure. Though we were worried about her, it was a relief to know that we wouldn't run out of parsley. :-)

Hopefully Mama will get better soon so she can hop and dance around with us.

Jessica and Calvin

"Fuzzy" logic

Mama told me that she posted an entry on how I'm always optimistic about what she has when she leaves the kitchen. I thought that it was time to tell the world the logic of rabbits.

1. If it crinkles, it contains a treat.
2. If it rattles, it contains a treat.
3. If it has a lid that peels off, it contains a treat.
4. If it smells good, it's a treat.
5. If Mama comes out from the kitchen, she has a treat.
6. If Mama is eating something, it's a treat.
7. If Mama is eating something that she says isn't for bunnies, she'll give us a treat if we bug her.
8. If we have had one kind of treat, that doesn't mean we can't have another treat.
9. "You'll spoil your dinner" doesn't apply to rabbits.
10. If you expect me to sit still to be brushed, you had better have a treat.
11. If you say "Come here Calvin," you had better have a treat.
12. If Jessica thinks there is a treat, please give us a treat or else she'll beat me up for nothing.

Now that the world knows how I think, isn't it time to give me a treat? You think it's easy to type with paws?

Calvin