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hey maybe this "getting attention" thing isn't so bad

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and this is why she's not allowed in the closet

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Bonding update

Well, it's been hard to catch a break with these guys lately. Bonding has unfortunately come to a screeching halt - Onyx and Dutch had their first real bonding session, and Onyx was immediately extremely aggressive towards Dutch. Enough so that I will no longer be attempting to bond them, because even though they are early on in the process I do not feel with the level of aggression she displayed that it's safe to try to bond her any further.

That said, I am extremely attached to her already and adopted her knowing this was a possibility since we did not have the opportunity to do speed dates to know how she was with other rabbits. Because of this and her having a temperament that would be extremely challenging to adopt out anywhere else, she is a permanent resident here and I will be splitting the rabbit room to accommodate them both.

Onyx will be a single for life most likely, but I will attempt to rebond Dutch to a third rabbit at some point in the future. I don't feel that it's financially responsible for me to adopt a third at the moment, but Dutch is happy just having Onyx in view and has been flopping, binkying, etc. - seems content enough that I see no need to rush the process of bringing in a third.

I am not going to lie - I'm disappointed. Although there is more than enough space, having the rabbit room split permanently isn't the outcome I was hoping for and it will be an adjustment to be sure I'm spending enough time with them both. I'll find a way to make it work, but it's just honestly a bummer.

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good lord girl

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Prebonding setup

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Introducing: Onyx!

Hello all - I would like to announce the newest rabbit who will be featured on this blog. Her name is Onyx - full name Onyx Constance Jones (don't ask lol). I adopted her yesterday from a humane society pretty far from where I live, where she had been surrendered, then adopted and returned, and had been in the shelter for a total of about two months.

She is about a year old and is a mid sized mixed breed weighing just shy of seven pounds. Her original owners bought her from a feed store as a baby and then surrendered her as an adult. Her first adopters returned her due to her being too energetic/mischevious and not being good with their children. She was described to me at the humane society as being "very full of personality", extremely opinionated, and somewhat difficult in general.

In my first 24 hours with her, I have noticed that she seems to have little to no positive associations with human handling. She is curious about me but seems to believe that any attention I give her will result in her being picked up/grabbed, and appears to associate humans in general with loss of autonomy. Despite her wariness though she seems to be an extremely confident rabbit, and has shown next to no fearful or anxious behavior despite being in a very new place after an 8 hour car ride. Right off the bat I have also noticed that she is very hyper, highly intelligent, destructive, a great climber, and just a LOT of rabbit packed into a 7 pound body. I think she has a great chance of thriving here, since the rabbit room can provide her a lot of space and endless opportunities for destruction without worry of her getting into something she shouldn't. She is likely a rabbit who is going to benefit from a lot of enrichment to provide an outlet for her energy and intelligence.

Bonding with Dutch may take a long time or it may be a quick process - the first week or so is just going to be enclosure swapping and then we will attempt to move to actual bonding sessions. Dutch has shown some fearfulness and reactivity to other rabbits since Billy died, so we're going to take things extra slow and use a lot of caution to give them both the best chance of a smooth bonding process.

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he was fully flopped but i annoyed him trying to get a picture

still looks very content though he LOVES fleece blankets

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enjoying the leftover sticks from my current vivarium project

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Hi OP! I had to do a double take when I saw this and your page because Oreo looks just like a clone of my boy they could be twins!

Part 2 of 2

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portrait mode

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dutch is very concerned because I'm mildly sick and keep coughing and for rabbits because they are so stoic audible respiratory distress is a medical emergency 😭 sir i appreciate the concern how do I communicate to you that I am not about to drop dead

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he was so happy i sat on the floor with him he became a baguette

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Sleepy flop

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tfw ur literally perfect

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guys do you think he's happy to be back

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the boy is home

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End of hiatus announcement and general update

Hello all - a lot has happened since I posted last. We bonded Dutch to another rabbit following Billy's death, only to have that rabbit die of a twisted gut a month after we adopted her. After that, we tried several more rabbits, but Dutch was not having it so I sent him to a person who volunteers at our local house rabbit society to board and bond since I was struggling with burnout and exhaustion and was getting frustrated with the lack of progress.

He's been there two months now, and she's tried him with several of her foster rabbits, and even her very chill permanent residents to get a sense of what might be successful.

Unfortunately he has been unable to bond with any of them - he's been jumpy and hostile and nippy to them and so myself and the volunteer came to the conclusion that it's probably best for him to take a 6 month to a year break from bonding and just be alone for now.

So long story short, we will be bringing him back this coming Thursday, and will be going straight into the new rabbit room upstairs that he hasn't had an opportunity to explore yet. After he comes back, I plan to make this blog active again and get back to posting about him on a fairly regular basis. 🐾