Another first

Between Sunday services I let the buns roam free - not that they seemed too interested in the afternoon. However, I decided was time to make the big step and leave them out in the living room where their cage is while I went to evensong ... and in fact that was effectively a good 4 hours until I got back from the post-evensong pub social. And we had no nibbled furniture ! In fact bunnies don't appear to have attempted to chew anything which has got to be a good sign. Still trying to get them used to me being around but am taking it nice and slowly given the amount of time I get at home at the moment and Benjy's general nervousness !

Brave Benjy !

Cleaned the boys out this morning and lifted both buns (and the bun-house) out for ease of cleaning. Benjy hasn't looked back ! He's been hopping in and out of the cage (and the hay bag!) all morning which has to be an improvement. Peter is getting more and more adventurous by the day ... think he has even been doing binkies where he runs around and jumps round the opposite direction mid bound so they do seem to be pretty happy.

First brave steps but some disturbing behaviour ...

Well today Peter took his first few runs outside of his cage - admittedly helped by being lifted out and plonked down a wee way from the cage. But it did make him brave enough to have a potter and and explore with no accidents regarding chewing or pooing. However, we did have a bit of an over-friendly-behaviour incident which led to some quick emergency sexing (which neither of us really enjoyed). Verdict is that they are indeed two boys and therefore I presume this is some kind of dominance establishing behaviour and not some gay bunny incest. Although I would never like to be certain !

Acclimatising

After taking some advice from various rabbit sites and stuff have got Peter out for a little wander - he's just next to me on the sofa with an old towel left by my last flatmate so he's not being cuddled or anything. Also the stuff arrived from zooplus so they have new food bowls, the hay ball, litter tray, and a see-saw which was great fun to put together. They seem to like everything. Today's new food was radishes ... will see in the morning how well they go down.

The rabbit leaving-alone is going ok - did get them out of their house for a bit which was probably naughty of me. But no attempted picking up or cuddling. Bought them a wee ball with a jingle in to play with in their cage ... they seem to like it so hopefully will keep them happy for a wee while. Also got an untippable bowl for their water although they've still managed to fill it full of sawdust. At least it's clean sawdust (cleaned them out this morning). Trip to sainsbury's also including buying some fresh veg for them to try.

Settling in

Have now had the boys for nearly a week and (having checked my house rabbit book) I think I've been pushing them a bit much on the handling side. Too used to cats which you can cuddle straight away and hamsters that need handled to get them used to it. Anyway am going to behave and leave them basically alone for the next couple of days to let them settle in and follow the instructions in my book by letting them out for a few minutes afterwards. Still waiting on the delivery of stuff from zooplus including their new food bowls/food ball and the litter tray. So can't really do much with them till then. Patience is not one of my virtues so will just have to pace myself.

Benjamin Bunny

Peter Rabbit