Rabbit Ramblings

I sometimes mention our rabbits on the blog and I get quite a few requests to tell more about them. I have done posts about them before, Introducing Sammy and Coming...Ready Or Not.

We hadn't intended to get rabbits, we'd had hamsters and guinea pigs for a few years but found ourselves with only fish as pets after they'd all died. Back in 2008, on a visit to a local pet shop for fish supplies, we saw the cutest little baby Rex rabbits. There were about four little brown ones and the softest, cuddliest little grey one, all brothers. I'd just come back from a weekend trip to London with work and feeling guilty at having left Daniel and Eleanor at home with Mick, my defenses were down. It didn't take much of Eleanor's nagging for me to crumble and allow her to choose one of the litter to come home with us. Her choice was the little grey rabbit which she named Sammy.

It was the following day that Daniel decided that he'd quite like a rabbit too, so back to the pet shop we went and one of the little brown bunnies came to join Sammy. Daniel named his rabbit Monty.

Originally, we'd hoped that they'd live in a hutch together, and they did whilst they were babies. We had them neutered thinking it would calm them down and that they'd live in harmony, but it just didn't work, they really didn't get on together so they now live in separate hutches and have separate play time.

Sammy is the softest of the two, he likes to be held and cuddled and doesn't hop too far away from his hutch when it's play time, but Monty is the most nosey, inquisitive rabbit you're ever likely to meet. He's such a character and makes me laugh how he gets his nose in to everything.

When I eventually stopped working, we got the dog which Eleanor was still nagging for. Archie goes to see the rabbits when they're in their hutches or their runs and they sniff each other through the bars, the rabbits don't seem to be nervous of him at all. I always keep him indoors when they're having a run around though, you just never know.

My very favourite photo of Monty is this one which I used on my Coming...Ready Or Not post back in 2009. I think he looks so cute.

Last year, when I was choosing my seeds in The Garden Centre Group sale, I came across this seed mixture for rabbits. On the back it says A mixture of seeds for sowing as living pet food which has been specially formulated to supplement the diet and suit the natural and nutritional needs of rabbits. The seeds can be sown in containers or in the ground and the rabbit can eat the plants directly or they can be harvested, washed and dried before being given to eat. I thought I might sow a couple of small trays and then once they've grown, they can be given to Sammy and Monty as a treat.

Sammy and Monty are six now. There's no way of knowing really how long they'll be with us. Some information I've read states that the average age of rabbits is between six and eight, other information states eight to ten, yet I've heard of rabbits living for twelve years and beyond. The vet always says they're in very good health when they go for their annual vaccinations and health check so I can't see any reason why we shouldn't have them for another six years.