A NEWBIE!!!

Since my last post, there has been a new addition to our little family! Meet Mini-B, another baby cottontail rabbit that Taffy brought me. Mini-B is about 8 days old in this photo:















i decided on Mini-B as a name after i took this photo:














Mini-B is much smaller than Babuh was, at the same age, but you can sure see how Babuh has grown! When i took this pic, i had just given Babuh a couple of wedges of apple for a treat and totally forgot about it. It was SO CUTE to see Mini-B trying to chew on it ~ he would pick it up and move it all around, and it's almost as big as HIM! lol

On a not-so-funny note, that was a BIG mistake on my part. i'm afraid that whatever he did get from it (juice and maybe some small pieces of the apple) gave him an upset stomach, so i spent a LOT of time giving him tummy massages until he was back to normal. For a baby as young as he is, common gas is a life-threatening condition because it could very easily lead to Stasis.

Now that his eyes are open, i am introducing some different hays (Orchard Grass, Meadow Mix and Coastal), along with an alfalfa cube and some pellets. He also needs access to water, now, so we've hung a bottle on his cage door. Although his little poops were pretty liquidy while i fed him only Pet milk with a drop of Karo Corn Syrup in it, now that he's eating solid food, his poops are becoming formed and solid, and look like little pieces of ground pepper.

More in a day or two ~

Treats For the Bunnys

On one of the forums i visit, the subject of treats for our rabbits came up. i did a post about Yogies vs. SunMaid Yogurt Raisins ~ which, by the way, were less 'artificial' than the Yogies. Imagine my horror to learn that the new treat i was giving my buns, and that they seemed to LOVE, was something you shouldn't feed them! Evidently, raisins are bad for the rabbits kidneys. And i'm truly ashamed to have to admit that i've GOT links to several sites that list the different foods to encourage and which to avoid, but i had seen somewhere that someone else was doing it and assUmed (always a big mistake) that it would be okay...

Anyway, it just gets back to doing the research and trying to wade through all the (for want of a better word) 'middlemen.' i noticed, when i was doing research about the lifespan question, that a LOT of the links from the search engines were back to the same site/page/addy, so you need to invest the time to find those really good sites that provide you with trustworthy information. For the rabbits, i generally use the House Rabbit Society, which is organized by state.

Okay, so now i'm off to print the lists and will begin feeding my babies only GOOD stuff!

Research ~ Lifespans

Talk about a shock ~ I've been researching different things about Baby Bunny Boy, and found out some very interesting facts about the lifespans of the two different rabbits i have.

As a wild cottontail rabbit, Baby Bunny Boy could live from 8 to 10 years; however, the average lifespan for his peers is an unbelievable 4 to 6 MONTHS! i read that of any given year's 'crop' of cottontails, 80% will perish before the next year. i suppose i'll have the oldest little cottontail in these-here parts pretty quick like.

Amazingly enough, Retread's, lifespan is less than BBB's ~ a Mini Rex's lifespan could be 8 years, but the average is 6 years. That surprises me because, as far as i know, the Rex is and has been a domesticated breed since about 1924, so most of the data is based upon life in captivity, which, to me, should lengthen it substantially.

Anyway, until next time ~