Sunday, December 13, 2009

The battle of the bunnies...

As you know we have 5 baby bunnies. Last week they turned 8 weeks, so it was time to separate them from their mommy and introduce them to the other 3 adult rabbits we have. Which are their grandpa, grandma and auntie. First we put the cage with the baby bunnies on the grass, so the other ones could sniff them and get used to them. But the mother (Winter) we let out of the cage and walk freely around with her mom, dad and sister. Little did we know what horror story would unfold....

She got severely attacked by her mom, dad and sister!! We were shocked!! Fur was laying all over the garden and poor Winter had to run for her life! So needless to say, we didn't think a second to let the babies out... too dangerous! Hoping that the other 3 would calm down and slowly accepted Winter back into the group, but nothing was further from the truth. So I went to the pet shop to tell them my story and ask for advice... I mean they supplied me with the male rabbit to impregnate Winter, so they should know! He told me that once a rabbit goes away he/she can't EVER come back to this territory! So now he is telling me!! Why didn't he gave me this advice before I started this whole ordeal with creating a new family... people, I sometimes don't understand them! So I told him: "Why didn't you tell me this before??" Well... his answer was: "You never asked me." Yeah, because I didn't know, why would I ask questions if I don't know that the problem even exist!!

So I asked him, what should I do now? And the answer is: get rid of one of the 2 packs.. either the old 3 or the new family with the babies.... Needless to say which one the girls chose! So now I have 3 beautiful rabbits to give away, but all their friends want the baby ones.. no old ones!! So I am stuck with all these rabbits that nobody wants.... except my gardener Betias. I would love them for dinner he said! Yeah right, tell that to the girls!! hmmm... I need to find another solution, it would be devastating if JJ and Jezz would ever find out that they ended up as a Xmas dinner to some family in Diepsloot, the corrugated steel housing community here just a few miles from our house where he lives....

I guess we just won't tell them!! or maybe I can find another solution real soon!?
I hate this pet store owner and I am boycotting him by buying my supplies somewhere else!!

So either we save Winter the mother with her 5 babies who are 8 weeks old now....





Or... Venyl, the black father and Scamper, the mother...



and the auntie.. Spots?



Of course the choice for the girls is not that hard... but I feel sorry for the 3 ones, they are such a beautiful animals, but obviously they will kill each other if we would let them loose all NINE, so now we still have the new family with her mother in the cage again, waiting for a trial.... boohoo, I wish I didn't need to make this choice!! I will tell Betias that he needs to find a nice home for the 3 older ones! And since he is employed by us he has to listen!!

I hope you had a great weekend! It is really hot here in South Africa, some days even a bit too hot!

Ciao, Mireille

7 comments:

Missy said...

Oh.my.word!!!!!!!! Such a SAD story :( Paige is sitting here next to me saying "We'll take them!" Lucky for me, distance saved my rump or else we'd take your bunnies for sure!

PLEASE let me know what happens to the sweeties!!! HUGS!

Leah Maya Benjamin said...

geez we have had rabbits before I have never heard of such a thing, I rmember having one seperated and her eating her own babies but I never knew they were such mean little things. I hope you can find a happy solution for them or don't tell. My mom sold our roosters ot a man that feed them to his giant snakes, unfortunetly one of them ended up being oen of my pets "puffy cheeks" I still like snakes but I will never forgive for that.

Anonymous said...

I always had rabbits when we lived in england, always had them in sets of two. One year one died, so I decided to try a rescue centre this time, and brought home a young rabbit, I kept them with two seperate hutches, but they shared a run. The rabbit from the rescue centre went mental and really savaged my rabbit, it was terrifying, and I dont know if yours did this, but the screaming noise they made when fighting terrified me -I didnt know rabbits could scream!!! so yes I had been ticked off too that the rescue centre never warned me. All very sad. Rabbits are great though, very intelligent if you handle them lots from a young age, the last rabbits I had were when i was at uni and they were house trained so could come inside in winter too.

Sandie said...

Gosh....I had no idea rabbits were such territorial creatures. I would boycott the pet shop owner aswell. Silly man has really put you in quite an awkward position. They are gorgeous creatures so I am sure you will find a nice home for them. X Sandie - Australia

PixieBelle said...

Aww, poor mite. Animals are such odd things. I used to breed rats and I was always told to seperate the parents when the babies are born as the father will kill the young. Mine were so far from this, it was the mom who did away with them, Dad was a delight when reintroduce the first time so after that I never seperated them. The female hated me and my smell so she'd off whichever little bundle I touched. Very sad.
I do think pet shops should be a little more informative though, especially when you explained exactly why you were looking for another bunny.
I don't think I could cope with the idea of someone eating one of my pets either. Hope you've managed to find a good place for them. Othrwise there's always a rabbit rescue perhaps? Mine found a new home at a school through a rabbit rescue when I left SA.

Maci Miller said...

Oh, what an ordeal! I can't believe that stupid pet store owner didn't tell you that!!! And how odd that a rabbit can never go back to it's pack. That's sad! Hope you are able to find a nice home for the older pack and not for someone's supper!!! Good luck!

Dianne said...

Thanks for introducing yourself. Yae! another fun twin blog to follow. Your girls are beautiful, nice pictures!

Dianne

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