They have chosen their favorite!

When Winter, our rabbit, was pregnant I promised the girls that we could only keep 2 out of the litter, one baby each. Since I had no clue how big this litter would be I thought I better keep it safe ;-)

So now out of the 5 babies the girls have chosen each their favorite bunny. And I mean after just a few days, about 8-9 or so when the fur started to set in and you could recognize that these small little animals were indeed bunnies the girls immediately took to one. I still can't see the difference between all 5 but the girls can!

So Juliet took this one; his/her name is Thumper, after the old Thumper we had.



And Jasmine chose Scratchy, because he/she scratches her chest all the time when he/she tries to climb closer to her face when she holds him/her.



And here they are both with their favorite!



I told the girls that they have to give equal attention to all FIVE of them, because otherwise the others feel left out! So when they go and play with the bunnies, they pet the other ones for a short time and then they take their favorite out of the cage and play with them ;-) .... not really equal attention, but hey.. the other ones will go to one of their friends and I am sure they will get all the attention they want... just a bit later! Because at 8 weeks we can give the other 3 away, this will be about 2 weeks before Xmas. So hopefully we will find a good home for them!

And then I have to go with the 2 we keep to the vet, to make sure what kind of sex the bunnies are. If these are boys we have to 'snip' their little balls otherwise we will end up with many bunnies and that is not what Mireille wants!!

PS: I normally don't buy the same outfits for the girls anymore, but these shirts I bought in Thailand when they were 3,5 years old. It is size 4/5, but now at age 7,5 it fits them! JJ and Jezz didn't like the Tweetie face on it... and I can imagine by now... but they still wore it to school that day... just to please their momma ;-) Such a sweet girls!

Dirk is gone to Switzerland (business) and the Netherlands (partying) for 10 days and we really miss him, but on Friday he is coming back and it will be his Bday as well, so double the happiness!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Mireille

Juliet and her bunnies

Both the girls are totally in LOVE with our newborn bunnies. Here Juliet wanted to tell us about her new favorite little Thumper, she named him/her? in honour of the Thumper that died a few months ago.

She also shows us the mother Winter with her 5 babies, that all look alike to me, but NOT to the girls!! The spots are SO different mama!! Well... I don't really see it, to me they are identical quintuplets!.... wow, twins and quintuplets in the house... that is asking for trouble! LOL.







How cute are they?!

Have a great day,
Mireille :-)

Update on our bunnies

Living in Africa is not always easy, I had to do without a telephone and internet connection for 5 days!! But the line is fixed and I am glad to catch up on blogs I have missed, and keeping up with my own!

The bunnies are getting cuter and cuter, at least they start looking liking a bunny now!! So here are some pics from the last week.

Here they are 8 days, still most of the day under the mother's fur and in their nest. Don't come out yet, although 1 is trying today! The skin is still a bit pinkish and they eyes are not open yet, or maybe a bit.



8 days old, it is hard to tell that it is a bunny, could easily be a baby kitten if you see them all together in their nest. One is trying to crawl over to the mother for some milk, but has a hard time standing up.



But then it is by the mother and gets a helping of milk, while the mother waits patiently for her baby to finish.



Today they are 15 days old, and look how much they have grown in just 1 week! One is getting milk from the mother.



You can clearly see that they are bunnies, the ears have grown and they eyes are completely open. They all 5 look about the same, black and white, so cute!!
They don't stay much in their nest anymore and kind of play around a bit in the cage.



They will stay another 6 weeks in this cage, because the big hadedas birds that come to our garden would probably pick them to death if we would let them loose in the yard. Here they are safe and protected. The girls can't wait to touch and pet them, but that is still not allowed!

Well, have a wonderful week!
Mireille

We have baby bunnies!

Jasmine & Juliet are so excited! Winter our female rabbit gave birth last week to 5 or 6 baby bunnies (hard to see since they are all on top of each other and under a protective layer of fur). Everyday when the girls come out of school, the first thing they do is go outside and visit Winter and her babies. They are deaf and still have there eyes closed and no fur. So we are not allowed to touch! Otherwise the mother will reject them if there is human smell on the babies.

But the girls are so tender taking care of the mother... it is so cute! It is their task to feed, water and clean the cage every morning before the school bus comes at 6:50 am! At first I was a bit worried, she was not sitting with them and feeding the babies at all, but then I did some research and it seems that rabbits only feed 5 minutes a day (their milk is very rich) and this happens at night. So no wonder I don't see that!

They are a week old now and the babies have almost doubled in size. Only a bit of fur but still very bald. JJ and Jezz can't wait to touch and play with them, but Winter and the babies are safe in a cage and we don't let them out yet. They need to stay with the mother for 2 months.

Winter, nice and plump 2 days before giving birth.



She plucked her fur to make a nest for her babis, look how skinny she is now.




The nest with the babies~2 days old, all naked with their eyes closed.



And our other rabbits, the black one is Veenil and Spots; father & daughter.



Mother Scamper & daugther Spots.



A great learning process about life, growing up, taking care and mating has this project been so far :-) But I will make sure that we don't have another pregnant rabbit soon!!

More pictures will follow!
Ciao, Mireille

Fabulous Friday

The girls are totally excited these days to wake up and come back from school... why? Because we have 4 bunnies! The first thing in the morning they want to feed the bunnies and after school the first thing they do is run into the house and go straight to the yard to greet their new friends ;-)
A friend of us is moving back to the US and had 5 bunnies, one is still at her house, they can't seem to catch him. But as soon as he is caught we will get that one too, so then we have 5!
Today Jasmine and Juliet invited 4 of their friends to have a play date at our house, so all their friends can come and see the bunnies. They are very popular these days, since everybody in their class wants to come over and see the bunnies... yeah, is it not the cute girls they want to play with then it is the cute bunnies LOL!

Jasmine feeding Scamper, the mom bunny


Juliet feeding Thumber, the black-white boy bunny.


Jasmine with Winter, the albino bunny with red eyes.


JJ with Thumber, he is her favorite because he comes to her!


And this is Spots, still a bit shy.


The only one that is missing is Fio, he is a black male. Our friends are trying to catch him for days now, but he won't let them ;-) And then the bunch is complete. Pfew, 5 pets at once, for somebody who isn't used to animals, that is quite a lot. But at least these bunnies stay outside!! That was the only reason for me to take them.

And if you are thinking that soon we will have more bunnies, no, no, no! These are neutered, so no more bunnies!! LOL

And in case you want to know how I am doing, since the girls are doing great! Well, I have a little sit back here. The last 2 days I didn't loose anything, and this morning I even gained 1 lbs!! Shocking to me, since I follow the Detox Diet so well! I am not cheating, so what is going on?? Not too happy with that! I also feel very bloated and a little discomfort. I am glad I have an appointment for a colonic later this morning, maybe that helps. So I am on Day 17, but my weight loss is only 12 lbs.

In the meantime I am craving wholesome veggies to start after my detox and this is a totally yummy recipe I found on 101 cookbooks, but this could have been MY recipe since I do almost always do my cauliflower like this. Especially if you burn it a bit, it gives it this nutty taste that I like so much. So try it out, it is delish!
Here is the link for the recipe.



Have a Fabulous Friday!
Mireille