Lovebugs Day 1.

The Bonding Game

Miss Eve was separated from Dom on Saturday, and after a day spent on her own catching up on food, she met Neville.
I, not a very patient bunny parent, sent an email to Amy at work on Monday:

Any news on Miss Eve and Neville? What can you say so far? How was she, and how was interaction?
Sorry to be a pain, but we've been wondering - anxious bunny parents!!!

A little bit later, a reply came:

Bonding seems to be going fine. I have seen Miss Eve grooming Neville quite a bit, and have seen him grooming her once too! :-)
She seems very much at ease with him, so perhaps is happier with a smaller partner?
I think they will be fine to go back on Tuesday if that's okay for you?

And today I emailed again...just to be sure and not wanting to jinx anything...

Any more news to "aaaaawwwww" and "ooooohhhh" on Miss Eve and Neville??

And soon the reply:

There has been plenty of mutual grooming from Eve and Neville…I feel like an intruder when I go into their room! LOL!

So, we've got a match finally! I am off now to put a bottle of sparkly in the fridge to welcome home Miss Eve and Neville, and also prepare a new litter tray filled with loads of fresh soft hay!

Winter Bunderland Swap on Raverly

I don't remember if I mentioned that I joined the Winter Bunderland Swap on Ravelry back in December, when Hugo and Miss Eve were still together. The idea was to sign up and, after filling in a questionnaire on likes and dislikes for both hoomin and bunny(es), get a match on one of the other partecipants, and be a match for someone else on the list. My spoiler was Maarit in Finland, while my spoilee was Kiki in Germany with bunny Eeschen - both girls are lots of fun!
While I cannot yet discover what I mailed to Kiki and Eeschen, because the parcel is still on its way and I don't want to spoil the surprise, I am more than happy to show you what Maarit sent me...but don't be jealous, because it is all really very very pretty!
First, an overview:


Let's start with the most beautiful, hand-knitted, felted and needle-felted minibag:


Maarit was so thoughtful and did a portrait of Miss Eve on one side, and Bing on the other. After it was done, she read about Bing not being the right match to Miss Eve, and hoped that it wasn't too bad that I had Bing on the purse...of course it doesn't matter... also because it looks as if Bing's felted image could just as well be Neville's :)))

Anyway... there's so much more in it... she did for me these beautiful stitchmarkers:


And look at this pretty mug (with Finnish sweets inside!) - you can only get these in Finland from a company called Arabia, and the artist is Heljä Liukko-Sundström:






Because it's a knitters'swap too, the yarn couldn't be missing:

It is a lovely natural yarn, organic as well, from a local organic farm. The label says, as Maarit translated:

this yarn is produced in a small farm. The text says: "The organic farm of Mannila, Gray Jasmiini, 100% wool. Our black and white sheep Jasmiini is a little shy, but she is always the first one at the hay rack and that's why she is motherly plump.

So funny!!
I also got some yummy black aromatised fairtrade teas, and a lovely handmade card:


Of course it was all about the bunnies...so here we go, some organic dried apple slices and raisins (I tried them with Miss Eve and Bing, and while Bing would eat the raisins, Miss Eve would only nibble at the apple pieces, LOL!) and a honey and seed chewy stick from Vitakraft (still in its package, see top picture on the top left).

I shall try the treats again with Miss Eve and Neville... when they come home tonight :)

Thanks again, Maarit :) You did manage a lovely parcel, despite having to prepare it while you were moving home!

Lemonade and Hugs

We've got an award thanks to Cara aka Ankles aka Silver's mum and it is called lemonade :) We are very happy about it and thankful, even if it took us some time to come over here and acknowledge this honour (you know the drill, busy life, bunny bonding adventures, blah blah blah...usual bunny slave excuses)
It was supposed to welcome Bing into the YowlYY's warren, but alas, you all know by now that Bing didn't really want to be with Miss Eve - he was much keener on human cuddling and ear massage. Still, we are grateful for this award and will exhibit it proudly on this blog!

And because an award comes seldom alone, Miss Eve got the Hug Award from Crafty Green Poet!


This is a great honour and I will tell her as soon as she's back...which is going to be very very soon! The award should help during her mourning phase, and this is just what it did :)

Thank you both!

It is now time to pass on the awards, so if you are reading this and haven't received some lemonade and a hug recently, you've been tagged :)

Sunday Dating

I just got a call from Amy to let me know that, sadly, Dom is not a match to Miss Eve. Fact is, he is so frisky that he wants to hump her all the time, and she is scared of him so much, that she stopped eating, because every time she moved he was at her, so she kept on a corner and tried to be as invisible as possible :(
She separated them after two trials, and she asked me if it was ok to try her with Neville (check the spottyness):


He is a Londoner bunny that someone brought to a vet to be put to sleep, as they did not want him anymore. He is a teenager (probably about one year of age) and a gentlebun - very friendly and easy to handle.


I hope it works out - I will hear from Amy again tomorrow or on Tuesday.

I finished something!

My Surface - finally done! (all tedious details are on ravelry)
Now I am working at the wrap, and hoping to finish it this weekend.

Friday, sunshine, rainbows and bunnies in balloons

A few days ago my day was brightened by the arrival of a small envelope.
I found this inside:

Of course, you all have recognised the original, haven't you?
And here again a link to her haiku (RG saw Hugo in it!).





Is this Anya waiting at the Bridge with the Black Rabbit of Inlé?
Thank you so much, Crafty Green Poet - it is the most touching tribute to Hugo, and he is surely approving from the Bridge!

Dating agency is busy

Miss Eve is back to Amy's since yesterday evening. The new bonding sessions with Dom(inic) will start this evening - fingers crossed! That bun needs a companion!
The pic of Dom is about one month old - we were visiting before Christmas to see what new rescue bunnies were residing at the time, and Dom had just come out of a dental.
He had a history of teeth spurs, so if he bonds with Miss Eve, he will have to be taken to Amy's vet every 6-8 weeks for a conscious dental - he is apparently a very good patient and does not need to be subjected to GA to do the job.

Bunday Tuesday

They look peaceful, don't they?
Unfortunately, this is rather the exception - when they are close together and she grooms him, or he grooms her.

This is what I have been finding on the cage floor Sunday morning:


and more evidence in the litter tray on Monday:

I noticed that sometimes, out of the blue, and especially when Miss Eve is showing her back to Bing, he will suddenly lunge and try to bite her - grabbing luckily only a bit of fur. This escalated yesterday evening, happening 3 times within an hour, while they were in and out of the cage. Once she was sitting in the litterbox and stretched her head asking for grooming, and he almost got her on the nose. Luckily I was there supervising them, but of course I cannot be there 24/7.
When I noticed for the first time that Bing wanted to bite Miss Eve, I informed Amy and she recommended not to separate them as long as it did not get worse. She was confident that it would settle down - but it looks as if it is getting worse, but why? We were discussing with Mr D why Bing is behaving this way; surely there must have been something in his past that triggers the aggressive reaction, although we are at a loss there. Miss Eve is the most loving and affectionate bunny and will groom him all the time, always trying to stretch next to him and looking for contact, but this does not seem to matter. Probably Bing is more of a people's bunny than a bunnies' bun, or maybe Miss Eve is not the right one?
So, yesterday I decided to separate them, and Bing is now in what used to be BillieBun's indoor cage, next to Miss Eve's. They see each other and although Miss Eve does not seem much fussed by the new arrangements, Bing definitely is! He certainly did a show of his disapproval ripping all the newspapers I put on the floor, and is looking over to Miss Eve. In some ways he behaves a bit like the abusive husband who first beats his wife, and then when she throws him out, he is all contrite and misses her.
I spoke to Amy today and she is coming on Thursday to return Bing to her foster, and to pick up Miss Eve to try to bond with Dom, who is this blue mini lop:


This is a picture taken just before Christmas, and he had a tearing eye that since then is back to normal. Amy tried Miss Eve also with Dom, while she had Eve to be bonded with Bing, but she thought that Bing would be an easier bond as he was showing no aggression, or as a matter of fact, he was pretty much indifferent to having her around. Dom, on the contrary, tried to hump her during the first meet, a bit like Hugo did really, and Amy decided to take her away from him.
Hugo did quite a bit of humping with Miss Eve on their first meet, and also on the first day when they were at Amy's place, but since they returned to our home it never happened, so I hope that this is what is going to be with Dom, and that the two will go along. After all, Miss Eve is a piece of cake!

So, replying to the comment that the fluffies did on my previous post, I'd say that if Dinky decides to hump Daddy Dino, this means that she is the one who wears the pants in the relationship, and as long as Daddy Dino doesn't react in a negative way (biting, for instance) I would monitor the bonding sessions, always to be held in a neutral (for both) territory, and increase the "exposure" of the two to each other every time. If you have time, try to have them meet every day, each time for a longer period of time - the humping will stop eventually. Oh, of course, I am assuming that both are neutered, yes?

And before I finish, thank you to everyone for their lovely comments and welcoming messages for Bing - and thank you to Silver for warning us about Ankles'Lemonade Award - I shall have a look soon and take action :)

For Rabbits' Guy: thank you, I did see the post made by Crafty Green Poet and loved it - it actually brought a few tears but also a nice glow :) I shall blog about it very soon, maybe even tonight...also because I received something from her :)))

Off now to dinner!

Separate facilities

At least for the very first days, Amy recommended to have two litter trays in the crate, so that no animosity starts when it comes to hay and "the business". Bing is a very quiet boy and Miss Eve frets a lot around him, however, more successfully than with Hugo, when she pushes her head under him, he will often give her a bit of grooming. He does not seem to seek much her company, but when he is bunny-loafing or with his hind legs kicked aside, she will come and stretch next to him. She's definitely a happier bunny now with a mate to share the crate with!

He is a much larger bunny than Miss Eve, especially his head, LOL! And he's got enormous hind feet...as soon as I can get them out in the house I will try to get a picture of those, they're magnificent!
More on Miss Eve and Bing to follow soon...

Miss Eve is coming home!

...and she's bringing Bing with her :) Amy just emailed me that they'll be here at about 7pm, so I will prepare two newly refurbished litter trays (just in case they don't want to share) and hang the welcome home sign on their crate! If the weather is good in the next few days, there'll be even pictures to show you the newlyweds!
Thank you all for crossing your fingers and long limbs for the two :)

A New Start

Thank you again to everyone who visited the blog and paid a tribute to Hugo Bun - I never imagined how much he was loved outside in the blogworld, behind these walls where he spent his last year of life, happy and carefree and with a bunwife ever so keen on grooming him.
I will visit each of your blogs one after the other, and say again thank you - these have been hard days, especially for Miss Eve, and your words did help, knowing we were not alone in missing our white bunny.
Miss Eve was very distraught after Hugo crossed the bridge. We brought him home so she could say goodbye, and then we brought him to the crematorium, where I collected his ashes on New Year's Eve. He is now resting on the window sill in my office, in a urn next to those of Sir Harvey, Nik, and BillieBun.
Despite knowing he was gone, Miss Eve was always looking for Hugo when she left the crate, even going all the way up the stairs to the first floor, where only Hugo used to venture. When she did not find him anywhere, she came to me, stomped and gave a little wimp to express her disapproval. So I decided not to wait too long, and last Friday Miss Eve was picked up by Amy, my bunnysitter and bunny foster mum, who bonded her with Hugo in February 2008. She is having a holiday with this lovely fellow:



His name is Bing and was found by a lady while he was wandering on a road between a village and Nottingham.



Nobody knows how old he is, but surely no older than 4 or 5.



As of now, Miss Eve grooms him every now and then, but there is not much interaction between the two. The positive is that there hasn't been any aggression either, so maybe even if it is not a hearts and flowers romance, it may turn into one with time. Amy is going to try Miss Eve with Dom as well, another bunny (blue mini lop) she is fostering, to see if she likes him more (and he her).
So, now the crate is empty, and clean and ready for Miss Eve and her new husbun...hopefully it won't be long, as I miss lagomorphic activity in the house!