Dawn Xiana Moon: Melodic folk pop infused with passion and honesty. From Chicago.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Les Lapins

Today's blog entry has been brought to you by Betty Chu's English Angora, Home of Grand Champions. Thanks to Emily for the link that originally inspired me.

First off, some scary-looking rabbits. The phrase "ball of fur" just took on a whole new meaning. And then there's the section called Bunnies! Bunnies! Bunnies!. Quotes:

On Motherhood: "Sweetie Pie, my first french lop, had her babies on the wire at 10 o'clock on a rainy night. I picked up the babies and put them in her nest box and left Sweetie Pie and the babies alone. The next morning, to my horror, half of the babies were dead and the remaining few were cold and dying. I called Sweetie Pie's breeder, Cathy, asking for help. She came and put the cold babies in the warm oven. Unfortunately, all still died except one. Sweetie Pie did not know what to do with this one survivor; neither did I."

More on Motherhood: "Some does give me no worry. They have the babies in the box, cover them well and nurse the babies right away. Some may need help."

On Expressing Affection: "Reach out and touch somebunny."

On Mating: "After selecting the right combination, I check the buck's and doe's genital area to make sure that they are all clean. I take the doe to the buck's cage early in the morning. If it is a successful mating, the buck should fall over and stomp his feet repeatedly. I'll take the doe out and hold her in my arm for 3-5 minutes so that she does not urinate to flush out his sperm immediately after mating. I'll put her back in her cage and repeat the process again 7 hours after the morning mating" [emphasis added].

On Eating: "The ones [bunnies] that got enough milk have a firm and fat tummy. The ones that did not get enough are soft."

On Bodily Functions: "At times a baby may have problem in urinating. I use my finger or a wet cotton swab gentlely rub the baby's little tummy and genital area. Baby usually will respond quite quickly."

On Time Management: "In addition, I am sure we have all seen babies chasing their mama for milk. It certainly can be very stressful for the doe if she does not feel like nursing at that time. I feel that keeping doe and babies apart except at nursing time is a solution for both parties. And I am sure that they enjoy their quality time together much more" [emphasis in original].

On Corpses: "After the doe has kindled, I take the nestbox out of her cage. Take out dead babies if there are any."

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