What an amazing day! The bunnies have been with us for 5 months today, and  they have spent almost the whole day out of their cage, with very little destruction to show for it. They really were surprisingly well-behaved.

It began at 8:30 when they were given breakfast. Rather than closing the door to their cage, we left it open. Mabel hopped out almost immediately, leaving Dijon to much at his leisure, but she soon returned as she didn't like the music we were playing. She is a bit funny about music, and more often than not will retreat under the towel in her cage until the music ends. Dijon did try rounding her out of the cage, but she refused until the music was switched off.

So from 8:30 until 5:30 - when it was tea time - they stayed out. There were a minimal number of poos from Dijon, no spraying, no wallpaper stripping, carpet lifting, or book ripping. No leaps onto the piano, no chair/table leg gnawing, no curtain ripping.

But there were bunny cuddles, bunnies sleeping, bunnies grooming each other, children and bunnies playing together.

Was there no damage at all? No, there was a little, all caused by Dijon. He can't help himself... First, he ate the rubber end from a zip, and gnawed around the edge of the lid to the tub storing the Burgess. Not only did his gnaw it, he ate all the slivers he nibbled off. Not a single shaving of yellow plastic was to be found. Well, at least he has shown some intelligence - knowing where the Burgess is hidden is quite a step for him.

Mabel, on the other hand, was impeccably behaved and showed no desire to do anything other than look longingly at the piano keyboard.

Are girls more bossy than the boys? Of course our 2 sons would say so, and are always telling us that Mabel's a typical bossy girl when she noses them hard out of the way.

But Dijon made it very clear to me on Christmas Eve that I had no right to be messing with HIS cage, I had already picked all his droppings off the carpet, changed the towel in the cage for a clean one, cleared out the litter tray, wiped all his spray from the corrugated plastic sheets which surround the cage, but clipping the horribly CLEAN, and unsprayed plastic back to the front of the cage was most certainly NOT allowed, and he lunged and bit my right index finger to tell me so.

And to make sure that I wouldn't stop thinking of him on Christmas day when we dared to leave the house, he made it an extra hard bite, so that it drew blood and was throbbing with pain for the next 2 days, hampering everything I did!

It has been a sweltering weekend. 30°C in the shade, and not much cooler in the house, but did the bunnies care?

Not a bit! The hot weather gave them the chance to show just how clever they are...

Somehow they managed to detach the bath towel that lines their rather well appointed cage from the rear bars. This allowed them to burrow beneath it, so they spent half of the morning and early afternoon dozing between the cool metal base and the towel. It wasn't easy to make our their forms, but we could just about discern that they were wrapped lovingly around each other in their make-do burrow.

Of course, as soon as the side of their bowel was tapped, they found their way out in no time at all. They are greedy little monsters.

The bunnies' cage is lined with a large beach towel. It has lasted a surprisingly long time considering how much it is scrabbled, gnawed, and tugged. Dijon tries hardest to destroy the towel, and although he is strong with supremely sharp teeth, the towel has always got the better of him. The best he can do is detach it from the side of the cage - it's held in place with bulldog clips - slide into the gap that appears, and then have lots of fun roaming between towel and cage bottom. Squeezing him back out is a task and a half.

Mabel disappeared today, giving everyone a bit of a shock... she had found her way between towel and cage bottom. But she is a very svelte bunny, and the shape of her form was barely visible beneath the thick towel. Only the occasional movement gave her away.

Once out (she emerge of her own volition) she took to thumping and scrabbling as an attempt was made to tidy her living quarters. She is a single minded bunny, and when she has her mind made up, nothing will sway her.