Born in a nest of bunny fluff

Every time we brush the bunnies, we save their fluff, and, at the start of spring, place some of it in an old bird feeder, so the garden birds can use it for their nests. 

Last year, we watched several birds gathering the fluff. A pair of blue tits took some of it to the nest box. 

Unfortunately, they abandoned the nest before laying any eggs. 

This year, however, we've had the pleasure of watching a pair of blue tits successfully raise their family in the box. The blue tits have been regular visitors to our feeders for a long time, and have often appeared on our trail camera. 

In the 27 years that we've had a nest box on the tree, it's the first time birds have laid eggs in it – sadly, this is probably a sign of the times, with so many gardens now turned into 'yards', devoid of trees or shrubs, leaving birds very few natural nesting sites.

Nesting started towards the end of March, when we noticed a blue tit spending a lot of time every day pecking at the box – around the entrance, on the bottom, and inside. Nobody knows for certain why they do this – suggestions for this behaviour include: to check the structure; to round any edges and adjust the entrance hole; to remove any splinters; or to mark territory, telling other birds that the nest site is occupied. Whatever the reason, the behaviour continued on and off for a few weeks!

Next came the careful curation of nesting material, starting with vegetation, and some of the bunnies' hay they found in the compost pile, and finishing with beakfuls of fluff from the feeder. Then all went quiet. It was impossible to know whether a blue tit was sitting inside the box, or whether they'd abandoned it. 

Then, on 8th May, they started going in and out of the nest box again, this time collecting food from our garden and further afield. These trips were infrequent at first, but increased over the next few days, presumably as all the chicks hatched. 

We kept our distance, but they seemed to know we were safe and were happy for us to stand a couple of metres away and watch them going in and out of the box. Perhaps they realised we'd keep the magpies away.

When the chicks were just over a week old, we could hear them clearly, even from inside the house! The parents were extremely busy bringing food to the nest, throughout the day. Apparently, each chick can eat one hundred caterpillars per day!

On 25th May, we saw the baby chicks for the first time! They started looking out of the nest box entrance, catching their first glimpse of the world. Below is a compilation of footage of their last day in the nest box.

Seeing them at the entrance made us realise how vulnerable they were – at this stage, they would have made easy prey for any observant magpies or squirrels, and we have thriving populations of both in our neighbourhood. Woodpeckers also take chicks from nest boxes, and we hear one nearby, occasionally.

Aware that they would probably fledge within the next few days, we ensured the garden was as safe as possible. Already we have wobbly clematis trellis along the top of our fences, which we installed to make it difficult for cats and foxes to enter, so we made sure that there were no gaps. We put a willow fence panel in front of the pond, which lies just in front of the nest box tree, and made sure there was nothing in which a new fledgling could become trapped. 

The following morning, on 26th May, when the chicks were probably around eighteen days old, they fledged. The little one in the video below must have been last out, and took much longer to fly away. He/she had a lucky escape – first, from a squirrel, who was sniffing around the area, when we looked out early that morning; then from nearly being trodden on, as we went to scare away the squirrel. We'd rushed out, thinking the squirrel could take one of the chicks out of the box; little did we know they'd already left the nest, and the squirrel had been perilously close to the one on the ground. 

Following an anxious few minutes when we watched from a distance, hoping the fledgling hadn't been abandoned, we were relieved to see the parents fly back to feed and encourage him/her to fly. They also peeked into the nest box, to check it was empty.

It took about an hour, but finally the last fledgling flew away, and the garden felt oddly quiet. 

After 27 years of leaving our bunnies' fluff out for the birds, we have finally seen fledglings which had been born in a nest lined with the soft fur, and even saw one take shelter beneath the bunny bush! Hopefully the chicks will survive, and the parents will come back to the nest box next spring. 

Stay safe, little fluffball

 

The end of an era – Goodnight, Billy

Yesterday, our good friend said goodbye to her bun, Billy. Billy was just a month short of his 14th Birthday – an incredible age for a rabbit, reflecting just how much he loved his life. We came to know him back in the days of Yahoo Groups – the UK Companion Rabbits group. Billy and his partner Lily were born around the same time as Mabel and Dijon, in 2011, and followed such similar journeys that somehow, even though we never met Billy, we felt connected… in a way, it was like they were siblings; Billy’s passing is the end of an era. We’ve shared stories, knowledge, and support for nearly 14 years: their early years antics, their various illnesses, details of their bunstruction projects, the girls’ battles with their health, the loss of each of girls (around the same time) and caring for each of the grieving boy buns, then, within the past few years, catering for senior buns, as both boys lived to grand ages (Dijon was 12, and Billy outlived him by a year and a half). When Ebony joined us here, we noticed a striking resemblance – she was almost the mirror image of Billy.

We were so relieved to hear that Billy went peacefully, in his home, and in the arms of those who loved him. 

Sleep tight, Billy – we will miss you.

The bunny pianists

Maestro Mabel

Pianos have (excuse the pun) played a significant role in female servant’s family life:

• She learnt to play on a piano bought to commemorate her birth (a gift from her father to her mother).
• When visiting her grandparents, she played the piano her grandmother was given as a schoolgirl, back in the 1920s.
• The piano female servant plays now (and on which each of the three mini servants learnt to play) was a wedding gift from her grandparents.

However, unlike the other pianos in the family, the piano in the Bunnymad household (and its stool) has, over the years, been a main attraction for several bunnies.

The first 4-legged pianist was Lupin.

Lupin loved a duet

Lupin spent her unsupervised hours in a hutch (before her servants knew better). The hutch was situated in the dining room next to the piano, and Lupin realised she could hop from a box behind the hutch up onto the hutch roof. She’d go there to rest, to get a better view of what was going on (especially if people were eating at the dining table), or to hop onto the piano keys. Every time the piano was played, she’d turn the piece into a duet, hopping onto the keys, then onto female servant’s lap.

 

The next Bunnymad rabbit, Charlie, was not a fan of playing the piano. 

The first leap to land him with a discordant crash on the piano keys gave him such a fright that he stood shaking for a couple of seconds before daring to investigate whether there was anything interesting on top of the piano, then hopping swiftly down to the ground, never to return to the keyboard.

Charlie prefered listening to playing

 

Neroli and Rosie never tried playing, but they both liked to rest beneath the piano stool (certainly not together, as they merely tolerated one another!).

Rosie found piano music extremely relaxing

Neroli enjoying a spot of sunshine by the piano

By the time Mabel and Dijon joined the household, there was no longer a hutch in the corner by the piano – instead, they had a puppy crate for shelter. At four months old, Mabel launched herself onto the piano stool then the piano, apparently oblivious to – or maybe enjoying? – the ‘music’ she was making.

Mabel had pianist paws

She was fascinated by the gallery of (mostly rabbit) photos atop the piano, and required close supervision to ensure she didn’t spring up for a better view. She discovered she could reach the hay storage basket, on top of the cage.

From then on, she frequently played a 7-octave ‘buncerto’, and enjoyed first pickings of hay straight from the source before handfuls were placed in their tray. Dijon always watched, slightly bemused, from the ground, but was never tempted to join her there.

In their first years, Mabel had no access to the piano overnight, as the bunnies spent night-time in their cage; but even when they were later given 24/7 access to the room, thankfully for everyone (especially the neighbours) she was never inspired to play a nocturne. However, the next-door-neighbour did mention they called her Rachbuninoff!

Mabel perfected her leap to the piano, barely touching the piano stool as she propelled herself to ‘tickle the ivories’ (as female servant’s grandmother would have said!). She never once slipped or fell, but she did topple a parlour palm plant – it sat overhanging the piano, and she couldn’t resist pulling a branch (see post 11 May 2015). 

The piano had never seen such disrespect

When Mabel developed a mandibular abscess, making it more difficult for her to eat, her frequent visits to the piano and top of the cage (inaccessible to Dijon) made it easy to give her the extra food she required to maintain her weight, and, as the condition progressed, her supply of soaked nuggets was placed there. When the piano tuner visited that year, there was some explaining to do… in all the decades of his career, he’d never found hay and rabbit food beneath piano keys.

A little surprise for the piano tuner: nugget crumbs and hay

Mabel’s piano playing is sadly missed – she had such a distinctive style. To date nobunny has played as frequently as she did.

 

Ebony tried playing on a couple of occasions, and, for a while, became rather obsessed with trying to reach the keys.

Ebony taking a bow before her performance

However, she wasn’t as agile as Mabel, and it seemed her goal was to reach the top of the piano; also, by then, the bunnies free-roamed the living room day and night.

Sight-reading practice

The piano stool was relocated, so that she didn’t have an accident – and to reduce her temptation to play music overnight.

Ebony soon lost interest and the stool was returned to be used at the piano. 

 

The adoption of Snoop heralded another aspiring musician. 

No need for sheet music – Snoop could play by ear

However, as you’ll see in the video below, Snoop's technique was rather heavy and somewhat reckless. 

Once again, the piano stool was relocated to make the piano keys less accessible. It was placed alongside the armchair. This armchair was relatively new – it had been bought to replace the armchair into which Mabel, and subsequently Ebony, had created a burrow (project completion date: March 2019).

So, of course it was asking for trouble to create a covered area right beside a new item of furniture. Within a short time, Snoop had started refashioning the skirt of the armchair cover. 

He also took to sleeping beneath the piano stool, often settling to nap at around human lunchtime. His sleep preparation routine included a nibbling on the skirt until someone told him to stop, or, if he didn’t respond, turned him around. Nowadays, he still sleeps beneath the stool, and if he starts chewing the fabric, his servants say, “Snoop, turn around and go to sleep”, … and he does (usually)!

Snoop's favourite nap spot, with the upholstery shaped to frame him

 

The piano stool has also become the snack station – the bunnies expect treats to be available when they arrive on the stool, and stare at us to demand food if the bowl is empty...  

Snoop and Ebony check the bowl for treats

...or toss the bowl onto the floor.

 

The video below is a compilation of some of the music performed by the Bunnymad buns over the years – be prepared for the finishing flourish! Could it top the charts? Let us know what you think!

It's been over a year since anybunny played the piano – and without a piano stool by the piano, it's rare these days for the bunnies' servants to play, as you will see by the dusty keys in the photo below. However, we suspect that there will be more bunny pianists to come... the call of music seems too strong for most bunnies to resist!

Goodnight, dear Clementine

A special hamster who deserves a tribute on a bunny blog

This week, we lost a dear family member – Clementine the hamster. She lived with the eldest of the bunnies’ ‘mini servants’ and his partner, 50 miles from here, and slept through all but a few minutes of our visits, but it didn’t stop us adoring her. 

We loved receiving photos and videos of Clem, who never failed to make us smile.
The footage of her, especially during her free-roam time, revealed a little soul as intelligent, determined, and mischievous as any rabbit. 

She inspired us to learn about hamsters and we started following other hamster accounts, soon realising Clem had the best life any hammie could hope for – pawrents passionate about her welfare, with shift work suiting her crepuscular nature, and a cage layout so magical we’d have gladly shrunk to Clem’s mere 180g to live in that playground of hides, sprays, tunnels, sand baths, and deep bedding. Once when we visited, Clementine had burrowed to one of her hides with a chamber visible through the Perspex cage side, and we saw her snuggled up asleep – blissful! 

We also realised the many similarities between hamsters and rabbits: they’re crepuscular; they’re prey creatures (Clem’s pawrents should feel honoured to have gained her trust); their teeth grow continuously (requiring a suitable diet to wear them down); and their environment needs space, enrichment, and opportunities to forage and burrow. Also, sadly, like rabbits, hamsters are small, furry mammals, attracting impulse purchasing by people who don’t understand their needs, so many live in neglect, or end up in rescue centres. 

We know our rabbits’ lives are relatively short, but hamsters live for just a couple of years. Clem and her pawrents made the most of every day together, and she lived to be an elderly lady, in hamster years. Unfortunately, just as we’ve encountered indifference when we’ve told people a rabbit has passed, most won’t understand the grief – we know that’s their loss, they haven't had the chance to get to know a hamster. 

We’re privileged to have had a glimpse of Clementine’s life, and what a life she had! Goodnight, Clementine – we will never forget the joy you brought us. 

 

Ebony and Mr. Snoop’s Decorating Project

Our living room hadn’t been decorated for 26yrs. There seemed little point – it’s where all our bunnies have lived, since Lupin joined us in 1998, and has been (and continues to be) bunnified by each of them.

All furniture and furnishings bear testament to the natural behaviours of the eight rabbits who have each claimed the room as their territory; over the years, we've tried covering attractive digging areas of carpet, patching up wallpaper nibbles with matching paint, and moving curtains out of reach. We gradually reduced our futile attempts, and accepted the fact that if we invited bunnies into our home, then they had as much right as we did to alter the decor.  

Aside from knowing that any efforts to make our room look fresh and presentable again would not last, also, we weren’t sure how we could decorate the room with the bunnies living in it. We thought about the possibility of moving them to another room, but that would reduce their space, and deny them access to their outdoor run, and we didn’t want to cause distress by a temporary relocation. 

As Dijon grew old, we knew the time would come when we needed to find another partner for Ebony; we thought perhaps we would take her to an adoption centre to be bonded to her new companion, and that we could redecorate while she was away. Instead, the bonding was undertaken in a spare room here, required our full attention, and was very quick, so we didn't have any opportunity to decorate.

Last June, however, we were left with little choice… in the end, it was Snoop who started the project! 

It took far longer than it should have done to redecorate our living-dining room – Mr Snoop started the work in June, but it was not finished until just before Christmas, thanks to the helpers.

We hope you our four part film of ‘Ebony and Mr. Snoop’s Decorating Project’, which can be found on the bunnies' Instagram account.

Part 1 

The first part shows how the project was started.

Part 2 

In Part 2, Ebony and Mr. Snoop become increasingly frustrated at being barred from the painting areas, and plot to break through. 

Part 3

Part 3 shows how Ebony and Mr. Snoop have a small win in their quest to break through, but realise they need to strengthen their offensive strategy to regain territory. 

Part 4 

Part 4 is the final part of Ebony and Mr. Snoop’s Decorating Project. Having started the project in June, they’ve successfully managed to delay the decorating – it’s nearly Christmas – and now Ebony and Mr. Snoop seek revenge for being barred from ‘Behind-Piano-Land’. The freshly painted walls provide the perfect inspiration... and they are the champion decorators.

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Buns

 

Dijon loved the snow. He loved digging the snow, eating the snow, scenting the snow, weeing in the snow… but, most of all, he loved showing everybun else how to have fun in the snow. 

He was the first Bunnymad bunny to have access to the snow, along with his half-sister Mabel – we carried them outside to a pen on our lawn, when they were energetic, 8-month-old buns. Dijon’s reaction? After showing Mabel it was safe to come out of the carrier, he lifted his tail high and sprayed across the fresh snow. 

By the time we had our next snowfall, a year later, the bunnies could access a run on the patio, via the patio doors, so, although it meant a cold living room for us, they could come and go as they pleased. As their snow on the patio thawed, we replenished it, shovelling supplies from the lawn! 

Nine years after his first fun in the snow, in 2021, Dijon introduced his new partner, Ebony, to the joy of snow. A year later, in 2022, he was still excited to go out in the snow, despite being a bit wobbly, but by 2023, nearing the grand age of 12, he was happier to stay inside and watch Ebony go outside. 

Since Snoop joined us, we’ve had only light dustings of snow. Much as it’s more comfortable in our living room for us without the patio door open to a snowscape, we do hope Snoop gets to enjoy some snow this year – we suspect he’ll love it as much as Dijon did. 

(Music © Bunnymad)