Cage #5

Drew and I put together a cage to move Breeze and Grace into next weekend.  They will be ready to be weaned on August 3. Our first three cages were from Bass Equipment.  This one and the one we put Ray in are from KW Cages.

The KW cages have urine guards, which Drew is installing here.  They also have a door that opens outwards and to the left rather than inwards and from the bottom like the Bass cages.

 I like the KW cages better but I'm not sure about the waste trays set up.  I'm experimenting with stacking them as we will need to stack cages this winter when we wean Cherry's planned litter.

Here's a picture of Ray enjoying exercise time in the outside pen.  I absolutely love the tortoiseshell coloration.  I spent a few hours yesterday poring over a book on rabbit coat color genetics.  I think we might like to specialize in torts.  There are at least 51 color varieties recognized for French Angoras and I have been collecting photos of the different ones to see what is out there but we already have some good foundation stock for torts so I am leaning that way.

New Family Member

Drew and I went to the Between the Lakes Rabbit Club Summer Show at the Sheboygan Lakers Ice Center.  We looked over a few bucks that were available for sale and settled on this handsome young fellow, a chocolate tortoiseshell.

Drew has named him Ray and we plan to breed him to Cherry this fall.  My offspring color predictor says that about 60% of the litter would be chocolate torts and 20% would be lilac torts, so we expect some beautiful babies.

What a difference a week makes!

These babies have grown so fast.  The nest box has been removed and they are eating regular food with Mom all the time.  Mom is out of the cage for some much needed exercise and R&R so I got a few shots with Breeze and Grace by themselves.

I'm ready for my close-up.

I am adorably pudgy...

Beautiful girls...

The mosquitoes have been terrible so I have been brushing Antonio in the enclosure.  He sits quietly on my lap and just basks in the attention.  What a pleasant way to spend a summer evening...

Day 19

With some help from the vet, we have tentatively identified the babies as does.  This could be wrong as they are still very young but Drew named them anyway.

Grace

Breeze

The boys took Breeze to the vet on Tuesday because the vet thought it was probably an infection on her leg.  We have been giving her antibiotics twice a day plus a warm compress five minutes twice a day.  The lump was not showing improvement so I called the vet again on Saturday and took her in to have a sample of the fluid in the lump cultured and to get a laser treatment.  The lump does seem smaller today.  She has full use of the leg and accepts her treatment without a fuss so we hope that she is better soon.  

The babies are eating food with Mom now.

And they pose for pictures.

Drew and I are headed for a weekend in Iowa visiting family so we had two friends come today to learn how to take care of the bunnies while we are gone.  Everyone was on their best behavior.  Lizzie and Cherry were very polite and went out for exercise without a fuss and then jumped back into their cages when exercise time was over.  Lizzie showed her feisty side a little by pushing at them with her front paws and hissing at them.  She never wants to go in the carrier but she behaves once she's in there.  She did herd the babies behind her to protect them when a stranger wanted to get his hands on her.  She did the same thing when she saw Otis outside her cage yesterday.  He had sneaked in behind me when I went in the enclosure and was looking at the babies.  I shooed him out but not before Lizzie had gotten them into the corner behind her.  Very good mama!

So proud!

I had a particularly long day at work yesterday.  I left at 8:15 am and got home at 9:20 pm.  Drew came out and told me that he had observed that the fawn baby seemed to be having trouble with its back left leg.  He had checked it out and said there was a lump on the leg. He wanted me to come out with him and give him my opinion.  We did and it looks like an insect bite centered in the knee joint that is extremely swollen and causing it to drag a bit while hopping around.  It used the leg to scratch its ear while we watched so I think it will be OK.  We'll check with the vet when they open up this morning.  I'm proud because Drew is taking his responsibilities seriously and being diligent in caring for his rabbits.