All about my adopted rabbit, Cotton: September 2014

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Random Picture II - The Bromance

I think they are discussing something - aka up to no good!

Even boys have so much to talk??

2 fat meat loaves!

Caressing Cotton to Elicit Licking Response

Recently there was a craze of rubbing rabbits' ears and able to induce them a response to lick. It was also further shared by some bunny parents that when they rubbed (gently of course, like caressing) their left ears, the bunny would lick their left paws and vice-versa. Interesting observation!

So here I am experimenting on Cotton. At first attempt to caress his ears at trancing position a few times did not elicit any licking response from Cotton. Cotton would only give me a starring face. So some bunny parents suggested that I tried again on him at his sitting/resting position, and so I did.

Here it is, the success attempt!

I tried on Koogle - be it trancing or sitting or resting, and elicited no licking response from him at all. I am guessing that caressing their ears (which are sensitive to bunnies) to elicit licking response does not work on lops. This is because a few lops parents feedback that no response from their bunnies too. I am happy that at least Cotton is able to elicit the response :)

Wooden Log Large

I finally found the wooden log LARGE size!!!!

It costs me $15plus but it definitely worths it because it's hard to find locally! As it is a new toy, the boys still not really using it so will take time for them to get used to it.

Meanwhile Cotton inspecting the item....

It took him a while to get used to the wooden log presence.

He don't use often though but at least he's not afraid to use it. :)

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Larger Diameter Drinking Spout

Could this be the solution of their 'stray pee' by giving them water bottle (with larger diameter feeding spout) daytime?

This device costs $22.45! Ouch!

The packaging shows a rabbit face so it has to be for rabbit, right? It seems that only Koogle is drinking from bottle while Cotton is drinking from bowl. That's agreed between the brothers so I don't know what they are conspiring.

Video (to be uploaded)

A video of Koogle drinking and water dripping out. To contain the drip, I pegged a small container to catch the drip so Koogle can drink from the container as well. No waste :)

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Playpen Mini Renovation

Revamping their pen setup again!

It's really a small change this time :)

Just to refresh their Before renovation setup. See the grid between the 2 hay racks?

I just removed the grid between their litter boxes. This is so there will be lesser hays trapped between the spaces of the boxes.

But without the grid in between, the 2 hay racks have nothing to secure. On my first try I used Velcro by 3M.

Surprisingly, Cotton also pretty well behaved that day when I removed the grid.

To prevent the hay rack moving too much, I added 2 binders to act as blocker.

But in the next morning, they made a mess - the 3M Velcro is not strong enough to withstand their pulling force. They have a tendency to dig at the rack and thereby pulling the rack nearer to them inadvertently.

So I knew I need to improvise again and an idea stroke me! So I used cable-tie to bond the two racks together and bought those wire Velcro strips to bind one rack to the litter box mesh. Once one of the racks is secured to its litter box, it will also secure the other hay rack too.

And this works splendidly! Yay!!!

Stray Pee Root Cause Found!

It has been coming to a week since their bromance sparkled. Though the future looks bright but things ain't that rosy at the same time. Stray pee also surfaced again..... :(

The first instant thought to stop their stray pee which I thought they did it out of ignorance and willful act was to restrict smaller roaming space. This is the same approach I was coaching Koogle for potty training then. Does this work? Of course it does not because it was not the root cause of their stray pee reason.

So I sought a help from an experienced bun parent again and shared with her their behavioral stray pee pattern. Yes, there's a trend! Every night when I changed their litter boxes, I would see their litter boxes began filled up with pee before I went to bed. The following morning, more pee in the boxes but no stray.

Stray pee only happened in the day. As my estate is undergoing repair and repainting works, all windows are closed with a fan turns on during the day. When I come home in the evening, the living room smells full of their urinal scent! The root cause deduced by the bun parent was - litter boxes too stink so they refuse to use them. Their litter boxes by the evening had become pee ponds!

Look at Cotton's guilty look for the pee puddle he made at the bed. His classic helicopter ear.

During their roaming time at night, look how their relationship improves so much.

In one of their conspiracy hush-hush discussion how to plot against the humans....

More meetings in the day....

When I'm home, that's what they did. Not very messy but their evil plot is pretty merciful to me. No stray pee.

So I gave them water bottles during the day and water bowls during the night. Indeed that stray pee no longer seen but their intake of water combined was not more than 100mL. I also sprayed some vinegar into their soiled litter boxes to reduce the smell. Note that they are given only hays as their food hence with lesser water, they also eat lesser. Notwithstanding to say other issues related to dehydration.

Now I'm trying out the suggestion to change their litter boxes by preparing the spare boxes on the previous night. Weekday mornings are a rush for me so I am almost late for work today when changing their boxes. Maybe with practice, I can do it fast. But this approach in my opinion is still not the ideal - more rubbish generated and ore resources consumed. So I'm still thinking how to resolve this problem. *putting on the thinking cap*