The days are getting warmer. The rabbits prefer the cooler weather, so the Spring sunshine is warming things up and making them more sleepy during the day. All of them have been konked out in their hutches and runs this sunny Saturday. Of course I disturbed the peace with my noisey camera shutter - but I couldn't help myself. They're all so adorable.
Abbey and Richie hanging out in the shade
Richie and Abbey need more shade in their run than they have presently. I'm picking up a couple of umbrellas and stands in the next few days and I'm sure they'll be glad of that as the days warm up. Right after this photo was taken I give them some nice dry straw to cushion the ground. Not that they care, really, I don't think. But it's nice to keep them off the dirt now the grass is wearing away.
They're such a lovely pair. Richie dwarfs Abbey, but she's the one to watch out for. She's friendly enough, but terratorial as heck if you're another rabbit (other than Richie). Richie, on the other hand, is a laid-back casanova. This week he has discovered if he climbs up onto the porch of the hutch, he can jump onto the roof of the girls' hutch and then into their run. I've come home the last few nights to find him snuggled up to one or two of the girls.
He has also discovered that he can climb up the steps to the back door of the house. He was found investigating the bathroom this morning and generally just hopping around have a nosey at where the humans live.
Charlie and Snowflake konked out in the sunshine
Charlie doesn't live in this hutch, but has decided to visit for a while today. He's Snowflake's dad, so they get on well. He pretty much gets on with everyone, except Richie. Being the two males they are very unhappy with each other and will fight if in the same space.
But he's good with the girls and Snowflake a good girl and grooms her pop as he snuggles up to her for a long, sunny nap in the straw-lined wicker basket. He's not very well and has the snuffles. He's had them for a long time now. Two courses of antibiotics hasn't helped so I need to either get a longer course or a different type or maybe a new vet.
Snowflake is the only un-spayed female left in the family. Because of that she's also the only one who still digs and so the hutch's floor is no longer green with grass but covered in an even layer of soil that has been displaced from her nocturnal nesting. She has a clay stain on her brow from nudging dirt around. She's sound asleep in this picture, safe next to her dad, probably knackered from all the hard labour of warren building.
Mops prefers upstairs and indoors
Mops loves sleeping in the upstairs hutch. She and Snowflake have knawed their way to a new opening at the back of the hutch. I read somewhere that rabbits like to have a couple of escape routes so they don't get penned in and become victims of an attack. They never really used this part of their hutch until they made the second opening - so it seems to me to be something rabbits need.
Now she can have a snooze and it's cool in the hutch. I often see her little black nose through the knawed hole, though she is reluctant to stay there for a photo.
The bunnies have added a window to increase indoor-outdoor flow
There's a little bowl inside this part of the hutch. Sometimes one bunny gets chased away from the main feeding bowl, so whichever rabbit is not included at the main feast can still get a few bites to eat up here. It used to be Lady, but more often than not these days it's Mops.
Lady prefers a downstairs nap on the cool grass
Plenty of room for everyone - Mops upstairs and Lady down below.
Richie likes to chill out by stretching right out and uses Abbey for a pillow