Botany Bunnies: Hydroponics Project Update

The grow lights interact oddly with
cellphone cameras.

After weeks of rigorous scientific analysis, our team of highly specialized lettuce experts has concluded that fresh-picked hydroponically grown lettuce is the most superior of lettuces*.  

The key is developing your hydroponics bay within a climate controlled habitat compartment, so neither your humans nor your lettuce ever has to traverse the -40°C with windchill January air. 

Using a mixture of powdered nutrient solution (instead of the usual liquid form which costs more) and the occasional batch of home-brewed compost tea (totally optional - just to get a little bit more microbial diversity in there), McFlufferton Inc. has been able to produce a continuous-harvest head of lettuce for well under $0.50 each!  (We have not yet attempted additional scientific endeavours to harvest our own lettuce seeds, that will likely be the next phase of our research.)

Harvesting technique is arguably important in reducing the probability of lettuce bolting.  You'll want to nip any central spires in the literal bud so the plants will keep trying to grow leaves instead of flowering. Additionally keeping your hydroponics from getting too warm reduces the likelihood of bolting (some of our human affiliates suggest tossing a few ice cubes into the water reservoir every day if your garden is kept at a warmer temperature).  While bunnies are perfectly happy eating lettuce flowers and the more bitter woody stems - humans seem to dislike them.

Stunt Bunny,
Botanologist

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* With only the technical exception of lettuce that you ate straight out of the hydroponic unit when the human's back was turned and you hopped on the bench which is normally outside the "fluffs reach" perimeter. 

Not for Puppers

Sorry to our doggie friends, but you won't get to play fetch when you come to visit. Bub has claimed all the apple wood sticks for himself.
He doesn't care for playing fetch, but his burrowing instincts are pretty strong. He's pulled them from the playpen so he can sit on them in his favourite spot while watching documentaries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Of course, this is a hay manger.
What else would you put in here?

Hoppy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian Humanz!  I hope you're all getting to spend some extra time with your nice familyz too.  I'm super thankful for Jenn’s Furry Friends Rescue who helped me find my forever home! <3

Veterinarians Affairs

What do you call a veterinarian who can only treat one kind of animal?

A DOCTOR!

Okay, for real now though. It's International Women's day, and I want to say thank you to a super special lady in my life, Dr. Hickling! She's so smart and so nice and is even a vegetarian just like me!

It takes a crazy smart homin to be even a regular veterinarian, and finding people who can take care of animalz that aren't a cat or dog is really hard. Dr. Hickling is so amazing she can take care of me and my brother Levi, and your dog or cat, or bird, lizard, guinea pig, snake, turtle... and probably a whole bunch of other animalz too!

It's very important if you're thinking about getting (or already have) a rabbit, to find veterinarians in your city that can take care of us properly. If you live in Winnipeg like us, you can find Dr. Hickling and her team at the Centennial Animal Hospital. Wish her a very fluffy Women's Day from me!

Beelzebub

Rabbit telepathy

I'm pretty sure the bunnies have subtle mind control power.  I decided to take a walk to a local grocery store this afternoon to pick up a bag of chips for movie night. 

I came home with three bags full of fruits and veggies.  No chips. 

I wouldn't normally consider dill and cucumber an exciting snack, but Leviathan's enthusiasm is infectious!

Ask a bunny: Leaps and bounds!

"How fast can bunnies run/jump?"

Way faster than even the fastest hominz! We're actually faster than polar bearz and roadrunnerz.  Zoom zoom! There's lots of different kindz and sizes of bunnyz so some of us are faster than others.  Harez and jackrabbitz are the most fast, sometimes up to 80 kilometers an hour!   I can run about 10 meters in a one second.  That would be more than 35 kilometers in an hour!  But I would never actually run for that long, I'd get really tired. And thirsty. And probably lost. Levi is better at directions than me. What makes us really good at running is how zig zaggy we can be without loosing speed! That helps us win at tag even if the other animalz are faster than us. Beelzebub, Bunnyographer

It depends:  -Are there treats involved? -Does someone want to clip my toenails? -Are we supposed to go to the vet? Then I can easily outrun the humans!  Sometimes they catch me off guard though.  Or use corners to their advantage. Or I'll hide from them in a box - and they'll just pick up the box because they're so much bigger than me. We are very good at jumping!  In some places there are even competitions for rabbit jumping.  It's sort of like the ones with horses, but the hurdles are lower.  Our back legs are strong so rabbits can jump very far in just one hop!  The farthest rabbit jump that people have seen is three meters in a single bound.  Pretty impressive when you think about how short we are! Leviathan, Bunnyologist PS: Let's say maybe you had this tortoise friend right?  And maybe that tortoise was getting teased for not being so good at sports. You might not always try your hardest during a friendly race, you know what I mean?

If you have a rabbit related question feel free email the bunnies directly at bunny.questions@gmail.com!

Ask a Bunny: What-ivores?

"Are rabbits rodents?"

Nope! Lots of the mammals that can't fly are rodents, but bunnyz and hominz aren't. Rabbits are a very special kind of critter that scientist call Lagomorpha. Which probably means we're related to wearwolfs (I'm just guessing on that part). Chinchillas are totally rodents though, and clearly not as great as bunnies. Beelzebub, Bunnyographer

We used to be. We didn't change, science changed - 'cause that's how learning works. Some humans used to think Pluto was a planet - ha! Anyway... Rabbits have different teeth than rodents, mostly on account of being herbivores.  (Okay so there was that one time I swallowed a bug by accident.) The point, is most rodents like to eat meat and bunnies don't. Leviathan, Bunnyologist

If you have a rabbit related question feel free email the bunnies directly at bunny.questions@gmail.com!

Bunny personalities

Aside from everything generally wonderful about bunnies, each little fluff is independently fantastic!  One of the best things about having multiple bunnies is seeing their adorable differences. How they eat, which toys they prefer, even how they respond to noises can be unique.

Breakfast at our house is a good example.

Beelzebub gets so excited he will dart back and forth jumping up the side of his playpen.  A few times he's actually climbed up its wall - all four paws in the mesh!  (He hasn't mannaged to get out just yet - I'm still waiting for that day.)  He dives into his breakfast dish, often knocking pellets out with his front feet.

On the other hand, Levithan is casual about breakfast.  We have our little routine where he gets exactly two pets and then takes his papaya* out of my hand. He hops off into a tunnel to eat, and usually doesn't bother looking at his food bowl until later.

Left: Beelzebub's uneaten pellets all over the tray. He even tracked some hay in there.
Right: Leviathan methodologically ate from one section at a time. 

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*Not a necessary part of a rabbit diet.  Levi's fur is long and rabbits lick themselves clean like cats.  The enzymes in papaya help for him avoid possible tummy trouble.

Ask a Bunny: Vegetarian AND vegan!

"I'm think about adopting a shelter animal.  But I feel weird saving a cat or dog, only to feed other animals to it.  Are rabbits vegetarian?"

What? No! Of course not - we're sweet fluffy little aminalz!  Beelzebub, Bunnyographer  AND TOTALLY AN AMINAL! PS: Our vet says it's not great to feed cats and dogs a vegetarian diet.

We sure are!  We eat many kinds of vegetables and fruits that you can share with us!  We need to mostly eat hay though - and none of the humans I know ever want to share that for some reason.   Leviathan, Bunnyologist Gets subtext better than his brother.

If you have a rabbit related question feel free email the bunnies directly at bunny.questions@gmail.com!

Sound effects

Rabbits are smart, they're big communicators.  Just not with a lot of noise.  They do make some sounds, but as prey animals they mostly don't want to draw attention to themselves.  However, their ecological niche makes them exceptionally good listeners.

Just as dogs can learn through repetition that sounds (and by extension words) have meaning, rabbits will develop their own 'vocabulary' as it were.  However, they're more like cats when it comes to responding.  Oh they know full well that "Not for bunnies!" means the human is going to make them stop whatever they're doing.  They'll usually stop - and give you the side-eye* to see if you're actually coming over to stop them.  When you do they'll either bound away to play with something else, or hunker down for head rubs.  Go back to your book however, and they know you didn't really mean business so they're free to continue trying to pull everything out of the recycling bin.

As a human it's easy to forget how much noise mundane activities can make.  You might not be aware for example, that Oxbow multivitamins and Tums have a similar density - and therefore make a similar sound when rattled around in their plastic bottles.

When you find yourself at the medicine cabinet with a very eager rabbit standing on it's back feet, paws on your shin - you'll be very glad you have emergency raisin stashes around the house.

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* Actually with nearly 360 degrees of vision they're always giving everyone 'side-eye'.

Blah blah not for bunnies blah

Hominz are such control freaks! All the things have to be done their way - so bossy! It's like they read whole books on not letting bunnies have any fun.

"No Bub, this human food is not for bunnies!"

"Nice try Bub - house plants are not for bunnies."

Boring lettuces intentionally grown where I can reach them. 
Pfft - do not want.

"You've got plenty of phone books to play with Bub, the library books are not for bunnies."

"Stop eyeing the neighbour's garden, tulips and daffodils are not for bunnies."

"Bub, this banana is bigger than your head, you only get one bite."

Adoption options!

Reduced adoption fess at WHS for summer 2016!

Humans, some very important news for you today!  
Right now the Winnipeg Humane Society, has so many furry friends looking for their forever homes that they've decreased or dropped the adoption fees!  And don't forget - unlike pet stores, when you get a pet from the WHS they've already had all their necessary medical checkups and procedures.  So if you've been thinking about expanding your fur-family, now is a great time to give them a visit (their website is www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca)!  

I get it - not all humans are cut out for bunny parenting.  Some of you just can't handle this much fluffy awesomeness (and not all pets are lucky enough to be rabbits).  Maybe you're more into snobby cats that will mostly ignore you.  Perhaps you prefer the emotional support of a dog that constantly wants your attention.  My fabulous friends at the Humane Society will help you find the new love of your life no matter what species of pet parent you are! While you're there say hello to the nice volunteers for me!

Fluff & binkies, 
Leviathan, Bunnyologist and Animal Welfare Advocate

Bunny Ball Pit

Bub adores the ball pit! We're talking face-first, flying leap off his bed excitement! Levi is significantly more timid getting in - but spends lots of time digging around once he's in there.  I love it for the over the top cute factor!

Beelzebub foraging for bits of vegetables.

Although it's important for rabbits to have things to chew on and dig, I don't really want shredded newspaper all over the dining room floor every day.  A ball pit is a great addition to your dig-toy collection, and one that is virtually mess free! With this size of ball pit it's light enough the bunnies will push it around if they want to use it in a particular place.

It is extremely important to use balls that are too hard/large for your bunny to bite into. However, you also want them small enough the bunny can move them easily.  One of my bunny-friends uses ping pong balls with great success (and low expense).  I used Marshall's Pop-N-Play Balls, they're intended for ferrets but are a great size for the smaller rabbits too.

Instructions: 

Supplies: 

• Bunny safe plastic balls (do not use rubber or anything chewable)
• Shallow storage bin
• Large mesh laundry bag (the kind for delicate clothing)
• Your bun's favorite pellets or veggies

Directions:

• After removing any packaging or stickers, put the balls into the mesh laundry bag and toss on the top rack of your dishwasher for a regular cycle. 
• You don't even really need detergent since the heat of the dry cycle is really what does most of the disinfecting of anything you put in there.  I like to use the Method detergents because there's nothing too nasty in them. As long as you're using the full rinse cycle it shouldn't make much difference.  
• I'd typically do a big load of bunny stuff at once so there'd be no weird human food coming into contact with their toys - but I know lots of bunny parents who don't worry about this and haven't had any issues.
• Wash out the storage bin with a bit of vinegar and hot water.  Make sure to rinse it well.
• Once all the parts are dry, add small amounts of pellets or tiny bits of vegetables into the bin. 
• In this case you want to avoid fruits, or anything that's wet or sticky since you'll have to clean the pit more often then.
• Dump the balls on top and put the bin somewhere your rabbit(s) like to hang out.
• Enjoy the adorable that ensues!
• As always it's a good idea to keep an eye on your rabbit the first few times they play with a toy just in case they decide to get mischievous with it.

Maintenance:

How often you need to clean it depends on how often you use it, and what types of food or treats you hide for your bunny to find.  Simply wash it the same as initial setup.  If you're closing your ball pit to store somewhere while your bunnies are not playing with it - make sure it's completely dry first.