Hello!

[scarletts_web]

Hi, everyone. I have been reading these forums for a few months now. I laughed, I cried, but mostly I found some very helpful ideas. First of all, let me introduce myself. You can refer to me as Scarlett. That’s not my real name, but ever since I read Gone With the Wind in 4th grade, I decided to use that as my nickname. I am a teacher by profession, but I am also a recent college graduate so I’m currently in the process of looking for my first (professional-wow-i-have-a-college-degree!) teaching job. Just so no one thinks it’s too weird that I still live with my mom and older brothers (I’m the youngest), I will clarify that in my particular culture; children (especially girls) live with their families until they are married off (parents prefer arranged, but then again “what’s love but a second-hand emotion?” – Tina Turner). A girl must *never* live alone. Straight from her birth family to her wedded family. Seeing as I don’t think I will ever be mature enough/vulnerable enough to be someone’s wife; this poses a potential problem. Enough about me. Billy is my first bunny. One of my brothers bought him one day without a warning (from a pet store of all places). I immediately got online and researched everything about bunnies and my life has not been the same since. I believe Billy to be a lynx mini-rex, he is almost five months old, and he’s neutered. I spend much more time and money than I should (because it’s always more than I have) with Billy, but he’s worth it. Billy has a HUGE x-pen setup in the family room and free run a few hours a day. His x-pen, Cottontail Cottage, Maze Haven, Tunnel Haven, Activity Zone, and several other of his belongings take up all of the space previously used for humans. My brother jokes and says that Billy’s x-pen setup is bigger than my brother’s room. I have found the term ‘bunny-slave’ that is used on this site quite often to be amusing, but I think Billy does not see it that way. I take care of everything related to Billy: Cleaning, training, feeding, buying, playing, researching, creating, etc. My mom simply feeds him vegetables or a small piece of fruit once in a while and despite everything I do, he seems to see her as kind of the ‘parent’. At times I have this strange feeling that I spend so much time inside Billy’s x-pen (I can actually lay down and still have plenty of space to stretch) that he sees me as another bunny. :/ With the other family members, Billy always stops what he’s doing like he was caught, but he’s much too comfortable with me. He immediately gets up (from laying down) when other people pass by, but when I pass by, he lifts his head up: “Oh, it’s just you”, and puts his head right back down. He jumps on my lap and shoulder, licks my nose etc. I just find it kind of weird and funny how he probably doesn’t even see me as a ‘human’ anymore. Other details about Billy… He is super energetic, super sneaky (he can escape from mostly anything), runs faster than a speeding bullet and stops suddenly without even slowing down, eats so much food but he’s still so tiny – 2.5 pounds (this attribute reminds me of my brother who’s the same), loves to try to chew his way out of everything or into everything, loves to be petted for long periods of time now that he’s used to it, gives a lot of bunny kisses, loves to sit on the terrace of his cottontail cottage and overlook everything, is super friendly with visitors except if they make too much noise (at which point he gets scared and I have to tell them to quiet down), is super nosy/curious, and no matter where he is or how far away he is, he always comes running when someone is eating fruit which he will beg and do cartwheels to get. Also, he recognizes and responds to his name now (either by looking or by running to us) which amazes me. Last Saturday we went to a bunny adoption event to find a friend for Billy and there were many rabbits there, but all the people who came to adopt wanted Billy and were very disappointed to know that he’s all mine. One woman even kind of whined and said, “But I wanted that one…!” Sorry, can’t have him. Lol. Everyone was crowded around Billy and a lot of them were even taking pictures of him! He was the superstar. Luckily, there was one bunny close to Billy’s age and she was put into the x-pen and Billy had his first ever encounter with another bunny since we got him. They seemed to have fallen in love even though she is much bigger (although a little younger) than Billy. Unfortunately for Billy, the girl had to be spayed so it would be two long weeks (after the event) until Billy could see her again. Billy was not himself for two days. No running and jumping as usual, he would just sit on his terrace and gaze off. He was heartbroken and did not know if he would ever see her again. After two days, Billy was back to normal: running, jumping, etc. Billy was able to forget and move on like nothing happened. He should write a book for people on how to do that; I’m sure it would make millions. Overall, Billy is a very energetic, happy, loving bunny with a tiny body and a huge appetite. I know I have probably wrote a book here, but I just wanted to introduce myself and Billy and thank everyone here for the wonderful bunny advice in the forums. This is Billy inside a BB basket that was filled with hay: 

[Mimzy]

Hi Scarlett! Welcome to BB, I love the pic of Billy on your profile, he looks so cute And that was a lot of reading lol, but I love the story of the adoption event. Poor Billy, so broken hearted lol. If only people could get over a brokenheart that quickly. I would love to be able to do that! haha.

[Almcv]

welcome to the Thunder dome!

and yea mimzy looots of reading but still good read
hopefully billy gets to meet his love again soon, love to see pictures of them together

[CinnabunMom]

Welcome to BB! Billy is super cute!

[FrankieFlash]

Welcome! Your Billy and my Bunjamin have a lot in common. For one, they weigh the same! Two, he behaves a lot like how you described Billy. I try to take it as a compliment that Bunjamin is so comfortable with me and I’m just “one of the guys- er one of the buns”. The only difference is you get bunny kisses! I only get indirect kisses. (he kisses my bed, pillow, blanket, purse, etc)

He looks so cute in the pics! I hope he gets to be reintroduced to his female friend and they still like each other

[scarletts_web]

Thanks for reading my novel.

Mimzy, I guess my Billy probably has some secret way to move on from heartbreak that we silly humans haven’t discovered yet.

Almcv, I will definitely post pictures once I am able to bring the other bunny home.

CinnabunMom, thank you and your rabbit is also cute. Is she/he a Holland Lop?

FrankieFlash, I love your rabbit’s name. Very creative. Billy sometimes seems more like a giant mouse than a very small rabbit. With bunny kisses, it’s a hit or miss. Sometimes Billy will give me bunny kisses and other times, he’s a little too scared to so he just sits on my lap. If I have food in my hand, Billy climbs me and actually sits against my shoulder like a baby. He licks my nose also. I will admit that I have not really picked Billy up more than a couple of times, but I think that’s more because of my lack of confidence than him being scared of it. He can be very skittish at times, but super cool most of the time. He will be reintroduced to his female friend in about a week, but perhaps the adoption event love will become difficult once both bunnies are on “Billy’s territory”. It will be a process for sure. Seeing as how attached Billy is to me, I’m curious to know how he will react when he sees me petting/feeding another rabbit. Maybe he’ll be okay with it.

For those with bonded bunnies, is it okay that the other rabbit is much bigger than Billy? She was one of about a hundred bunnies rescued from a neighborhood where they were running around and breeding etc supposedly due to an irresponsible breeder. She was only six days old when found and had to be bottle fed along with her siblings. She’s close to Billy’s age and much bigger than him and the rescue group is not sure how big she will be as an adult rabbit because they have never seen her parents. This is my first bunny experience, so I just wanted to know whether it truly makes a difference or not if a pair of bonded rabbits are not the same size. Thank you all.

[scarletts_web]

FrankieFlash, I forgot to ask. Is your Bunjamin very destructive also? Billy loves to chew and dig everything and he just keeps at it until it is torn apart. He is very stubborn sometimes.

[CinnabunMom]

@Scarlett : Cinnabun is a mini lop (girl)

And I agree with Almcv more pics!

[bunnyfriend]

Hi welcome to BB Billy is adorable.

[Author]

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