Hoppy Holidays

Bunnies are such good sports. This is Poppy. She and her sister, Pansy, are our two new Orange babies. I had to share.

 Vinca, a Blue Otter doe, has stolen our hearts with her kissing. Maybe we should name her Mistletoe instead.

We have 8 tiny reindeer, but no sleigh. Maybe next year. I have several people trying to talk me into doing a calendar. Hmmm....sounds like a lot of work to me.

If you didn't squeal when you saw the pictures, there is something wrong with you.

My Ghost

*This is as close to a Halloween post as you are likely to ever see on this blog.

I finally took some pictures of my new bunny, and I had to show him to you!
Even though I have a whole other blog dedicated to bunny posts.
And even though 99.9% of you will have no idea why I'm so excited about this particular rabbit...or care.

Allow me to introduce Levi:

Levi is a Ghost Chinchilla, also called an Ermine (lilac, in this case). He was bred by Laura and Ruth, a Mother/Daughter team from the north west of Wisconsin. DH says he must be special for me to drive across state lines to get him. I was able to meet Laura and Ruth on their way down to the ARBA national convention in Indy, or the drive would have been much farther. (I'm still pouting that I didn't get to go to the convention this year. Imagine--over 23,000 rabbits all in one place!)
On top of some really amazing blood lines, Levi has three things genetically that I want to work with in my herd:

1. He's Lilac. (Seriously? Who wouldn't want to work with a Purple bunny?)
2. He's Chinchilla.
3. He's non-extension. (all that means is that the gene causes the color not to extend to the end of each hair shaft, creating some really cool effects.)

At about this point, DH usually glazes over, so I'll stop. I'm just really excited to see what he'll bring into the nest box starting next spring.

My photo editing program does not know what to do with his eyes. They are a light blue grey, and reflect ruby in the light. The flash makes them horribly red, but the program eliminates all the red, which isn't quite right either. *shrug* I guess you'll just have to come and see him in person.

A Cuppa

Ever hear of the Bunn-o-Matic coffee makers? I've got one.

Want a cup?

Rabbit Trails

*apologies to Liz in advance.

Now that we're growing by leaps and bounds, I've decided to split hares off this blog and make a run in other parts. I'd like to introduce Leaning Tree Acres, rabbitry, petting zoo and home to any other furred, scaled or otherwise non-human ventures that we decide to undertake. Hop on by!
Other than general cuteness, all rabbit related news and photos will posted there. Everybody has to have their own hole, you know!

Bunny Bulletin

This last weekend was quite eventful here at the NitroZoo. For those of you not following on Facebook, we had two rabbits due to kindle last week. Since I still haven't received my Idiot's Guide (although I've almost earned the badge by now), it ended up being way harder than it needed to be, but that's par for the course for me.

According to my calculations, Little Bear was due on Friday and Violet was due on Sunday. However, I mixed up their dates and had them one day off (I was looking at the calendar from '09 at the time). That might not seem like a big deal, but it started a sequence of mistakes on my part. First, I gave Little Bear her nest box too early. She promptly kicked everything out of it and started using it as a toilet--which I took to mean that my nest building skills left much to be desired. I later learned that it usually means they aren't pregnant in the first place.

I didn't give Violet her nest box at all until I saw her desperately trying to build a nest from the few scraps of hay she could find in her cage. When the light bulb did finally go on, I gave her the box and she frantically started bundling newspaper and hay. All while I was hurrying to get baby saver wire in place on her cage (not done because I thought I had several more days). I ended up giving up on the wire and just sliding boards in place to keep kits from falling out. Violet delivered only a couple of hours later. She is a first time Mom and had some trouble. She ended up with only one that survived--a (possibly) chestnut (I think) buck, just like his Papa. He is currently designated as A11.

Right on (the correct) schedule, Little Bear started nesting and delivered two healthy (possibly) black otter (I think) bucks. They are A12 and B12

Papa Charlie, RIP 10/25/10 (No, I don't want to talk about it)

Most breeders have a way to organize ear numbers to include quite a bit of information in a very abbreviated way. We have finally figured out a system for ear tattoos here. Pay attention now. There is going to be a test.

Each sire and dam in the rabbitry has a number. At the moment, we're still in the single digits. Charlie was buck #1. Violet is doe #1, and Little Bear is doe #2. Each kit will receive a letter. Males go before females (It's a pedigree thing, not a chivalry thing). So a male kit would have an ear tattoo that is Letter/Sire's number/Dam's number and a female kit would have an ear tattoo that is Sire's number/Dam's number/Letter. Lost yet?

Violet's singleton is A11. A (in the front) because he is the first (and only) male in the litter born to buck #1 and doe #1.

Little Bear's are A12 and B12 because they are two males (A and B--in the front) born to buck #1 and doe #2.

With this system, we will be able to tell gender and pedigree at a glance. By adding the abbreviation for our rabbitry (the name for which is still being decided in committee), we'll have a complete picture of the rabbit and it's background.

Please don't make me 'splain this again.

Speaking of names for the rabbitry...Got any suggestions? And before you get all cutesy and punny on me...it needs to at least hint at being a serious business venture.