I was munching on a cereal bar and noticed that the ‘did you know…’ fact on the wrapper was appropriately rabbit themed. So, did you know there were 40 million wild rabbits in the UK? That’s a lot of bunnies!

I thought I’d dig out a few more rabbit facts…

Did you know there are between 1.6 and 2 million pet rabbits in the UK? About 5% of the population have a pet rabbit (or two). Not quite up to the number of wild rabbits but that’s still a lot of bunnies.

Did you know rabbits are not rodents? They often get lumped in with rodents but they are actually lagomorphs. The most obvious difference is their extra teeth. Tucked behind the upper incisors, rabbits have a second set of teeth called peg teeth. Rodents don’t have these.  Other difference include diet (rabbits being grass eating herbivores and many rodents omnivores) and their digestive system.

Did you know the rabbit long jump record is a whooping 3m (10ft)? It was set in 1999 by a Danish rabbit called Yabo. The high jump record is 99.5cm (also held by a Danish rabbit). I’d love to know how far/high Scamp can jump but I don’t want to encourage him to get even more daring.

Did you know rabbits have 28 teeth which grow continually throughout their lives? Their 6 incisors (remember the peg teeth) grow at a rate of 1-3mm per week and the 22 back teeth (molars) around the same per month.

Did you know a rabbit can chew 120 times per minute and has 17,000 taste buds (compared to the 7000 we have)? No wonder their teeth grow so much – that’s a lot of chewing.

Anyone else know any interesting facts about bunnies?

Ps. Scamp asked me to pass on his thanks for the get well soon wishes – he’s completely back to normal now 🙂

Scamp spend Saturday night at the emergency vet. He stopped eating and was obviously uncomfortable, with a tummy that looked like a balloon. Thankfully, he’s doing much better now and is under strict instruction not to worry me again. Ever.

Symptoms of an ill rabbit:

1. A refusal to eat.. Scamp left his breakfast, which he does occasionally, but turning down apple and hand fed pellets is unprecedented. Eating is no. 1 activity for most bunnies and their stomach stop moving pretty quick when they stop.

2. Lack of poop… sometimes I think Scamp must have hollow legs to store extra poop in from the size of the pile he can leave in one visit. Lack of poop means the gut isn’t moving poop along… a sure sign something isn’t working right.

3. Sitting uncomfortably.. Scamp could decide how to lie down, he moving from sitting to half way between a crouch and a stretch. Not surprising considering his poor tummy looked like a football, that’s got to be uncomfortable however you sit.

4. It’s the weekend and/or middle of night… okay only joking on this one but how is they always seem to pick when the vet is closed to start looking off colour.

He stayed in overnight to have fluids, painkillers, gut stimulants etc. which helped his tummy go down. The vet decided Sunday morning he could come home as he was ‘sat in the back of the cage giving everyone evil looks’ and they felt at that point he was probably not eating because he was upset at being there. They were quite correct, he started eating as soon as he got home. His preference is for grass and raspberry leaves.

He was most unimpressed with his first experience of a night away from home. He had to go to the usual vet for a check up today and refused to come out the carrier – he’s not usually at all bothered by the vet. I think he can differentiate between vets though as he perked up when he realised it was his normal vet not the evil bunnynappers. He’s still not back to 100% but is eating and pooping and hoping about again. I’ve not idea what caused it. He usually has a cast iron stomach and has never had any issues before. He was in the bin the night before (don’t ask!) so he could have stolen something from there or perhaps nicked a potato without us noticing (though that hasn’t effected him before).. it’s a bit of a mystery. The vet prescribed dandelion root extract at his check up which is apparently a appetite stimulant.  Anyone tried that before? It’s not something I’ve come across.

We went to a different emergency vet than usual. It seems pretty standard now for vets to contract out emergency care. It used to be out of hours you’d get a phone message with a vets personal number to call and you’d get them out of bed to meet at the surgery. Now there are specialist out of hours vets that provide an out of hours service for many local vets and your call is automatically directed to them. Makes you feel better about calling in the middle of the night but it did mean a 40-50 minute drive to the emergency practice instead of the usual 10, but this new service is only 20 minutes away, much more practical in an emergency. I would definitely recommend shopping around for emergency care before you need it. Find out if your local vet offers it and if not check out the local practices that do.

Awhile ago Scamp’s transport case had a little accident. By accident, I mean I underestimated Scamp’s chewing abilities, again. I left the carrier in the kitchen as he was enjoying popping in and out and sitting on top. In hindsight perhaps I should have considered his previous box redesigns but it is (was) a fairly sturdy carry case. As cases go I thought is was quite nice, Scamp thought there was something missing though. It only had one exit… you can probably see where this is going. Yes, Scamp’s secure rabbit transporter now has an emergency exit.

I should point out, at no point was Scamp shut in the carry case. He was not a poor trapped bunny that wanted to escape. Nope, he just felt that the large doorway a few inches from he tail was not the best route out and proceeded to make his own exit.

Need less to say, that means a new carrier. Whilst emergency exits are usually good for health and safety, they are no so good when trying to get a rabbit to the vet.  I considered going for an all wire mesh one but I think they are too open for a rabbit  to feel secure and the risk of him sticking a leg through the wire is too high. After a bit of browsing I decided on this carrier from Wilkos:

It has all the basics: solid sides for a feeling of security, wire door (no point in plastic ‘mesh’ with a rabbit), plenty of ventilation holes, and it splits into two so it takes up less room when not in use. All that for £14, which isn’t too bad if someone eats it again!

I’m trying to expand the advice for bunny owners on The Rabbit House, so you can read my tips on rabbit carrier selection here.

After a week of wind and rain its suddenly toasty hot again. Here’s a picture and a couple of videos from the last lot of sunny weather I didn’t get around to posting. I know I give the impression Scamp is a little terror but that’s only 98% of the time. He does occasionally slow down and a sunny window was enough to tempt him into a nap. One hand for a pillow and one for cheek rubs is his favourite way to relax.

I almost caught him flopping over and there is a lot of wriggling involved in getting comfy.

This is out of focus and kind of repetitive but its a good example of our quality bonding time (rub my ears slave) on the occasions he does stay in one place for more than two seconds at a time.

I’ve been drawing lots of little bunny pictures to illustrate different rabbit behaviours. Just little sketches. They are for a a mini guide to rabbit behaviour I’ve been working on. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish working on it but I’m enjoying drawing the pictures. It really makes you think about the subtle ways bunnies communicate.

Coincidentally, The Bunny Boys picked today to post an excellent photographic guide to the most important bunny behaviours, in memory of their Skittles. It gave me a good giggle! Check it out here: http://bunnyboys.blogspot.com/2010/07/homage.html

Stick around, I’m just waiting for some videos of Scamp to finish uploading in which he demonstrates cute sleepy bunny behaviour.