As near as I can estimate today or tomorrow is Scamp’s third birthday. As I haven’t posted it before, I thought I would tell you Scamp’s ‘gotcha’ story. There are some happy bits and some very sad bits and lots of baby photos.

I got a call in the beginning of May in 2007. My vets had given my number to a lady whose husband was working on a building site and uncovered some baby rabbits and they needed someone to take them. They babies were supposedly 3-4 weeks old, so I agreed expecting they’d be ready to pass on to a wildlife rescue for release.

When she arrived with the babies, I opened the box to find five almost hairless bundles with their eyes still closed, closer to a week old than three. It transpired that a digger had scooped up a load of sand and along with it the nest.  There was 3″ of sand in the bottom of the box to corroborate the story. The whole site was being cleared so they couldn’t be left and the foreman had suggested disposing of the babies (!). The ladies husband had refused and taken them to keep safe.

That evening involved a mad call around to find somewhere still open with replacement milk in stock. Luckily a vet across town stayed late to let us pick some up and so began the endless feeding routine.

Baby rabbits being hand reared need feeding 3-4 times per day as the replacement milk is not as nutritious as a mummy rabbit’s milk. It needs to be done very slowly and carefully, as if too much goes in the mouth at once they can inhale it leading to respiratory infection. In between feedings everything needs to be sterilized.

A few days after arrival, and quite a lot of feeds later, they opened their eyes. By this point their fur was coming in a little more too and they look more like miniature bunnies than very plump sausages. To give you an idea of size, at this point they weighed just 80-100g each.

By two weeks old they were starting to explore and feeding time turned into a crazy bunny wrangling game. They were prone to jump in random directions with absolutely no consideration for the distance or landings.

At two and a half weeks the heart break began. One by one within hours they went from happily bouncing and feeding to passed away. The vet could offer no assistance, it’s likely they had a intestinal virus/infection or just that their gut couldn’t cope.  Substitutes are just not as good as what mum can offer.

By week three there was only a single bun left, the biggest of them all. At this point I was expecting to loose him too… there were a good few weeks before I had any certainty that he would make it. Despite my worries he started eating solids and drinking his milk from a bowl, and would snuggle up for a cuddle under my chin afterwards.

And he grew (4 weeks old) …

And grew (8 weeks old)…

And grew (12 weeks old)….

Now Scamp is a wild rabbit and I would normally agree that wild animals belong in the wild and that was my original intention. However by the time we knew he’d make it, he was much to tame having had too much human company after the lose of his siblings. Right or wrong there was no way he could be released. He wasn’t meant to be permanent here either, but obviously we couldn’t rehome him until we knew he whether he was a him or a her, and then not until he was neutered and by then he’d been here a year and we were all kind of smitten. Three years on, will still are.

And that is Scamp’s story.

The lovely warm weather has the grass growing like crazy. I’ve been picking a bowl a day. The rabbits love it, it’s good for their tummies & teeth, and the more fresh grass they eat the less hay I have to buy! If your bunnies aren’t used to grass remember to introduce it gradually and build up the quantity slowly like any new foods.

A few weeks ago I sowed my first carrots of the year and they are just poking their noses up now. I don’t have a lot of ground space so my carrots are in containers. I tried this for the first time last year and it worked really well. Lots of carrots for us to eat and lots of carrot tops for the rabbits to eat (and maybe the odd carrot too).

Here’s how you do it (photos from last year):

Something to Grow In

I use plastic storage boxes for my carrots but any deepish container will work eg a big flower pot, box or bucket. My storage boxes were see-through so I’ve taped black plastic around from an old compost bag, that way the carrots aren’t in the light. If you are really short on space you can grow small carrots in window boxes. You can also use a plastic bottle with the top cut off. You won’t get giant carrots but you can keep harvesting the tops for a healthy treat for you bunny.

Check your container has holes, mine didn’t so I use a drill to add holes to the bottom. Otherwise they will fill with water when it rains and flood your carrots!

Fill your container with compost or soil, any general purpose compost will do. If you have some to hand then mix in a bit of sharp sand. Carrots like nice loose soil to grow in, not heavy clay, so it’s easy for them to get their roots through.

Seeds and Sowing

If you try buying carrot seeds you’ll find lots of varieties to pick from. Read the packet to see what features they have. If your growing in containers avoid ones that claim to be really long show carrots. I’m growing Early Nantes, Chantenay Red Core (from the BBC), and Parmex. The later are round carrots (like a gold ball) and are meant to be great for growing in shallow containers or clay/stoney ground. When you are buying seeds it’s worth having a look at children’s seeds, often they have the same varieties but at pocket money prices.

To sow the seeds draw a line in the soil about 1/2″ (1cm) deep, then sprinkle the seeds thinly. I aim for one seed every inch. Draw the lines about an inch apart too. If you don’t mind fiddly sowing an alternative is to poke holes with a pencil and drop a seed in each. Again aim for a grid with the seeds 1″ apart in each direction. Don’t worry too much about planting them the exact distance apart though. If you get them too close you can thin them out and give the spare plants to your rabbit.

It will take the seeds 2-3 weeks to germinate so wait patiently. You can speed it up a bit by putting a bit of plastic over to keep it warmer. Take it off once they germinate.

Thinning & Harvest

If you managed to get your seeds about 1″ apart they shouldn’t need too much thinning at first. Once they start pushing again each other start harvesting them as baby carrots, taking out every other carrot to leave the others room to grow.

If you want a really long harvest period then sow your carrots in batches 3-4 weeks apart, then you’ll have some ready all summer. They keep well in the ground too so you can leave them in containers and although they won’t grow more there will still be carrots to pull up in autumn/winter.

If you cut the tops whilst they grow you’ll get smaller carrots, so try taking a few leaves from each instead of the whole lot if you are using them as bunny snack food.

So, anyone going to give it a go?

Both bunnies were at the vets today. There is nothing wrong, but it’s time for their myxomatosis vaccinations. They have them every six months, and now is a good time to have it done as the insects that carry it will become active with the warmer weather. Vaccination time is also a good chance to get an MOT. My vets are doing a free checks ups all this month, and £5 discount, as part of Rabbit Awareness Week.

Both bunnies got a clean bill of health. The little spur Gypsy had on one tooth a couple of months ago hasn’t reoccurred. She’s got a little extra padding but that’s normal this time of year as I feed a little extra to keep her warm outside over winter.

Scamp has decided it’s spring and is moulting like crazy. Instead of the usual ‘go faster’ stripes he gets along his sides he’s going for a top down approach. He’s moulted out a big saddle over his back. It feels like velvet at the moment, so soft, where his undercoat has come through but not his guard hairs (the thick rougher ones). It also means he’s chocolate on top and instead of brown speckles like normal.

We tend to think of house rabbits as being a new approach to rabbit care but we have a bit of a family tradition of it. My mum has often told me about her house rabbit Rodney. So today we dug out the photoalbum and I asked her to tell me all about him…

“We got Roderick, known as “Rodney” or “Rodders”, from a pet shop in the  mid 60s. He was brought to be a magicians rabbit as my mum was a magicians assistant, but he grew to big to fit in the top hat, cutting his career short.

“He had a hutch under the kitchen sink when we first had him and freerange of the downstairs – quarry tile floors with a rug. He was partial to a cup of tea and frequently found with his head stuffed in visitors teacups when they left them on the floor. One of his favourite places to rest was on the rug in front of the real coal fire, stretched out with his ears folded flat. He often surprised visitors when he popped his ears up and they realised he was a rabbit, not a cat!

“He also liked to sit on the window sill and wait for me to come home from school. He knew what time I got home and would jump up to wait, if I was late he’d get bored waiting and nibble the plants. He was also partial to the television cable, which he ate on several occasions whilst the telly was on – he obviously thought he wasn’t getting enough attention. He did it so often the TV repairman would comment: “It’s that rabbit again” when he visited to fix it. That was the only thing he really chewed though apart from nibbling books a little.

“He was an uncastrated male but we didn’t have any problems. He was house trained – we trained him by putting a newspaper in his preferred corner then moving it closer to the back door. Once he was trained, he used to ask to go out like a cat when he needed the loo. On one occasion a medium sized dog broke into the back garden, I opened the door to let him out for the loo not realising  and he growled and launched himself  at it, grabbed it by it’s throat and kicked it with his back legs. I had to pull him off the dog and which ran off with its tail between its legs.

“He ate all the household vegetables, bran, crushed oats, and a few commercial rabbit pellets as a treat. He had free access to grass outside. We collected him dandelions and other weeds too. He used to visit neighbouring gardens for additional supplies, but he always came home again. Sometimes at high speed with the neighbours hot on his heels.

“In later life he lived with my German Sheppard, Sheba. They were good friends and Sheba used to wash his ears. He had a low pen which he could jump over, but the dog respected that was his space and didn’t intrude. When Rodney died (he must have been around eight by then) Sheba howled all night.”