The Bun Life - Diner Left Overs, and the Case of the Paper Bag Bandit

I was home last night, banging my skull against the wall repeatedly so I could relax and transfix into a Zen state. I had to top off Baby Fwan's and Thumper's litter box with fresh hay. Of course, as soon I take one step in their direction, Frannie packs up and leaves town. Both of them head for their cage, and ultimately both wind up cowering behind the litter box. Ok, I think, let me just top off the box and let them munch on the hay. However, things are never simple when your life is controlled by a loaf of pumpernickel bread.

Thumper is the all-time worst bully I have ever seen. Any time they are enclosed in a small area, he relentlessly face humps poor Frannie non-stop. She puts up with it, and puts up with it, and puts up with it, then to get away from him she starts circling the cage (because she won't run out because I am standing near the cage), and we all know circling leads to a fight. I backed up and even went into the other room to make her feel safe to run out of the cage.

She just plain and simple would NOT exit the cage. I approach with the hay bag, and Thumps starts drilling her on cue, and things reached that critical point where Frannie exceeds her "Amount of crap I will tolerate from Thumper" hard limit. The switch had been thrown. Frannie tussled with Thumper, even nipping him on the back. He gets the hell out of dodge immediately. One point for the pumpernickel team.

The day before last I came home to see the entire cage (which is placed full fit into the corner of the room) pulled away from the far wall. Frannie was stuffed in between the wall and cage, as peaceful as anything. They just love being snuggled and stuffed into tight places because of their wild nature, the same thing goes for them loving to hide under something, it makes them feel more secure about birds snatching them up. I have seen her pull crates and playpens by gripping it with her teeth and then pulling. They can be very persistent.

Then earlier tonight I order something for takeout from the local diner. They put everything in a supermarket style brown paper bag. I go home and eat it, and I leave the paper bag standing straight up on the couch while I use the restroom. While in the rest room, I hear familiar sounds, typical sounds of my bunnies working on a new construction project. I wasn't worried. When I walked into the living room, I see the bag is half of what it used to be, and I see a pumpernickel pom-pom peering out from the back. Guess who is in there? Yup, my Mom. No just kidding, FRANNIE OF COURSE!

Boy, she sure knows how to entertain herself, that's for sure. She hardly ever does "The Crazies" anymore, but I realized that she does it mostly when I am asleep. I hear the noise from the other room of her doing two thousand laps around the apartment. I have always wanted to get it on video. Most bunnies run around a little, do some binkies, but she does all kinds of stuff. I think a lot of it is her playing out certain situations, like being chased, etc. I am considering putting a little webcam in the corner and then see what she does when I am not home.

I tell ya, when I adopted Frannie, I never could've imagined what she was really like. Her personality is so unique, most things she does are often trivial at best, until you think about it for a while; then it all makes sense :)

The Bun Life - Wow, Truly Wow

I have been cleaning out my apartment, moving stuff around, etc. I had two empty cardboard boxes, they were already broken down so I could fold them and reuse them in the future. I got sidetracked and left one on the table and one fell on the floor under the table, with a foot of it sticking out.

Now Frannie and Thumps hate the linoleum floor and will not use it to grab a shortcut regardless of whatever they are running from. Well, all that changed, for Fran it did at least. SHe started darting across the kitchen linoleum in order to avoid being picked up. The problem was that she slipped and slid everywhere, so it was only something she would do if absolutely necessary.

Anyway, I woke up to find the one box that fell off the table completely stretched out length wise, which was just barely enough to cover the distance of the gap. I look at Frannie and she was hopping around like she solved world hunger. WIth the cardboard bridge that she built, she can then cross over the kitchen gap to avoid the linoleum floor altogether.

Don't believe me if you want, it is true regardless of what anyone thinks. What shocks me are the following facts:

1. She is aware that she has been stopped in her getaways by the linoleum floor.

2. She knows that she can nmake it across, but it is very scary and she could get hurt or splay her legs or something.

3. Uses the box as a way to solve this issue, what should astonish anyone is the solving of a PAST problem, and anticipation of a FUTURE one.

She knows she can go around, but wants to use it in order to make the getaway quicker. Needless to say, I am stunned.

The Bun Life - Persistance and Poise

After the cage was cleaned out last night, cardboard was placed throughout along with computer printing paper that I like to use because it has no ink and wont stain their feet. Then I sat down and was gonna watch a movie. Now mind you, the cage is to my left and mere 6 feet.

I swear, from the very nano second that the DVD started, and all the way to the last credit at the end, Frannie spent the entire time biting, chewing, thrashing, and shredding every piece of paper and cardboard in the damn cage. Then she hopped in the litterbox and ate about 12 pounds of hay all by herself, I guess so Thumper wouldn't have any when he went in it.

I had taken off my shoes and socks before the movie started, and after the movie ended, which I heard none of by the way, I leaned over to put my socks and shoes on. Well, now I have one sock, not two. Would you believe that Frannie dragged it under the couch with her. I was wondering what was being chewed and ripped while she was under there. I assumed she was eating the couch from the inside out like she always does, nope. My sock was history.

Then I go to give them a carrot each, and Frannie takes hers and eats it, then runs up and grabs Thumper's carrot and ran away with it under the cardboard mazes I have. I still don't know who won that incident, but someone did.

Then I come home from the store, and I hear a scratching sound coming from the towel linen closet. I opened it up and out hopped Frannie, she must have broke in there and then I closed the door by mistake. No danger or anything, it has lights and decent room. But it is definitely off limits so I was surprised to see her there.

Then I wanted to run the Shop Vac, so I had to pen them in with a playpen for a few minutes so they don't chew the wire. I took a bowl of some pellets and placed it down in the middle of the playpen, of course Thumper strolled right into the pen and I closed it off so I could keep them separate for the 5 minutes or so. I did the same food trick with Frannie, and she was giving me one of those looks that a dog gives you when he is uncertain of what he is hearing. You know, where they crook their head sideways to try and determine what it is you want.

Well, Fran sat still as a stone with that look towards me. She was telling me that there was no way in hell she was going in the pen. I ultimately snuck up on her ten minuites later and got her in the pen, but man what a hassle! Who knew one pumpernickel bunny could cause this much chaos, lol? I just marvel at how rabbits have the 411 on everything in their domain. They know every fiber, twig, corner, and crumb and where they should each be at any given time. Anything different, I mean anything, and they are immediately aware of it. I guess they are like that due to being at the bottom of the food chain.