Gotcha day June 24, 2005

a.k.a. The Thump Twins
This is Cocoa and Brownie. They're bonded twin sisters. They have been through a rough time. First their original owner didn't want them, so they were surrendered to a shelter, which was unable to adopt them out so they were taken in by a rescuer who then died suddenly. The rescuer was a friend of 3bunnies, so they began the process of trying to find placements for all of the rabbits. A plea for help was sent out, and since I had been thinking about fostering for a couple years, I decided to turn my dining room into a foster area and take these two bunnies in.

They are a really cute pair, and they spend almost all of their time together, but unlike many male-female pairs, they hang out next to each other instead of pressing against each other. Every now and then Brownie will hump Cocoa's head (this is a dominance thing) and then nip her bun, and that leads to Cocoa chasing Brownie around and around in the pen, through the hidey boxes and all over. It's quite funny to watch, though I usually try to break it up before Brownie gets to nipping Cocoa and pulling out any fur.

Cocoa and Brownie are slowly getting used to humans, but for the most part the prefer to be left alone. They do well with me petting them as long as I'm standing on the other side of the pen and leaning over, but the run into their hidey boxes and thump loudly whenever I come inside the pen. I was originally just going to provide a foster home to them, but the more I think about it, the more I hate the idea of them having to move into yet another home. There's something in the way they look at me, with this attentive but pensive curiosity. I also think it would be difficult to adopt them out, where they are still very skittish around humans. So, I will probably keep them and just continue to give them all the love they can stand.

Urbun Renewal has taken a new meaning with these two bunnies. The last time I cleaned out their area, I picked up one of their hidey boxes and it literally fell apart in my hands. It had been completely chewed up from the inside out, and there was no structure integrity left in it. I don't know why it didn't collapse before, since I had a pet carrier sitting on top of it, but once I moved it, it just gave up. I set up more hidey boxes for them, but was only rewarded to a chorus of vigorous thumping, which they both do very well, and very loudly.

So far, I haven't tried introducing Tamari and Noffy to the girls. Every now and then I see them visiting, separated by the pen, and every now and then one of the bunnies will box at another, sometimes it's Tamari or Noffy, sometimes it's Cocoa or Brownie. So I think for the time being, everyone is happier with the bunnies in separate spaces.
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