Inappropriate Rabbit is Inappropriate

So..... my camera is le broken. There is going to be a shortage of pictures until I can either a) get it fixed, or b) get a new camera. I'll be depending on my computer's webcam, previous pictures, and my phone's camera in the meantime. Since pictures are scarce, I figured I would blog about something Stipple does that I do not have pictures of (for somewhat obvious reasons).

Stipple is an intact male. Intact males, kind of have inclinations (though, depending on when you neuter an animal, a castrated animal may still have these inclinations since he has learned it's a pleasurable behavior). Usually, this is not an issue. Stipple may consider me his life partner or something like that, but I'm not a female rabbit.

Turns out, I'm not a female rabbit until I'm working out. It started innocently enough. I sometimes do pilates or lift weights in the apartment early in the morning. When I do, I let Stipple run around because he'll spend most of the day in his cage while I'm at school. He usually just runs around (laps, usually), occasionally dancing and grunting. Early on, he would just come up to me when I was doing crunches and start licking my arm. Just my left arm (evidently my left arm is oh so sexy), only when I was doing an ab workout, and only licks.

After a few months the licks started to progress into Stipple grunting circles around me, licking my arm, and then trying to mount the arm. *facepalm* Thankfully, he's not the greatest at figuring out how to mount my arm if I keep moving how the arm is situated. Also thankfully, he usually gets frustrated after a while and goes and pouts in the bathroom or a little bit away from me so I can see how "emotionally hurt" he is.

For the record, it's really hard to concentrate on a workout when you have a horny bunny bouncing all over you.

Stipple, up to something inappropriate, no doubt...

I did end up taking Stipple to the vet last month. He's healthy, though he's got a Pasteurella multocida titer (probably from his outdoor escapades when his previous owners dumped him). Since there's only a 50% chance that he's humping would stop if castrated (probably less than that, since he seems to know it would be enjoyable if I would just keep my arm still for once), and he hasn't started marking yet, I'm probably going to keep him intact. We'll see how that goes. Joy. More horny rabbit humps. :/

When a rabbit wants attention....

Rabbits are kind of a mix of a cat and a horse (the world's tiniest horse, of course). I will probably talk about this ad nauseum in different posts, so now you've been forewarned. In this post, I want to talk about how rabbits like attention. Like cats, rabbits like to be largely left to their own devices and to observe you. Stipple loves chilling out under the couch, watching me and Rooms study. At various times of the day, he'll switch his vantage point.

Stipple, chilling like a villain in his couch fortress.

Every once in a while, like a cat, he'll hop up and get your attention. Usually, this means he pokes me with his nose. Unlike a cat, and more like a horse, he'll shy away from you if you try to touch him when he's poking you. This can lead to some confusion on my part, since he occasionally comes up and repeatedly pokes me, but runs away before I can tell what he wants.

Sometimes, Stipple REALLY wants your full attention. That is when this happens:

Followed by:

MOM PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!

Well, fine then. I'll leave.

I'm still not certain what he wants from me when he does this. Sometimes he gets so frustrated he starts trying to dig a hole. Of course, since he's on me, that means I get to play the role of the dirt.

One day I'll figure out what he wants when he does that. Until that time, all I can say is you can tell when a rabbit wants your attention.

Boytoy and the Bun-Bun

My boyfriend and Stipple have an interesting relationship. They both like each other, but there's definitely some weird male-bonding component to it.

Boytoy likes to feed Stipple "carpet hay". "Carpet hay" is the bits and pieces of hay that fall on the carpet when I'm feeding Stipple, or that Stipple throws outside of his cage while he's tearing through his hay piles like a land-shark. Stipple, in response to Boytoy's offerings, usually takes the hay and throws it on the ground of his cage. Sometimes, he'll even stop eating his dinner to take the "carpet hay" just to throw it away. Occasionally he'll eat it, much to Boytoy's delight. Boytoy maintains that Stipple eats the hay most of the time, but I haven't seen such evidence.

The other thing Boytoy loves to do with Stipple is "poke the rabbit". Boytoy will find wherever Stipple is and gently poke him. Stipple used to run away, but now he sits and lets himself be poked. This actually has made it really difficult to get him out from under things, since he doesn't mind being gently poked and prodded. Apparently, the attention from poking has helped the two of them bond.

Stipple really likes Boytoy. I'm actually surprised by how much they like each other. Today, while I was cleaning Stipple's cage, I saw Stipple and Boytoy, nose to nose. Boytoy was petting Stipple, who was licking the carpet in ecstasy (a post on Stipple's relationship with the carpet will be coming some time in the future). Later, Stipple hopped up on the couch between me and Boytoy and checked on Boytoy before coming over to say hi to me!

I am happy the two major men in my day-to-day life like (dare I say "love"?) each other.

How to Tell If Your Rabbit Misses You

I spent most of yesterday out in Illinois, visiting family. I ended up going to see the Chicago Symphony play with my aunt, uncle, sister, brother-in-law, and a close childhood friend. I ended up spending the night with my aunt and uncle's house, rather than driving home late that night. I arrived home this morning, and Stipple missed me. :)

So how can you tell if your rabbit misses you? For one, Stipple greeted me. I came into my bedroom, opened his cage, and Stipple shot out under my feet immediately. Usually when I open his cage in the morning, Stipple wants to hang out and eat a bit more of his breakfast. Another clue was Stipple would not leave me alone. Usually if he checks up on me, Stipple just hops by, pokes me with his nose and leaves. This morning he stuck around me for a half hour, licking my hands, hopping on top of me, and continually nose-poking me.  Now, he has settled down some, lying in a position that's a cross between "causal rabbit" and "very content rabbit".

Sneaky Rabbit, isn't necessarily sneaky

Sometimes, Stipple thinks he's sneaky. Now that I've had him for half a year, he's been more confident, and thus, less sneaky. However, when I first got him, he was full of "sneakiness". In those early days, I would let Stipple roam throughout my small apartment, with the exception of my bedroom, which was closed off. For some reason, Stipple was convinced he wasn't allowed in the kitchen or bathroom at all. (I have no idea why. It's not like I ever chased him away from those areas or made loud noises when he went there.) Since he was sure he shouldn't be there, but was naturally curious, Stipple would try to enter these areas in stealth mode. Stealth mode is characterized by Stipple staying close to the ground, almost making him flat. He then army crawls around instead of hopping. The thing is, this method of movement is pretty noticeable.  Stipple's a big bunny. Seeing him try to slither all eight pound of fluff around is very distracting and adorable. He's actually more obvious moving around in stealth mode than he is just hopping around.

I guess the fun of moving around in stealth mode is really just the fun of watching Stipple "get away" with something that he's always allowed to do.

Dancing

I didn't have Stipple for very long, when I found out he would dance very early in the morning. In those early days in our relationship, Stipple would wake me up by bounding around in his cage at what I think he thought was a "late" time in the morning. Thankfully, he has since stopped doing that all the time. He now only does it if I do actually sleep in or if he needs something from me.

Anyway, this post isn't about the first time Stipple danced for me. This post is about how Stipple danced for me and my mom.

I had had Stipple for about two weeks, and my family, him, and I were all moving me and my roommate into a new apartment closer to the vet school. Mom and I spent the night in my room, since she and I were going to finish setting some things up the next day. Stipple also spent the night in my room, since I didn't see a point of having him sleep somewhere he wouldn't be sleeping in the future. Also, I could close my bedroom and allow him to hop around without worrying about him getting into a lot of trouble.

The next morning, Stipple started to make a big racket as soon as he realized I was up. He was bounding from side to side of his cage, crashing into his litter boxes. Mom was up and was a bit concerned by what was causing him to "freak out", so I let him out of the cage. Stipple leaped from his cage, and started to dance. He lept, twinkled his toes, flopped his ears for side to side. He spun, bounced, and flung himself with wild abandon. It was one of the most joyous things I have ever seen in my life. But the important thing of this story is, when my mom saw Stipple dance, she finally understood why I loved this rabbit. And that's how Stipple won over my mother.

The Beginning

It was dead week during the spring semester of my first year at Purdue when I got the email. At the vet school, the vet students are constantly being bombarded by emails about pets needing homes. By the end of the first semester, every vet student has heard every possible reason for a pet needing a new home. This actually kind of deadens us to these sort of stories, but this time, when I checked my email, it was different.

"Luna needs a home!" it read. One of the receptionists at the vet school had found an adorable lop-eared rabbit in their backyard. It was obvious the rabbit had been dumped. This receptionist took the rabbit in and  the rabbit started to get along great with their cat, but their puppy was intent on eating it, even after a few days. The receptionist needed someone to take the rabbit, since it was unfair that her home wasn't as safe as it should be for the rabbit. 

I had been wanting a rabbit for a year by this time. I jumped at the chance, and a few days later, went to go pick up the rabbit at the vet school. It was the Friday before finals week. Not the best time to be adding a pet into my life, but I still jumped at the chance. At the vet school, I met "Luna". 

"We've been calling her Luna, but we've just been assuming she's a girl," the receptionist told me. "Can you tell what sex it is?"

I looked, and I honestly have no idea how the receptionist had missed the massive testicles on this rabbit. "It's a boy," I said.

"Oh, well you could still call her Luna if you'd like!"

That was not going to happen. I thanked the receptionist, and carted my new rabbit home. The rabbit was white and black/gray. It looked like someone had stippled his coloring in, so I named him Stipple.

At the apartment, Stipple was terrified. Rabbits respond to all new stimuli in about the same way: run away and hide. If they can't hide, they go as still as possible in the hopes that the new stimuli would go away. Stipple was so freaked out, he just sat in the litter box of his new cage for the rest of the day. 

(Stipple, judging me from his new "safe spot", first day home)

It took a long time to gain Stipple's trust. He didn't trust me until after finals and I had been home for quite some time with him. However, just having his cute, rabbit-y presence during finals week helped keep me sane during that last week of the semester. While looking back at things, I wouldn't change the timing of getting him for the world.