Alvin is seven years old and was adopted from the House Rabbit Society in 2002. He is half lop and tends to have one ear up and the other down. He weighs just 3.5 lbs. He is outrageously cute and charming and everyone loves him. He is really more like a cat than a rabbit. He is curious and friendly, and likes to greet new people. He has no fear of people or other animals. Since he was litterbox trained, once the cats had accepted him as a member of the household he had run of the house and did great with it. Like Lulu, he doesn�t like to be picked up but will often come sit next to you on the couch looking for some petting and love. Alvin is not a chewer, which is good for our furniture and cords but bad for his teeth. He also has a terrible underbite. Rabbit teeth always grow (like beaver teeth) but normally if they have good jaw alignment and chew wood and roughage they naturally keep them filed down. Alvin does not chew, and this combined with his underbite has really wreaked havoc on the inside of his mouth. If left untreated his teeth will continue to grow and actually curl inward to the point that he cannot eat. Therefore he has to go to the vet 3-4 times a year to have his teeth filed down with a Dremel tool � literally. If they get too long, they have to be clipped. The poor little guy is quite a trooper though! He is an amazing little bunny and a great example of how good (if high maintenance) a pet bunnies can be.

Well, the list of places we can use to shop for pet supplies just got shorter. PetSmart, who had previously been lauded for its partnership with the House Rabbit Society to help find homes for rescued bunnies, has decided to sell rabbits in some of its stores. While PetSmart does continue to support animal charities and rescue groups like HRS, we feel that any store selling pets is promoting the commercial pet mill industry, and anyone who sells animals for profit while others of their species are being euthanized for a lack of homes is directly responsible for those deaths.

So, if you are like-minded, I hope you will also stop shopping at the PetSmart Stores. Alvin and Scout hope you will too.

The bunny area was looking pretty ragged, so this afternoon I put an hour or so into rehabbing it and must say I am quite pleased with the results. I think Alvin and Scout like it too! Since we haven’t shown off the bunny lair before, I thought now was a good time to do so:

1. Frame: We use two “puppy pens” (also known as exercise pens) latched together for the frame. We initially had just one, but the space really wasn’t big enough for them. Who can binky in a 4x4 space?
2. Base: Underneath, (on top of the carpet of our finished basement) we lay rubber matting - the heavy duty mats generally used for horse pens. These are great because they are easy to clean and nothing is getting through them. On top of the matting, we usually lay carpet fragments (we are using one large 6x8 fragment here) but in the past we have also used the untreated woven mats you can purchase by the foot at World Market. We will still give the buns the woven mats occasionally to play with, but our Scout is such an avid chewer that the mats never lasted very long to be cost effective. They don’t chew the regular carpet, and we can just cut it up if any accidents happen that stink it up.
3. Tunnel: this is a cement forming tube with two small pieces of wood screwed to the bottom to keep it from rolling.
4. Shelter: the top of an enclosed cat litter box.
5. Litter Box: we just purchased a Rubbermaid storage bin to use for this purpose. We had been using a standard litter box, but our big girl seemed to be “missing” a lot. Hopefully she can keep her tush in this box a little better. We generally line the box with newspaper, put in a bit of “Yesterday’s News” litter for absorption, then fill the rest with timothy hay. They need fresh hay every day.

We also keep some unfinished wood and baskets for the buns to chew on and play with. Scout likes to “rearrange” the pen (pick these things up with her teeth and then throw them back over her head).

We also try to let them out as often as possible, but they must be supervised.

The numbers refer to this post.

this is the smallest amount I could buy! it's hay (for the bunnies) ;)

Took a break from studying last night and took some pics of the bunnies. Usually I study in the basement where the bunnies have their area. When I study, I let them out to run. Scout usually spends her time hopping around and sniffing everything out. Alvin, on the other hand, likes to run as fast as he can around the room and under the sofa, all the while doing "binkies". When he gets close to Scout, she usually repsonds with a good binky of her own... They seem to like studying with me ;)