Reach For The Sky (& Rosie)

Sky has a wider head than Rosie and is slightly bigger and sturdier than her sister. Her eyes look like rabbit shaped eyes whereas Rosie’s are more a deer shape and she reminds me a lot of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin.

Their temperaments are almost identical as well although, as with their looks, there are subtle differences that means you can tell them apart.

Sky is more confident around me and loves to come in and sit on my knee for grooming. While I rub her back and head behind her ears she starts grinding her teeth, the rabbit equivalent of cats purring. She allows me to clip her nails without resisting and seems to really enjoy being brushed. Rosie will tolerate handling well as long as you handle her confidently. If she feels insecure she will struggle a little. She is also happy having her nails trimmed and being groomed but I haven’t yet managed to find the spot which would have her grinding her teeth.

When there are new toys in their hutch to be explored it is normally Sky who will look at them and try them out first. They absolutely love to climb and jump so recently I removed their ramp from the hutch and replaced it with a wooden box that they could sit on, use it as a step and sit under it. I also gave them a cat tree so that they could get up high and I frequently find both of them perched up on the top together. I don’t know how they organise themselves once they are up there, I can just imagine one trying to have a scratch and pushing the other one off. They have boundless energy and really need lots of toys to keep them entertained.

The toys don’t have to be expensive for them to enjoy them. A cardboard box could be turned upside down and a doorway cut into it. Toilet roll tubes stuffed with hay and pellets for them to chew and destroy. A big planter could be filled with sand and soil for them to dig in and a few pellets mixed in to give them ‘treasure’ to find. One of their favourite pastimes is chewing. I have found a couple of big sticks from trees whose wood is safe for rabbits and put them in their hutch and run. Here is Sky doing her best to gnaw through one of them.

I currently scatter feed them their pellets. This means that instead of standing at a bowl eating quickly, they have to search for their food. I hide them in boxes, mix them through their hay and spread them out throughout the hutch. I also hand feed them some every day as well which means they look forward to seeing me and don’t dash away immediately. It is fun to watch them going through the hutch searching for the pellets. They dig through their hay and push things around in case there might be one hiding.