Rabbit Romances

Funny how little things can take over your life.  Like li'l rabbits.  Just waved goodbye to the last of a litter of seven, and realise how big a hole they are going to leave after just ten weeks...  For instance, I've spent most of those ten weeks learning new things about rabbits.  Deep, meaningful stuff like how they'd cluster together on the lawn until they saw that I was sitting with them, then they'd relax and scatter around and play.

And less meaningful but way more important stuff, like - did you know that a pair of rabbits will mate as soon as the doe has given birth?  And by the time you find the second litter hidden among the hay and bedding in a totally different part of the run, they've already done it again?  So yeah, I won't really have a chance to miss the first litter before the second one has already started developing personalities and acting cute and adorable.

And that third lot were born Sunday morning 13 September sometime, so I really won't have time to miss the middle litter.  And no, there aren't going to be any other litters for a while because I physically separated Eddie from Peta with a crowbar and a huge bribe of carrots as soon as I realised he'd done the dirty dancing thing for a third time...

Apropos of which:  I also learned from the WA rabbit club that females are hyperfertile as soon as they give birth.  Which explains why Eddie was running up and down his hutch beside the night hutch, poking his nose and front paws through the netting and with this really cute soppy expression on his face.  You could almost hear him saying it "Oh you're so... so fertile baby!  OMG I want you!"

He's such a pushover for a hyperfertile female...

But to save his pain we took him for a run on the lawn to burn off the feelings, and moved him to a run where he's not quite so assaulted by the scents and sounds of hypersex.  I learned something else from rabbits today.  Two things.  Carpe diem, seize the day.  Because one day someone's gonna put a run of netting between you and the object of your desire.  And also, I learned that love is a chemical.  A bunch of VOCs drifting on the air, a scent of pheromones, one hankie dropped and a flash of lace, and you're poking your nose through the bars and singing love songs...

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