Jersey Wooly Rabbit

The most adorable of all types of rabbits to me is the Jersey Wooly. They are very small compared to most other rabbits. They range in size from 2 pounds to a little bit over 4 pounds. The one thing that sets this rabbit apart from others is its hair. It can get very long, most around 3 to 4 inches long. It also requires more attention too as it needs to be brushed quite frequently. They are the most gentle rabbit I know of and are easy to train. This rabbit loves to chew on things, like wires. To keep this from happening for this rabbit and all other rabbits, put a small amount of pepper extract on the item that is being gnawed on, and it will deter rabbits from even going near that spot again.

Blog Names

I have a friend of mine that I go to school with ask me how I came up with the name of my blog. In all truthfullness, the name it has now is the third name. I started with Bunnies by LB, LB being short for my lilBunny name, then I changed it to Heavenly Bunnies as that sounded like something I could live with. It stayed that way until just a couple days ago when a member of my family mentioned the name and said the name Heavenly Bunnies reminded him of a place for Playboy models. Well ok, hmm..I had to think about this more now as I didn't want that crowd here, not that I have anything against them or the magazine. You wont ever see me in it, I know that much. I wanted this blog to be more about everything and not just bunnies, so I sat down and came up with the current name, Bunny Trail to Heaven. We all go down some kind of trail in life until our day comes to go to heaven, so that is how the name came about. My life has been all about Jesus, nature, and all of its surroundings since I was very young. The name fit when I typed it in. :)

Happy trails!

Calvin and Hobbes: Silly Putty

Calvin reminds me of this kid in our neiborhood. There is nothing that he wont try to get away with and he's so cute in his ways of going about each task. My dad says all boys growing up have a little Calvin in them.

Weekend Chore List

Here it is a Saturday morning and as usual, I'm up at 5am. How many people in this world get up at 5am on a weekend? I know none of my friends do. None! Unlike them, who can sleep until noon, I have chores to do. No one gets me up except for my alarm clock. I have been getting up early my whole life. It also makes for a longer day too which is good when you have other things you want to do after the chore list is finished. The chore list was created by me and only I do the list. What's on the list?

• Make my bed and straighten my room. (they count as one task.)
• Make coffee for me and the rest of the fam.
• Sweep off the rear porch.
• Feed the rabbits. (this can take an hour to one and half hours)
• Refill the bunny boxes (they are our cages) with branches and hay, bark, etc.
• Clean and wash out the rabbit poop bins.
• Take the trash out from the Bunny Barn. (the place we keep the 300+ rabbits)
• Sweep and mop the Bunny Barn floor.
• Make sure the automated water system is working.
• Make sure the ventilation is working.
• Make sure the ac or heat is working.
• Wash the cleaning utensils, sink, and counters. Done!

By now its close to 10am if I get started by 6am, and our volunteers show up to help with keeping the bunnies company and usually there is someone that shows up that wants to adopt or just look at the bunnies. With an average of 20 bunnies being adopted each week and maybe around 35 coming in each week, it can get hectic here on weekends. Thank goodness for the great volunteers who come and help out on weekends, or it could become a headache. My family and friends help each day, so without them, I couldn't do this by myself. Just the chore list is mine and mine only.

Happy trails!

The Wasp

I had to edit this a little bit as the F bomb was used in it way too many times. I don't like the F word and it didn't need to be used in this to get your attention either. You will see where I put in my own words and it's still gets the point across without the F word. Do take the warning of this wasp message seriously though, as they are not something you want to mess with, no matter your experience with them. Being a bee-keeper doesn't qualify you as an expert in wasps or hornets. Hornets are worse btw. I learned that the hard way about eight years ago when I feel into a hornets nest by a pond. I hurt for weeks after that. Wasps can inflict the same kind of pain if you are not careful. They are not afraid of anyone or anything, except for maybe a can of Raid or some other wasp killer. If you do come in contact with one or more, stop moving. Let them fly around you and they will carry on with what they were doing, usually with no stinging or attacking you. Swatting at them is a no no and only makes them mad. They call in reinforcements if you start swatting at them. Not good then.   

Poem: Five Baby Bunnies

Do you like poems about bunnies? I love them as they bring me closer to them and make me smile and feel warm all over hearing them, and writing them too.

Five Baby Bunnies

Five baby bunnies hopping out to play,
Hopping in the forest on this joyful Easter Sunday.

The first baby bunny carried his new cane,
He twirled it as he came hopping down the lane.

The second baby bunny came to the rivers brink,
Tasted the cool water and took a long, long drink.

The fourth baby bunny skipped down the shady lane,
He opened his umbrella just in case of rain.

The fifth baby bunny said, "Oh look what I see,
Lots of colored eggs hiding along side of baby bunny number three."

So cute and loving.  :)

Custom Rabbit Cages

This one to the left is a Custom Condo for your rabbits. It has all the safety and surroundings your bunny could ever need, including natural grass, fresh air, a ramp to and from each level, a hay filled bottom inside the living quarters, play toys, nibble branches, easy access doors for bottom and top, anchor straps on each corner for bad weather (I suggest moving them inside for extreme weather), a shingled and angled roof for rain runoff, and snakeproof wire cage. The water bottle and food are done manually, though some do have an auto system to refresh there daily requirements. You still have to manually clean it. This is perfect for a family of three fully grown rabbits, four if smaller.

We have 6 condos similar to this one that surround our Bunny Barn. The Bunny Barn is where we keep most of our wild/stray/unwanted bunnies. It is temparature controlled, can hold 400 bunnies if need be, and has many volunteers that come here daily to help out anyway they can. More on this later.

Happy trails!

Rabbit Cage Care

I recently read a complaint and question on a nature forum about this womans rabbit. I'm only going to post her main question and not all of her complaints:
"I have an indoor rabbit. Its driving me crazy. I dont want to use ANY woodshavings of any kind (too messy). Can I lay down just a towel or even just leave the cage bottom bare so I dont have to keep cleaning and changing the woodshavings in the cage?"

My answer:
Huh? A bare cage bottom? Having a rabbit as a pet is NOT to make YOU feel more comfortable because something is too messy. Let's say in a fantasy rabbit world, that two rabbits brought you home as a pet and they didn't like mattresses because they were too much to maintain, then they had you sleep on the bare floor. No fun in that is it? Your rabbit needs comfort just as we do. I'm not trying to insult you or put you down in any, but you can't tell us that you don't want to make your rabbit comfortable only because you don't like woodshavings can you? Part of having a pet is giving them comfort and love even if it's something you dont like to do. I think you should have done some more research on rabbits before getting one, as they are nothing like having a cat or dog. As for your question, woodshavings of all kinds are recommended for rabbits. They are also fine with gerbils and small mice. A towel is NOT recommended being the rabbit will urinate on it and it will stink badly, then you will have to throw it away everyday. Newspapers are a good choice as is a thin layer of hay, or even apple tree bark. You have to remember that they like to chew on things too and having something like a branch or some kind of non toxic bark in the cage, will only give them the surroundings most rabbits enjoy. Never leave the bottom of a cage bare no matter how thick there fur is. I have used cedar shavings in the past, but the shavings, like all shavings, tend to stick to the rabbits fur more than I would like it too. It's still a good choice for a bottom filler. The point is to make the rabbit comfortable. Rabbits like woodshavings. :)

The reply to what I had to say to this person was very defensive. Ugly and cruel is more like it, toward me and the rabbit. I will keep from posting the reply here, just know that I finally told her that I would make the trip to get her rabbit being it was making her life miserable, if she wanted me too. I mean, why have one at all if all you are going to do is complain about everything the rabbit does? Rabbits poop you know. Get over it! People like this are puzzling to me.

To my readers:
Maybe I was a little to forward in my reply but having rabbits is not that much work unless you have many of them. You must know this before you get one or more of them. We have over 300 of them. We rehab them, rescue them from mean people, rescue them from being euthanized, rescue them from weather disasters, care for them 24/7, and even have an adoption program through the county. We have a stockpile of tree branches and bark from North Carolina that is delivered here each month. Having 1 rabbit is nothing like having 300 of them, but we use the same concept as just having a single rabbit.

Happy trails!

Awkward Situations

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This poor hunter is screwed! Can you imagine this being you - face to face with a man eating furry wild animal? What would you do? His rifle is out of reach, he is most likely reading a book that is about killing animals, and he is now almost nose to nose with it.

I know this picture is a fake, as it has to be. If this were a true situation, what would you do? First thing you should do is not move. Stay as still as you possibly can, and don't pay attention to the pee running down your leg, as it's yours anyway. Making any sudden move could be deadly. Just sit and don't stare at the animal. Staring back at any wild animal is a threat to them. On the comedy side to this, maybe tell a joke or blow a kiss at it might help. I don't know, just don't get up and run or yell, as this animal can run fast and it can yell louder than you can. lol

By the way, I'm on the animals side in this one. :)