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For the first three days of Fanta’s stay this handsome tri-coloured lop buck showed no signs whatsoever of wanting to settle in. When I was in the Rabbitry, Fanta refused to move out of his bunny bed, favouring instead to remain immobile. However there was evidence he’d been hopping around in my absence as his food dish was empty and there was soiling in one corner of his hutch. On day four Fanta astonishingly approached his food dish when I was dishing out lunch which was a bit of a surprise, so I decided to slowly move my hand toward him and rubbed the top of his head gently – a courageous move on my part I thought, but there was no need to fear retaliation – Fanta didn’t seem to mind the attention. During the proceedings days, Fanta trusted me more and more and began to move around his hutch in my presence and play with his toys. I discovered he loved eating lots of hay and I would fill his bunny bed to the brim, which he would sit in the middle of and munch merrily at regular intervals throughout the day. He wasn’t too happy about his hutch being cleaned and would occasionally stamp his hind legs or grunt annoyingly to let me know. I placed a bundle of willow sticks tied together in his hutch, which he never bothered about, however he was happy to throw a plastic ball around with a bell inside. He looked forward to his dry mix at lunchtime because he would sit by his food dish and his eyes would follow me around the Rabbitry observing while I fed the other boarders; when it came to Fanta’s turn his head was in his food dish before the food, so I quickly learned to take the dish out and fill it. Three yoghurt drops were sprinkled on top of his dry mix each day, which he absolutely loved and by the end of the week he even let me hand feed the treats to him. As Fanta became more settled, I took time out to trim his nails and groom his coat. I also spent a lot of time talking, fussing and handling Fanta because it had taken him a while to trust me and I wanted to keep on reassuring him. Nearing the end of his stay I handled Fanta quite regularly by holding him with one hand under his bottom, the other supporting and stroking his back while his chin rested on my shoulder. It never ceases to amaze me how each bunny’s character is so different and how some settle in quicker than others. When Fanta’s owner collected him, he informed us that Fanta spent most of his day moving between the garage and the garden and could be a little terror when he had a mind to be - I especially recall him saying that Fanta had chewed the stems off his wife’s favourite plants in the garden!!!
Naughty bun.
