Today is Neenu's breeding day, so I got out the pan I weigh my rabbits in, weighed her (6lbs, 11oz), did some general checking her over, and took her out to the buck's cage. EXCEPT....
...she got away from me. And ran under the deck. And LOVED it there. And outsmarted and humbled us mere humans with our gentle capture attempts. I finally had to crawl under the deck in the mud to corner her and capture her. To get out, I had to lay her on her side, cradle her front in my left arm and hold her back legs together with my right hand and drag her white fur through the mud. We were both filthy and she was pretty worn out. Too bad; it's breeding day. To the buck!
Upgrade (my buck) displayed his usual expertise and finished with a flourish. :mrgreen: Repeat. Repeat. But then, he started taking interest in the mud on her fur. What he was doing looked painful, but Neenu wasn't trying to get away, so I let it go for a bit.
opcorn: He would rake her fur with his claws, then nuzzle and chew the fur until it stood back up, then "comb" it back down again. But it was rough. The fur was noticeably cleaner in the areas he worked.
All that to ask: is it common for rabbits to clean each other? Or was something else going on here?
...she got away from me. And ran under the deck. And LOVED it there. And outsmarted and humbled us mere humans with our gentle capture attempts. I finally had to crawl under the deck in the mud to corner her and capture her. To get out, I had to lay her on her side, cradle her front in my left arm and hold her back legs together with my right hand and drag her white fur through the mud. We were both filthy and she was pretty worn out. Too bad; it's breeding day. To the buck!
Upgrade (my buck) displayed his usual expertise and finished with a flourish. :mrgreen: Repeat. Repeat. But then, he started taking interest in the mud on her fur. What he was doing looked painful, but Neenu wasn't trying to get away, so I let it go for a bit.
opcorn: He would rake her fur with his claws, then nuzzle and chew the fur until it stood back up, then "comb" it back down again. But it was rough. The fur was noticeably cleaner in the areas he worked. All that to ask: is it common for rabbits to clean each other? Or was something else going on here?
