I feel terrible for not updating this for so long. Things have been going great with Blanco! He has not bitten either of us at all and has been lovable and playful with us. He still does not like to be picked up, and we respect that and don't even bother to try. There is no need to pick him up - if he wants to sit in my lap, he jumps on...otherwise, I do not force it. I try to remember that he is a prey animal and being picked up might not be his idea of fun.

He had to take antibiotics (Baytril) in the beginning of October and go to the vet for a confirmed case of pasteurella / bordatella. He is currently on another round (December) due to his nose starting to run again. We had good luck with the first round of antiboitics, so we are hoping for another successful round. Sadly, he will always have this in his system and it will flare up from time to time (usually stress brings it out.) It was pretty stressful for him with the heavy rainstorm we had so I am sure that helped bring it on again.

Good boy loves his meds. Now, he has banana flavored!

I am so thankful that we were able to keep him nice and dry during one of the worst rainstorms I have seen since moving to California. It took some trial and error to get the tarp just right, but luckily for the worst of it he was bone dry!

We are still planning on building him a new home soon. Craig is hoping to get started on it during my Christmas break now. As soon as the new home is ready, we will be bonding Blanco with a friend so he will have someone to snuggle with!

He can still peek out...if it got windy we dropped the tarp over the front more

So far so good

My husband checking up on Blanco at 3am when we were going through the worst of it...

 

Before / During....It was so bad it flooded our street in front of our home

He LOVES to play "Chase the Treats" in the yard now...it is a great way to give him exercise disguised as fun. I go from one end of the yard to the other with a few pellets in my hand and watch him run over for them. He is so adorable when he runs towards me!

Blanco and Jenny have been doing great together in the yard. I only allow them together if I am there to supervise. Blanco did pee on Jenny once, but I like to think he was just trying to mark his territory like he used to do with us...although I am sure he was just annoyed at that point!

Just a few random pics...

This is called "bossing it up"

It is hard to believe the shelter thought he was too aggressive to adopt to a regular person....a rescue had to pull him for us.

Comfy Boss-man!

In the hay bag!

From shelter to spoiled! See what some LOVE can do?

Loving his grass patch!

Craig made this awesome lightweight gate for when I need to get in and out of the yard while Boss is back there. Otherwise, he could bolt out when I open that door.

Winter selfie with mom

He likes to nap here sometimes

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

With his sisters...

Opening his gift!

Christmas Dinner

This made me tear up a little this morning when I thought about how Blanco was misunderstood at the shelter when he was called an aggressive rabbit. Nobody was going to give him a chance with that label. He's proved to me that he just needed someone to care so he could show LOVE! Xoxo

I am amazed more and more each day as Blanco learns to trust me. He has been coming up for pets everytime I go out there and chins both me and Craig all the time! He has been loving his tunnel toys.

We are thinking of trying to speed things up with building his new home so that we can get him a friend soon. We are hoping things work out with the bonding process. Thankfully we will have some help with the bunny rescue that has been helping me SO much!

Lots of pictures to add...

LOVE

Kisses for mom!!

Playing in the new grass patch we put down for Blanco

Mmmmmm basil!

Tunnel time!

One of Blanco's favorite treats.

I love all things orange.

Eating out of mom's hand!

Mmmmm dandelion leaves!

Pretty eyes!

Blanco LOVES these!

Love these English cookies! Maybe if I call my mom 'mum' from now on, she will give me MORE!

Mmmmmm...cilantro!

"Is that a banana I see??!! Here I come!"

"Waaaah...I want more banana!"

Bunny 500 in the morning! Tunnel time!

My awesome custodian saved me this perfect bunny box...

Usually he loves to run through it, but sometimes he climbs on top!

Blanco is still doing well! No biting and he even has been coming onto my chest when I lay on the ground and  has been chinning my face! We both sure have come such a long way since those first few days when I was terrified of him! I was thinking back to when I would wrap my ankles in aluminum pans because I was so afraid he was going to bite me when I was cleaning his area. Look at us now!

 As weird as this sounds, I have been laying on the ground a lot to try to bond a bit with Blanco. I figure if I get on his level it will help. Plus, I realized that if I look up I have an amazing view of the clouds passing by and this palm tree. No matter how long it's been since I moved to California, I am STILL fascinated by palm trees. To me they symbolize living in paradise.

My view when I am looking up from laying on ground

Chinning my face!

He hasn't sneezed up any more snot since the beginning of August and I am thankful Linda has been giving him antitbiotic shots every few days to help. His nose is green by his nostrils, but I can't help but think it is just stained, since he has not had a wet, runny nose or has sneezed at all. I really want to get him a friend soon, so his nose issues have to go away! :)

He started spraying again at times. I am trying to figure out WHY. The other day he sprayed so much pee on me I had to take a shower. Man, was I made but I never let it show. Instead I try to understand why.
My only theories are:
~still hormones from neutering
~territory (this is MY space)
~just habit...it's possible he was neutered so late that the spraying is something we need to deal with
~he gets mad at something I have yet to figure out.

So, whenever we let him out of his cage now, we stay away from him at first until he has a chance to run around on his own and pee somewhere (he ALWAYS feels the need to pee in the yard somewhere - mostly by the door to our house.) Craig is certain he saves pee just for when he is let out. Anyway, doing this has been helping with the spraying issue the past few days.

Look at me lounge!

I love my mom so I chin her.

AWESOME gift from Michelle!

One of his new favorite treats - dandelion leaves!

Blanco has been doing great! No biting all month other than the occasional nibble on my sneakers! :) He and I have come a long way with trusting each other. It makes me so happy to see him run around the yard and jump with joy. He has been more and more comfortable coming to us for pets and sitting in our laps. Craig has been much more involved with him lately - I find him sitting outside in the backyard with a beer and Blanco - it makes me so happy to see the 2 of them bonding more and more! I feel very lucky that Craig loves Blanco as much as me and has never complained about him when he pees by the door (we hose it right down) or when we have to walk around the yard to pick up poops.
Craig made him a little tunnel out of cardboard and he LOVES to run through it now!

He's also been doing the "Bunny 500" in the yard where he runs laps around the yard. At first I thought it was just exercise, but I learned today that it means they are overjoyed! Extremely happy!! Like jumping with joy! Wooooo! :)


Last week I noticed some discharge from his nose and one day after he was grooming his face, he made a weird noise and snotted out a bit of mucous from his nose. I called Linda and she told me that he most likely just has a "bunny cold." She has been helping me with antibiotic shots and teaching me so much about bunny health. I am so thankful for all of her education and help!

bunny kisses are the best!

love!

It warms my heart whenever he sits in my lap. We have both come so far with trusting each other. I will never forget how afraid I was of him the first week I had him after he but be badly twice. I have learned how to read bunny behavior and he has learned how to read me better. It's been such a beautiful journey so far!!