[Ag-eq] Answers to rabbit quiz
Jewel
jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz
Wed Feb 5 00:30:30 UTC 2014
Zach! The saga of Peter and Paul may have been on ag-eq before you joined us. I will have a look
and see if I can find it.
I have had the rabbit[s for exactly a month, and it struck me a couple of days ago that in that
time, although we have had rain, all of it has fallen at night! There has not been one day, until
this present one, that I have been unable to tether them/him out on the grass. He is in a large
shed now on the end of a 4 metre tether with a water bowl and heap of tasty grass. He looks like a
very contented bunny to me.
"What's up! Doc!"
or
RABBITS 101.
3 weeks ago: was it only 3 weeks? seems much much longer than that: I got 2 2 month old Flemish
Giant rabbits. Peter, the smaller of the 2 was so gentle while Paul, his brother, thought that it
would be fun to bite Jewel, but he found that biting Jewel was not as funny as he thought it was
going to be.
Now all that was on Thursday, Jan 6th, and on the following Tuesday morning, they were both gone
from the little
shed that I had them in.
I reckoned that Guideon had climbed the security gate, which he had never done before and had got
into the shed by scrambling over the bottom half of the double door and had killed them: not that
there was any sign of him having done so: no blood or tufts of rabbit fur or bunny bits, except
that I found one of the cat collars that they wore in the hay shed where Guideon had made a day bed
for himself, but his bread basket [tum tum] did feel fuller than it should have done at that time of
the day, and, to my fevered brain, that "fuller", felt like dish de jour Fricassee Rabbit De
Luxe!
Now it was on the Monday night/early Tuesday morning that they disappeared, but when I was talking
on Thursday morning to Sam, my honorary shepherd and pastor of the Grace Church which shares a
boundary with the BlanchRanch, he said that he had seen a black
rabbit: Peter: hopping around in the paddock somewhere around Tuesday morning.
Steve Ewing who lives 2 properties from me in Oxford Street but just through the fence of my
Hamilton Street garden returned Paul to me having found him in his section on Friday. However,
Peter was still
missing.
Guideon had not killed the rabbits with the help of happenstance that worked to the rabbits'
advantage, but it was not, I
suspect, for lack of will on his part.
What I think happened was that as he scrambled over the bottom half of the stable door, it had leant
inward, and the bottom of the door which was hinged to a very rotten frame had pulled free and
opened a gap, and a gap at eye level was all they. the rabbits meeded and they beat a hasty retreat.
Over the few days since Paul's return, he had changed his ways and become a very nice pet.
I put a hot wire above the security gate so that if Guideon tried to climb it again, he would get a
nasty welcome at the top, which, I think, may have happened yesterday morning as I heard him give a
startled shout, and when I checked the hot wire, it, definitely, had been disturbed, so I replaced
it with a piece of hot wired steel rod.
Yesterday, Jan 22nd, my sister, Deslie and I were to visit, my good friend, Kirstan in Winton and I
intended to take
Paul because I
thought that she would like to meet him. However, when I went to get him, I found that the was
another gap at the bottom of the door, and Paul had gone. I could not hold Guideon responsible this
time because there was no way that he could have made that gap. It was as though :Paul had pushed
the door until it had moved sufficiently far from the jamb to create that gap, but he was only a
baby Flemish Giant, and, although such an action may, just may, have been possible if done by a
fully-grown FG, I cannot see a rabbit of Paul's present size being able to do it.
Kirstan says she has a feeling that I will get Paul back, but she also had a feeling that I was
going to win big on Keno, and I didn't/haven't, so I don't have too much faith in her * prophetic
feelings!
Jan 23 11:10pm: Oh me" of little faith! Kirstan! forgive me, if you find it possible within you
to do so, for Paul was returned tonight by
the same chap who caught him in the same place as he had before, thanks, in some degree to his
sharp-eyed cat.
Steve and Eryn, his wife, had been attending a wedding but by good luck, or divine intervention:
take your
pick! They returned home earlier than had been planned and heard the message that I had left with
their call minder.
When Steve went out the back, he noticed his cat staring,
fixedly at something in a bush, and that something was Paul.
I have barricaded the door of Paul's sleeping quarters to the extent that one could be forgiven if
the
thought went through his/her mind that I was keeping a serial killer under lock and key.
Hopefully, Paul's adventures are at an end, but the batteries on my electric fence energiser have
gone flat so, until I get them replaced, Master Guideon's movements are going to be, somewhat,
curtailed.
There is, to date, no sign of Peter so, I fear, his days of freedom may have come to an untimely
end, or, on the other hand, he may have been found by a charming girl angel, "now Jewel! we will
have no sex stereotyping around here!" OK! boy angel--girl angel--what the hell! who pestered and
pleaded until his/her weary parents said "enough already! Anything for a quiet life! Keep the
damned
rabbit, but remember, the pest is yours and if you don't look
after it, you will find Fricassee of Rabbit De Luxe :in your school lunch !"
Oh no Jewel! Don't even think such dreadful thoughts!
No parents would be that unkind: would they?
It occurred to me that in retirement homes and villages where the keeping of pets: pets being cats
and dogs: is not allowed, keeping a rabbit as a companion animal [pet] would fill the bill for many
of the residents who are feeling lonely having had companion animals when they were in their own
homes.
Rabbits do make wonderful pets, they can be enclosed: I have had a stumble or 2 on that path, but
don't measure me as being representative of the ease of enclosing a bunny: they do not smell: they
do not make a noise: (the only sound I have heard a rabbit make was a soft hiss!) and they don't
drag dead animals and other unwanted refuse to your back door!
Jewel
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Zach Mason" <zmason.northwindsfarm at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 4:34 AM
To: "'Agricultural and Equestrean Division List'" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Answers to rabbit quiz
You have my sympathies. Were Peter and Paul intended as companion or food
animals?
-----Original Message-----
From: Ag-eq [mailto:ag-eq-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jewel
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 7:02 PM
To: Agricultural and Equestrean Division List
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Answers to rabbit quiz
Petere disappeared and, I suspect, fell prey to a predator: a dog being the
likely candidate. Paul made s secdond break for freedom, but, snesible
rabbit that he is, he went into the same garden, and was caught by the same
man as when he made his first assay for the uncertain life of a wild rabbit!
Jewel
--------------------------------------------------
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 12:45 PM
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Answers to rabbit quiz
Hi Jewel:
How is Paul the rabbit?
Did you ever find out what happened to Peter?
Nella
Quoting Jewel <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>:
> 1. What is a kit?
> a. a newborn rabbit
>
> 2. How long, on average, is a rabbit's gestation period?
> d. 1 month
>
> 3. How much cage space should one have per pound of rabbit in the cage?
> b. 1 square foot. input from JB: This was only a guess, but it
> sounded
> reasonable: a 5 pound
> rabbit would have 5SqF: a 10 pound rabbit would have 10SqF; 4. How
> many breeds of rabbits are registered to the American Rabbit Breeders
> Association (ARBA)?
> D. 22 (input from JB) Living in New Zealand, as I do, I chose to make
> a guess rather than look it up on Wikipedia.
>
>
> 5. Angora, rex and satin breeds are mainly kept for their:
> a. fur . input from JB: but being kept for their fur, the colouring
> is important.
> 6. A "broken pattern" rabbit is:
> B. A rabbit that has a solid color and white in its coat; input from JB:
> that is my Paul who is
> brown and white;
>
> 7. Friars are:
> B. Rabbits 3-6 months of age.
>
> 8. Sore hocks are:
> A. Raw, open and bleeding sores on the rabbit's hind legs caused by
> constant contact with wire on the cage floor.
>
> 9. A rabbit whose ears droop at the side of its head, with a heavy
> crown made of cartilage on the top of the head is a b. lop
>
> 10. The proper way to carry a rabbit is:
> C. With the head under your arm, providing support to the rear and
> front of the rabbit with your hands; input from JB: The question
> was: "how do you * carry a rabbit, so option D should not have been
> there! Personally, I carry it with its body and hindquarters tucked
> under my elbow, while keeping a firm grip on its ears.
>
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>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Aleeha Dudley" <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 8:54 AM
> To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [Ag-eq] rabbit quiz
>
> Hey All,
> Here goes!!!
> 1. What is a kit?
> a. a newborn rabbit
> b. a box
> c. a show term for a disqualified animal
>
> 2. How long, on average, is a rabbit's gestation period?
> A. 1 week
> b. 6 months
> c. 90 days
> d. 1 month
>
> 3. How much cage space should one have per pound of rabbit in the cage?
> a. 1 square inch
> b. 1 square foot
> c. 3 square feet
> d. None of the above.
> 4. How many breeds of rabbits are registered to the American Rabbit
> Breeders Association (ARBA)?
> A. 30
> b. 150
> C. 47
> D. 22
>
>
> 5. Angora, rex and satin breeds are mainly kept for their:
> a. fur
> b. meat
> c. coloring
> d. None of the above.
> 6. A "broken pattern" rabbit is:
> A. a rabbit with a broken leg.
> B. A rabbit that has a solid color and white in its coat C. A doe with
> young D. None of the above
>
> 7. Friars are:
> A. Mature rabbits, over 6 months of age.
> B. Rabbits 3-6 months of age.
> C. dead rabbits, ready for processing
> D. None of the above.
>
> 8. Sore hocks are:
> A. Raw, open and bleeding sores on the rabbit's hind legs caused by
> constant contact with wire on the cage floor.
> B. Constant discharge from the eyes caused by a relatively common
> bacteria C. a stomach disorder.
> D. microscopic insects found in the coat or ears.
>
> 9. A rabbit whose ears droop at the side of its head, with a heavy
> crown made of cartilage on the top of the head is a a. rex b. lop c.
> doe d. None of the above.
>
> 10. The proper way to carry a rabbit is:
> A. Cuddled in your arms like a teddy bear.
> B. On your shoulder.
> C. With the head under your arm, providing support to the rear and
> front of the rabbit with your hands.
> d. Walk the rabbit on a leash and don't hold it.
>
> Have fun, folks. Answers later...
>
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