Our Story

Our First Steps

In mid August, Ruphenfeffer joined our family. (Not to be confused with hasenpfeffer!) He is the first of the beginnings of MJ's new venture "Hare Raising Joy Rabbitry" specializing in English Angora rabbits. Ruphenfeffer also known as Ruphie or Rufus, was only 3 months old. He rode the hour plus drive from Dancing Waters Farm in Rochester, WA on MJ's lap soaking in the air conditioning.

Once Ruphie arrived home, he settled in nicely. He's a sweet bunny with a fun personality! It's almost as if you can see his cogs turning as he contemplates mischief. He's also very affectionate and loves to play games.

 First "Hare Cut"

Ruphenfeffer came to live with us in the heat of summer. His "birth mom" graciously waited to shear him so MJ could have that pleasure without waiting for three months. The first weekend after bringing Ruphenfeffer home, MJ set out to give him his first sheering.

Final combing before sheering.

Blow drying to get the dander and minor snarls out.

Claiming the clippers.

She started with pet trimmers

Using pet trimmers.

 and quickly switched to scissors, since his fur was getting caught in the blades.

Switching to scissors.

Half done.

Mostly done.

I think we need to look into some better clippers. With both of us working on him, it “only” took a few hours. His favorite part of the process was the blow dryer (without heat!)

Basking in the breeze.

After seeing him with all that hair, it’s kind of shocking to see how small he really is. (It really is just fluff.) It was hard not to laugh at first as we got used to his new look. He definitely had more energy and seemed perkier too, now that he was lighter.

Hay...a reward!

Before...

After...What a cutie!

The Girl Next Door

Two weeks after Ruphenfeffer came to Hare Raising Joy Rabbitry, MJ adopted Agnes. Agnes is a couple of months older than Ruphenfeffer and came from a private party in Port Orchard. She is also a black purebred English Angora.

Agnes

Agnes

Agnes got her name from the youngest girl in the movie Despicable Me who is heard exclaiming, "It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!" Only we say, "She's so fluffy, we're gonna DYE!"

She has a much quieter demeanor than Ruphenfeffer and doesn't seem to demand attention like he does.

Babies! (First Time Parents)

On Thanksgiving day MJ bred Agnes and Ruphenfeffer. After waiting what seemed an eternity (actually only 31 days), Agnes delivered her babies on Christmas Eve. Ruphenfeffer is the left out daddy...but he's adjusting :) This is our first experience with bunnies and babies, and YouTube just didn't prepare us for how it went. But all is well so far!

At about 6:15pm, Sunday night, December 23rd, MJ was out in the "Bunny Barn" with Agnes, letting her have her play time. Agnes sat down, pumped her tail and out popped a baby. MJ scooped up the baby and Agnes and put them in the nesting box. She came and told the rest of the family and then sat down to wait for the rest of the litter. We waited....and waited...and waited. Nothing. There had to be more! Meanwhile, number 1 was getting chilled with no other baby bunny bodies to snuggle up with. We brought it in and took some measures to warm him up, and put him in a shoe box with fur and hay in it.

Angora Kit (Number 1)

We waited longer. We had a security camera set up in front of the cage, attached to the tv and VCR and were recording. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting...someone's eye was always watching. We brought Agnes in and put Number 1 on her tummy to see if she could nurse him a bit. Seemed to satisfy him a little. While we had her out, we could feel more babies kicking. There were more!

At about 1am, most of the family went to bed. We decided to take shifts waiting and watching. MJ was on the first shift and I relieved her at 3. Agnes was especially agitated. She started pulling hair like crazy!

Agnes Pulling Fur

At about 4:15am, ten hours after baby number 1, Agnes did a tail pump and soon I saw a wiggly little baby. She delivered him on the wire. I rushed out to put him in the nest box, then called MJ to wake her up.

Agnes Delivering Second Baby

Soon after Agnes joined the baby in the nest box. Then her back started rippling and she whimpered a bit...all the books and videos talked about the bunny laying on her side...that never happened. We hadn't seen the back rippling thing before either. It was heart wrenching to watch. We went inside to watch on the camera and Google it. We were concerned for the baby, too. Not sure if she was squishing him or what was going on for sure.

  Agnes' Contractions (watch her back!)

After about 45 minutes the rippling stopped. MJ went out to check on the baby and Agnes willing left the nest box. She revealed a total of 6 more babies...including the baby born 10 hours earlier it's a litter of 7. So far everyone is doing well!

MJ Discovering the Litter

 

The Babies! 6 Dark and 1 White