A blog post or two back, I think I mentioned that I was on the waitlist for an angora rabbit (due to be born this month). Well, that rabbit’s breeder was at the other end of WA state, and to get it here, I would have had to use an animal transporter, which 1) costs money, and 2) is always a little risky.
So imagine my pleasure when an ad popped up on Craigslist for a litter of satin angoras born in Bellingham, WA…just a short drive away. The owner was a lovely woman who had a few angoras for spinning fiber…and whose buck accidently got in with her does. Result? Two accidental pregnancies. I originally really wanted one buck (male rabbits seem to have sweeter personalities, in my experience) but she’d already sold all the bucks in the litter…leaving me with a choice between three does I could take today, and three more that would be ready in another week.
Meet Cinnamon. She’s a ten week old doe.
Her wool has that gorgeous satin shine…what there is of it. She’s old enough to have had her first shearing, so her coat is clipped short and uneven. But in about 4 months, she’ll be absolutely perfect.
I really wanted Cinnamon for her beauty, but she was a little skittish, and the breeder called her ‘salty’. I think she’s just young, and she’ll settle down, but you can never be sure. Rabbits definitely have their distinct personalities.
Which leads us to Cocoa.
She’s a week or two older, and her coat is less glossy…and in a color that I don’t find quite as appealing. However, she is the sweetest thing – such a calm, friendly personality. The breeder says she’s super easy to groom, and just a little darling.
So which one did I bring home?
Why, both of them, of course! What a silly question!
The breeder really wanted me to buy two because she thinks rabbits do better with a friend – and I believe that as well. Her rabbits (all the does) were in a colony together, and it was so cute to see them snuggle together.
Sometimes rabbits bond for life, sometimes they decide they hate each other and start fighting. These two really like each other now, so we’ll see what happens. If they start fighting, or if Cinnamon turns out to be a difficult rabbit, I may end up only keeping one.
They seem to like their new home (a sectioned off corner of my sewing room with the option to roam the entire room once they are litterbox trained), and when I held Cocoa and did a little grooming, she obviously loved it. She relaxed, got sleepy, and started “purring” – which in rabbits means lightly grinding her teeth to make that sound. I can pick her up, carry her around, and even turn her over onto her back without her kicking or otherwise protesting. Cinnamon seemed to like being groomed too, but didn’t relax and seemed a little nervous still.
In other news, my King Pigeons are settling right in. They seem very relaxed now…so relaxed in fact, that I caught them “billing” (a courtship ritual involving the male feeding the female regurgitated food – it looks like kissing!) and then actually mating. Pigeons tend to mate for life, so if these two weren’t already a couple when I got them, they obviously bonded during their voyage from Pennsylvania. This is excellent news. Hopefully, they’ll start thinking about starting a family soon. I’ll get some more pictures and a video of them soon, but until then, here’s another picture of Cinnamon!
Out of Eden 