Bad Squiddo Bonanza!

Bad Squiddo is one of the more colourful characters in the gaming industry and seems to attract a lot of hate, ignoramuses accusing her of somehow "ruining the hobby" for producing historically accurate non-sexualized female miniatures. Mrs. Rabbitman thinks it's because she provides an alternative to chainmail bikinis and boobies, and the haters want their sexualized figures to be the norm. Providing an alternative means they aren't the norm anymore and their sexy figures are pushed further into the smutty fringes. Plus she's a woman, and haters can't stand women doing anything.

Last month I treated myself to some of her unique products. I got myself the Food Supplies Basing Kit and Bunnies. While I was in her shop I figured I'd get some stuff for Middle Earth too: Dark Age Defending Villagers (I should've gotten 2 packs to be honest) and a shieldmaiden/Queen: Aethelflaed Lady of Mercia. I suppose they could end up in early medieval Europe, but really Rohan is more likely these days.

Why Bunnies? Well you obviously are a recent reader and think the title for this blog is mere whimsy. It isn't. Or just follow all the "Rabbits" tagged posts. So I obviously had to paint 6 of the bunnies as tributes to past family pets. The Dutchie (the white and dark brown bunny) is our first pet bunny, Blaze, who lived a long time (12 years!) despite our inexperienced care. If she had had the better diet and conditions of Nigella and her off spring who knows how long she'd have hopped about?

I don't know what they will do on the table, except provide amusement. But I had fun painting them, because bunnies.

The food all came as separate pieces (even the tiny bottles) and I grouped them onto bases. In hindsight getting her other pack of food supplies already grouped might have been easier.

I do wish I had a drunken Seven Years War hussar to base up with the sausages and cheese, but this way orcs can try to capture them from the hobbits too. Not sure if orcs would like a basket of cabbages though! So either objectives to capture or just set decoration to make the cottages look more lived in.

She's a positive delight to do business with and her miniatures are great. In her WW2 range there is a pack of British housewives fighting off downed Luftwaffe or German paratroopers. One of them has a tea cup and pistol. I really think I should get her for Pottersville. So I hope Annie at Bad Squiddo carries on "ruining the hobby" and angering the ignoramuses. The rest of us will get some delightful miniatures.

A delightful extra! One of her Norse kitties "Freya's Floofs"

The Empty Warren

It is with some sadness that I report that Biggles, International Rabbit of Mystery, and the last of his warren, hopped off to join his ancestors last night.

So now my Basement o'Rabbits is rabbit-less.

10 weeks shy of his 10th birthday puts him somewhere around 90 human years.

Most of pictures are from when he was young and more active. In his later years he'd spend his days in the box and wait for snacks, then go home to his cage when I'd show up for dinner.

The last 2 months though he's been slowing down and like a senior worried about the basement stairs, he wasn't leaving the cage. We did spoil him silly with the treats though. Half an apple? Branch off the apple tree? Even better (leaves and all, he happily stripped all the bark off).

Yesterday morning I gave him the stalk from some broccoli but after work I visited him and he'd fallen and couldn't get back up.

I'm going to miss the little fuzz ball.

The Last Rabbit Standing

Well 2014 has not been a good year for the Warren.

Gordie, one of our males, hopped off to the Big Warren in the Sky the other night after being sick for a while. Gordie was probably the most socialized bunny; he didn't really like being picked up and petted, but he put up with it. Like all the bunnies he preferred getting his human attention/ear scratchies while safely on the ground. He'd been having problems for a while, so I guess it's for the best. Of course most of the pictures are from when they were small, before we separated them into separate cages and moved them all downstairs.

Hanging out with Mom, around 3 or 4 months old

Hoping for treats

Exploring a box stuffed with hay

Here is a home movie my daughter made while learning some digital video stuff.



So now it's just Biggles, the last of the litter. He's always been the most aloof, but he's mellowed with age and I think he may start feeling a bit lonely without his annoying brother about. We had to keep them separate or they'd fight. Even after neutering and age, they still kept their distance.

The Warren is certainly more open after I removed the extra cages.

A lot of room for one bunny now!

There used to be four cages, stacked two high in the corners. When they were younger having the cages as pictured above would have been an invitation to jump up and over and escape. Plus the boys tried to attack each other through the bars, so having them up off the ground was necessary. Biggles however prefers to keep lower to the ground and under cover. Jumping up on top of things just makes you a target for predators after all.

A bag of hay is going to last a lot longer now.

And Now There Are Two

This is my favourite picture of my fuzzy grey girl-friend, Nigella the rabbit. She would let me scratch her nose and behind the ears all day if I had the time.

When I'm on midnights, as I was this week, I always go downstairs and let her out for her daily romp before showering and going to sleep.
Earlier this week she was fine, but yesterday she seemed a bit lethargic. She was at least 8 1/2 years old though, so she didn't always spring out of the cage in the morning, so I didn't think much of it. She otherwise seemed quite healthy and active earlier in the week, and a well cared for bunny can live to 12 years or so.
This morning however, when I went downstairs she was already gone to the Big Meadow. So whatever killed her didn't drag out any pain at least.
When I got up at lunch time we buried her in the back shrub border under a new smoke bush.
So now, out of Nigella and her four off-spring we only have the two boys left; Biggles and Gordy. We all actually thought Nigella would have outlived Gordy.

The Hormones...

I haven't said much about my bunnies in a while.
Of course it's not like their daily adventures in sniffing, eating, sleeping and chewing on their boxes aren't extremely important to them. But they are much the same day to day.
Now our bunnies are 7 years old, which is pretty old for a bunny. The boys have been fixed since they were about 6 months old, and to avoid fights no one gets out at the same time anyway (except the mother and daughter who are room-mates).
So there is no worry about little bunnies.
But every once in a while, the hormones strike and one of the does will get all broody and make a nest and sit in it all day until the mood passes.
Mrs. Rabbitman came down stairs just before Hotlead to find this, with our caramel coloured doe happily nesting in it.

She may have been pleased with herself for getting most of the fur from her grey furred mother. Although Nigella didn't seem to mind (or be missing much of anything).
The hormones, they are not your friends.

Playing with the new camera

Took the shiny new toy down to the basement to try a few snaps and get a handle on how it works.

Here are some Old Glory 15mm 18th century Ottoman Janissaries and cavalry waiting to be picked up by a friend from Ottawa.

I rather like the grey coats and red pants. I'm thinking the Duchy of Mantovia's landwehr battalions might copy this colour scheme.

Unfortunately this is about as close as I can zoom in on a single figure. The camera keeps wanting to focus on the wall behind. I cropped the photo in iPhoto on my daughter's ancient iBook G4, but the crop hasn't stuck. Cropping in too close and you just get a pixilated shot anyway even with 12 megs of data.

Gordy, of course, was quite curious about the goings on:

 This last shot was just freehand, no flash, no timer, held at arm's length.

So, What's This About Rabbits in My Basement?

Vain fool that I am, I like to check the stats on my blog. I also check where the hits are coming from.

Occasionally among the traffic sources (mostly The Miniatures Page, The Lead Adventures Forum  or other gaming blogs) and search words (mostly about war games or something I reviewed), I find someone searching about rabbits.

Especially "can I keep rabbits in my basement?"

OK fellow rabbit-lover and seeker of wisdom, this blog entry is for you.

So yes, I have rabbits in my basement. Four of them. Used to have five, but one died last winter. But not, I should hasten to add, from living in the basement.



Nigella

We started with one. A lovely 6 or 7 month old grey doe with long ears we adopted from the Animal Shelter and named Nigella. We kept her in a roomy cage in the living room where she could be with us. My girls tried to make friends and get her slowly accustomed to us.

Two weeks into her new life I was working midnights. My wife wakes me up; "Guess what Nigella has for you?"

"No. You're kidding me right?"

"Go take a look." Why does all the weird crap happen when you're on midnights?

So I stagger downstairs and Nigella has made a nest in one corner and given birth to four squirming bundles. She's in the opposite corner looking as surprised as we are.

So we hit the books and started researching the ins and outs and how-tos of having baby rabbits. After a few hours we realize she's getting pretty frazzled being in the cage with the kittens. New mothers do need a break from their babies and mother rabbits need more than others. In the wild rabbits leave the nest unattended all day and come back in the evening to nurse.

So we made a run with some chicken wire and out she hopped, went to furthest corner from the nest and promptly lay down for a nap.



Nigella and the kids at a few months old.

 A friend came over with his circular saw and with the chicken wire, some 2x4s, some screws and a staple gun we made a couple of six foot fence sections connected by a hinge. We used these to block off the corner of the living room. The kittens grew and started exploring further from the nest. Watching the little furballs romp about was better than TV (and this was before we cut the cable). We started adding boxes, tubes, potted plants and things to give them more to play with.

The thing with rabbits is they have teeth, and anything fibrous (like carpeting) they will chew and rip. They will also nibble at anything loose (like wallpaper). Male rabbits also start spraying when they hit adolescence. (I only pee on you because I love you.) Actually it's a handy way to tell which are bucks and which aren't. So within about 5 months we had a corner of the living room with torn up, urine stained carpet and shredded wallpaper.

A few months old. When they all got along!

Well we had wanted to repaint the walls and replace the carpet with laminate flooring.

See? say the bunnies, We were helping!

So they pushed our planned redecorating ahead a few years, but I had a good job and we'd been saving for it. But we had to remove the warren to the basement so the flooring guys could do their work. We had previously moved their cages to the basement during heatwaves as well.

Biggles

Our basement is dry with a cement floor. They have their cages up against one wall. The wall studs are covered over with chicken wire and then sheets of card (mainly to keep their scattered detritus from getting through the chicken wire) so they won't chew the wiring. Then the barriers are used to form a roughly 6x6 foot section that they take turns romping in. Mom and one daughter still live together and get along OK (most of the time). But the two bucks are separated and even though they've been fixed, they still fight, given the chance. 



Chloe

 So everyone takes turns. Nigella and Lennier get out when I get up for work and they romp all morning. When my wife comes home after lunch they go home (encouraged by the filling of the food dish). Biggles is then let out for the afternoon. Then around dinner time Gordie takes his turn. Chloe used to be allowed out all night. She had mobility issues and we figured she needed the most opportunities for exercise. She was also the least likely to get up to mischief. But those issues finally caught up with her last winter, so now we don't have a night shift in the Warren.

Gordie

They aren't left in the dark. We have a compact fluorescent light set up by the Warren. There is a communal litter pan which most of them use as sort of a Bunny Scent Network Message Board. But Nigella and Gordie like to dig. We also try to keep a couple of boxes with hay in them for nesting, nibbling, exploring and relaxing.

Nigella and Lennier relaxing.

Chloe's cage is empty now. But it is guarding a weak spot in the wire, so we 're leaving it in the Warren. Gordie's old cage is on top, also empty, to prevent Lennier from jumping up there. We moved Gordie into a more spacious cage outside of the Warren because he seemed down in the dumps. Being glared at by his homicidal brother all day wasn't terribly relaxing. Biggles lives on top of his mother's cage so that way the boys don't fight through the bars when one of them is out.

We had planned to move the gang back upstairs after the redecorating was done. We were looking at linoleum sections to protect the laminate flooring from scratching claws and urine. But during all of this we discovered that my youngest daughter is allergic to rabbits and had developed asthma. Having 5 fur producers up stairs (plus the dust from their hay) was aggravating her condition. Also the heat from the back doors during the summer months stressed the bunnies out. Staying in the basement just seemed better for everyone. On my daughter's good days she still goes down to visit and give them treats. They also get regular interaction, ear and nose scratching, pats, claw inspections and opportunities to sniff us and find out what we've been doing during shift changes in the Warren.

For diet they get Kaytee Timothy Hay which we buy in the large 96 oz. bag and they go through almost one a week. They also get a quarter cup scoop of Martins Little Friends brand Adult Rabbit Feed. It has more fiber and less protein than their rabbit pellets designed for younger bunnies. They also get spoilt regularly with slices of apple and pear, grapes and cherries, bits of lettuce etc. They got more when Gordie was upstairs regularly advocating for snacks (he would go into a very alert intense stare every time he heard me in the kitchen slicing up an apple). We also regularly bribe them with some treats from Kaytee. These are little balls of seeds stuck together with something they like. But the ball format makes the portioning easier. Also every year when we prune our apple trees we save the sticks for them and they love to chomp on those and eat the bark and (when they're fresh) the leaves.

We really need to get our rabbits an endorsement deal with Kaytee to help defray some of the costs! We also like to give them a change of pace with a mix of Oat, Wheat and Barley hay from Alfalfa King. We always leave a pile inside a box so they can munch and relax. Biggles really enjoys this product and looks forward to it when he gets his turn to romp.

We've tried various options for bedding. Cat litter, although they loved to dig in it, was too dusty, couldn't add it to the compost pile (too much clay and we live on heavy clay already!) plus Nigella was eating it which didn't seem too good. Traditional wood shavings got everywhere, were expensive and you can't sift the droppings out. We then found ground up corn cobs and have stuck with them. The corn waste material is ground into little pellets that absorb the urine but can be sifted if dry to remove the droppings and leave the bedding.

But I like rabbits as pets. Some of them are quite bright and learn behaviours and benefit from routines. If one says the word 'grape' anywhere near the Warren then four sets of ears immediately perk up! They're very quiet, pretty undemanding (except when Nigella wants her nose and ears scratched, then I've got an all day job if I wanted) and if you have to clean up animal feces (which you do with any pet), rabbit droppings are probably the least offensive.

The Empty Cage

Inspite of the title, I have not yet talked about my rabbits.

I have quite a few. Four now. They keep me company while I paint.

We adopted one rabbit from the animal shelter and it turned out she was already pregnant. She seemed as surprised as we were when she gave birth to four kittens one afternoon. We fenced off one corner of the living room to give her and her kittens more room. So our living room became a shelter for unwed mothers and watching the little fuzzballs romp about and grow up was better than cable TV (and I'm pretty sure they're smarter than the cast of Jersey Shore).

Having sharp, busy little teeth they quickly destroyed the carpet and the wall paper. We were going to replace both anyway, so I suppose they were just helping.

The warren got moved to the basement when the flooring guys were in, and we kept them there because it is cooler in the summer. Also, having a quarter of your living room taken up by rabbits does inhibit entertaining guests somewhat.

But the one kitten, named Chloe, was born with a spinal problem that the vet couldn't fix, so she needed some extra help keeping clean and we had to get her a bit of carpeting so she would have traction on the basement floor.

Four and half years later her disabilities have gotten the best of her. But as a friend observed, that's four and half years more than she would have gotten in the wild or the animal shelter.

My daughter made this video a few years back when they still lived upstairs and Chloe was more mobile.