Who knew keeping rabbits could be so hard? This weekend I was making jokes about finally getting to breed our two Dutch rabbits and today they both died. Â This sucks. Â The Girl’s first rabbit, Boots, which she got at the state fair last year, died suddenly and mysteriously just as we were about to get a mate for him. Â As a result, when we went to pick up the mate, to be Boy Genius’, we went ahead and got another boy for the Girl. Â While Tonks (the doe) was already old enough to breed when we got her, Harry Potter (the buck) was too young. So we’ve patiently waited until he was old enough … and the kids bonded with the rabbits in the process. Â As Harry Potter reached the ripe age of 6 months at the end of May and as we were trying to time things well for babies to show and sell at the state fair, we bred the pair on Sunday. Â Today, we found Harry Potter dead in his cage and Tonks looking quite poorly. Â It appeared to be heatstroke. Â We brought Tonks in the house and proceeded to try our best, calling on Ms. Lio (the goat lady) and Ms. Brenda (the rabbit lady). I even called the neighbor to ask for blackberry bush leaves (which Ms. Brenda recommended) and found out that I have them in my backyard (I’ve never been good with plants). Â Despite all our efforts, Tonks passed on as well. Â The kids already want to know if/when we can get more rabbits. Â I, however, think I’m spent.
Wow, that’s tough. Our rabbits (whatever kind they are–brown and browner) had 4 little ones, that are pretty cute. Daddy is back in with momma and the kids, so we’ll have a few more in a month. If you come out to Memphis area, I’d be glad to give you either a male or a female, but I couldn’t tell you what kind they are…
I’m so sorry to hear about the rabbits! We’ve been struggling to keep our Angoras and Jersey’s cool, just fired up the ac in our little barn and trying to figure out how to make them all fit in there! We are going to the Duncan show in a few weeks if you need us to look for more rabbits for the kids.