The Parker Report - May 24, 2015 - First Installment

Here's the first Installment of "The Parker Report" - May 24, 2015:

Parker has been doing well since Friday night. (His first night with us – he was brought to us a day after his neuter operation and delivered by DeAnna from Contra Costa Rabbit Rescue. 

He's had no trouble adapting to his X-pen (AKA "The Parker Pad") and didn't complain when we put him to bed Friday night after his fun evening of exploring and binkying all over the place.  (For those that don't know what a "binky" is, its when a rabbit is so happy that he's doing silly hops and mid-air twists as he runs, kind of like a person kicking their heels together in the air.)

The first night he was so excited and was leaving his "raisenettes" all over the place, but Saturday, we only had a few and now he knows where to go for his potty, food and water and his bed.

I cleaned out his litter box today and he had a bunch of poops in there, plus some pee in the bottom, so I know he's using it now.  He (luckily) hasn't tried to spray anything either.

He likes to sleep inside the box in his pen, along with trying to remodel it.  We clip an old sheet over the top of the pen at night just in case he decides to make his escape.

We fold it back half-way during the day when we're home so it's covered over his box and open in the food area.

He didn't eat as much on Saturday because he was still excited about exploring.  It's kind of like a little kid at Disneyland - all he wants to do is play.  Today he's eating a lot more.

Last night we picked up a small bag of alfalfa and just sprinkled a little bit in his grass (since he's still a little guy) and he's eating more of the grass.  

He's also eating his greens very well (which he has when we sit down for our main meals) and I put about two teaspoons of kibble in his bowl, which he nibbles on throughout the day.

I had bunny duty Saturday morning while Brad went to work. He was supposed to be on duty in the afternoon but he got home home late in the afternoon due to problems on his service call.

I had fun with Parker and played with him in the living room.  His favorite thing is to go back and forth (and back & forth and back & forth....) behind the drapes in both the living room and family room.

He was also playing hide-and-seek with Brad yesterday and hid behind the living room drape so Brad couldn't find him.

After he tired himself out doing that and chewing on the piece of cardboard I gave him (and trying to nibble on a few other "off limits" things like the feet on my secretary desk) he laid down in the living room, partially behind the drape and bar stool (so he could keep an eye on me).  I sat on the floor leaning against the wood toy box reading my bunny book while he "fake napped" (it looked like his eyes were still partially open).

I started getting hungry for lunch so I thought maybe I could sneak into the kitchen and make something really quick before he noticed.  Of course he noticed so I hurried and brought my food back into the living room to keep an eye on him while I ate.  When I was done, I sat back down on the floor in the same place and he started doing circles around me, between my back and the toy box and circling me & the toy box, then under my bent knees.

(Our other rabbit Harley used to like to go behind my back and under my knees like that, but he never did it with Brad.)

After lunch and bunny time Saturday, he went and laid down at the back wall of the family room next to his pen and I sat on the sofa to read.

He could keep his eye on me from that position, so he stayed there for awhile.  (That was also Harley's chosen spot for his bed and always layed there, probably because it was dark and he felt protected against the wall and kind of behind the furniture, yet he could see anybody that was coming his direction plus have a couple of exits.  The reading was making me sleepy since I had a pretty tiring week and I was up late Friday night, and I was starting to nod off.  I didn't want to fall asleep with him loose (that would be a disaster!), so I got lucky when he decided to get up and go into his pen to get a drink of water. I took that as my opportunity to close it and get some rest.

When he first noticed he was closed in now he protested a bit at first and bit at the side of the pen, but he calmed down after a couple of minutes and we both took a nap (me on the sofa and him in the pen).

He has to get used to being in there during the day anyway for when we're both away at work.  Afternoon is usually when bunnies nap.

Brad got home around 3:00 pm and then he was on bunny duty after we got back from the pet store, so I could go pay bills upstairs.

He's been pretty good so far (as much as can be expected of a juvenile bunny).  I found that when he starts to nibble on something I don't want him to I just quickly say "no no"  to him and he usually stops what he's dong and I can redirect him to something else that's "rabbit approved".  I did move one photo album that was sticking out past the edge of the book shelf because he figured if it's sticking out, it's fair game for him to chew.  I'll also probably have to cover the feet of my Grandmother's antique secretary desk because he is drawn to them.  (Either that or I'll just move the whole desk up to my bedroom.)

Saturday morning he also discovered the storage area behind our pantry (under the stair landing).  Last year we opened up that area and made extra storage.  

We even sheetrocked it and put small recessed LED lights and remnant carpet in there so it's clean and comfortable.  It's where I keep my Christmas tree and decorations (in their boxes).

Harley used to love going in there.  I guess because it was cozy with the low ceiling and carpet.  Anyway...we accidentally left the door open after getting our cereal yesterday.

All of a sudden I lost track of him.  He couldn't have gone far since I put the baby gate in front of the stairs so he wouldn't try going up again.  I also closed the doors to the laundry room and downstairs bathroom.

He's pretty quick so I looked in the family room to see if he was hiding in there.  Then I noticed the open pantry door and remembered how Harley used to love going in there to explore.

Sure enough, there he was!  Harley never really got into anything in there (he was practically the perfect rabbit), but Parker hopped up on one box so he was now high enough to reach my wreath that was sitting on top of the adjacent box.  I didn't want him to nibble on that so I moved it to the highest box on the other side so he couldn't get to it.  After a minute more of exploring, he came out so I shut the door.

Last night Brad had to catch him to put him in his pen at bedtime, but he didn't complain too much.  

Brad picked him up earlier that evening to check his surgery suture and got a small scratch on the arm from his nails.  (I think he'll survive though.)

Now, when Parker has his free-roaming time we leave his pen open and he goes in there whenever he wants to use the potty or eat or drink.

He was also lounging in there this morning when I was working in the kitchen.  Harley used to like to watch me in the kitchen too.

He's getting used to different sounds in the house.

This morning while Brad was watching his Sunday car shows Parker was exploring and tried to jump up on our record albums in the corner (unsuccessfully, thank goodness!)

I knew it was only a matter of time before he did that because he kept looking at it.  The stack is also the same height as the hearth, so I can tell I'll probably need to move my big plant and clear anything else off the hearth "just in case".  It's a lot different having a young adventurous bunny vs. a fairly lazy senior bunny.  It's a learning experience for us, but we're handing it so far.

Brad was able to check his undercarriage again a couple of times.  The last time he took the opportunity to check when Parker got up on his hind feet to kiss him on the head.  

He says it's a little pink but nothing to be concerned about.  We'll still see if we can get him in for a once-over baseline check-up with Dr. Dietrich in the next week.

Well, I think that's all I can think of to write for now.  We took a bunch of photos of him doing different activities so you can see that he's adjusted to domestic life well.

I posted them to my Google Photos page, along with a couple of videos.  There's not much action in the videos, but I just wanted to show that he's now eating grass in his potty.

Check out the albums and feel free to forward a link to anyone who might be interested.  He's really a love bug.