The place for news, updates, announcements, and water bottle gossip from the Buns and their humans.
Hot Cross Hoppenings
February 22, 2024
Today's blog post covers bunny growth and development for Buns who are four weeks old. Check it out on the All Things Bunny Blog! We featured photos of chocolate doe Ivy for the images with this article because of her wonky ears and her inability to sit still for very long. :D
We also hope you take a few minutes to catch up on the photos of Henrietta's babies that were posted about 11pm last night.
In continuing with the theme of names from various Christmas carols, we have selected names for Penelope's babies.
The solid black is being called Figgy Pudding from "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". We aren't sure of Figgy Pudding's gender yet, but will keep checking.
The blue tort buck is named Wenceslas after the song "Good King Wenceslas".
November 20, 2024
November 19, 2024
You have our sincerest apologies for the delay in posting the latest pictures of Henrietta and Gumption's babies! It has been a terribly busy day and, although the photos have been taken and cropped, my desktop is being painfully slow about uploading them. Due to various commitments and celebrating a family birthday, I'm not going to be able to get back to task until very late tonight or sometime tomorrow morning. Despite the delay, we so hope you will enjoy them!
Evelyn and I decided on a theme of names/words from various Christmas carols for both litters. We're still selecting the names for Penelope's kits, but Henrietta's babies are as follow:
Lilac #1 (buck) is Herald, as in "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".
Chocolate #1 (doe) is Holly and Chocolate #2 (doe) is Ivy from "The Holly and the Ivy".
Lilac #2 (buck) is Hippopotamus from "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".
Lilac #3 (doe) is Noelle from all carols using the various spellings of Noel, Noelle, and Now-ell.
Lilac Tort (buck) is Parson Brown from "Winter Wonderland ".
We know they are rather silly, but thought they would be fun for babies going home just prior to Christmas.
10:50pm The new pictures have been added to The Nursery page! Enjoy! (The pictures go with their names listed above, from left to right, top to bottom.)
We sent out an email to each of our waiting list families, letting them know that we are planning to begin the matching process with our current litters next Monday, November 25th. We hope to work through the list quickly and efficiently so that everyone can relax and enjoy their Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family, and not have to worry about missing an email from us. If the process is slower than anticipated, we will take a break for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and will resume contacting families on the morning of Saturday, November 30th.
We have heard from one of our families who indicated they are going to wait for the next round of babies due to holiday travel plans. That means we will have at least three kits remaining to be matched, but there could be more if other waiting list families decided to hold off. These little ones will be ready to place on or after December 10th (Henrietta's babies) and 13th (Penelope's babies).
If you are interested in adopting a Hot Cross Bun, please thoroughly complete the New Bunny Questionnaire so we can begin getting you through our approval process. We're so excited to place these little ones with their loving forever families!
November 18, 2024
November 15, 2024
We have new pictures of Penelope's babies today for their four week old celebration. Check out The Nursery page to see many more!
Today's blog post about a bunny's third week of life has been published. We hope this information gives our readers a good way to imagine how quickly the babies grow and change each day. They don't stay little for long!
November 13, 2024
November 12, 2024
We have new pictures of Henrietta and Gump's babies today. They are now four weeks old. I did a gender peek and am pretty sure about most of them. I'll post that information later on the Nursery page when I get back from an appointment. In the meantime, enjoy the babies! We did include pictures of Lilac #3 with the injured eye. I need to clean it up again, but the baby hasn't been slowed down by it at all.
We have some Bun update videos to try to share. They are from Reba, who adopted Country Road last month as a bonding buddy for her doe Winry. The first one is 15 seconds long and the second is 2, so very quick watches. Look at that happy boy!
November 10, 2024
The next video was sent to us by Theodosia's new family. She is enjoying her new home and soaks up all of their love and attention. She is living the pampered Bun life, for certain!
November 8, 2024
New pictures of Penelope's babies are on the Nursery page. Her kits are doing beautifully. The black Bun is definitely more laid back than the blue tort, who tends to be rather adventurous and active thus far.
Henrietta's lilac baby is doing okay. The wound is no longer bleeding and there is no sign of infection, thankfully. We were concerned it felt a bit thin this morning, so did the laundry basket and towel trick with Henrietta covered in the basket with the baby. We'll be repeating as needed. The baby is most certainly in some amount of pain, but being as tiny as it is, we're concerned about overdosing by giving it any amount of Metacam. I'm looking into chewable aspirin dissolved in water as a pain relief measure for the next couple of days, if proper dosing information can be found. Hopefully, nursing from Henrietta will provide some natural pain relief, as it does in human babies who nurse from their mothers.
Henrietta's Lilac Bun #3 decided to escape the double-layered exercise pen by climbing out and, for its efforts, received a sizeable bite just above his/her left eye, leaving a loose flap of fur. The injury is most likely from our doe Francesca, as she tends to be very territorial, and her pen was fairly close to Henrietta's. The baby is understandably frightened and we are treating the wound with a warm, diluted iodine solution, as a measure to prevent infection. Now we wait and see. We so hope it will be okay. Henrietta and all of her babies have been transferred to a large cage to prevent further run-ins with our other pen Buns.
November 7, 2024
November 6, 2024
Wednesday is Blog Posy Day at Hot Cross Buns. We invite you to read about the growth and changes baby Buns undergo in their second week of life on the All Things Bunny Blog page.
New pictures of Henrietta and Gumption's babies are up. Each has his/her own section now under the litter information on the Nursery page. We've added a brief note about overall temperament noted, so far. Enjoy!
November 5, 2024
November 4, 2024
Today is Waiting Bun day, so we have some new pictures of Francesca to share. with our readers.
Today has been spent trying to get some of the does bred for December babies.
We have no idea what it is with both of our opal does, Quinoa and Nora, but both are still refusing to "lift" for their respective bucks. Both are giving clear physical indications that they are ready for babies and have been enthusiastically chasing and mounting the bucks, which is another indication that they are ready to be mothers, but the magic moment still hasn't happened. We are leaving both "couples" in their exercise pens for the next few hours, in the hope that they will eventually get things figured out and conceive beautiful babies. Quinoa and Sullivan are one "couple" and Nora and Sunshine are the other.
We had more success with Missy and Rosie, both of whom spent one-on-one time with Gumption. They each had a single stillborn baby earlier this month, so we're hoping that next month will bring much happier outcomes for both perspective mother-to-be.
Posey and Finnegan had some date time, too, but we aren't sure if their baby-making mission was accomplished or not.
Check back December 2-5th for December's Nest Box Watch.
November 2, 2024
November 1, 2024
New photos of Penelope's babies are on the Nursery page, with a sneak peek below. We now believe the lighter kit is a blue tort, rather than black tort, so the questions of parenthood will be revisited as time permits. Their eyes are open and they are slowly beginning to explore.
A new blog post is available on the All Things Bunny Blog. This one addresses the growth and changes we notice during the first week of a newborn kit's life. Enjoy!
October 30 2024
October 29, 2024
We received permission from Emily H. to remove her from the waiting list, now that we know Theodosia is settling in very happily with their family.
I spent a couple of hours puzzling over the identity of the sire of Penelope's mystery babies. I'm leaning towards Finnegan. You can read some of my mental musings about this on The Nursery page. LOL
And now on to the real reason most people are visiting our website today...updated pictures of Henrietta and Gumption's babies! More are shown on The Nursery page!
We have some new pictures of available doe Periwinkle. She is doing well and is becoming braver and more confident with us. She's still rather curmudgeonly in her behavior, but at least she's a curious curmudgeon. She won't admit it, but she loves her pets and cuddles. Peri is such a pretty girl!
October 28, 2024
October 26, 2024
Penelope's babies have an update and new pictures today. Both are doing great!
Today's blog post has been added to the All Things Bunny Blog. It's titled: Kindling: What Can Go Right, What Can Go Wrong
The babies are all doing really well.
October 23, 2024
October 22, 2024
There's an update and new photos of Henrietta and Gumption's babies on The Nursery page. The babies are doing really well! Here are a couple of preview pictures to enjoy!
We received another update about Theodosia! She is doing well and is comfortable getting head pets and some grooming time. She really enjoys her free-roam time. She looks very happy and loved. <3
October 21, 2024
October 19, 2024
We added the official birth announcement for Penelope's litter to The Nursery page. Her babies are very cute. <3
Penelope had a stillborn baby late in the day, so ended up carrying a litter of four, but only two babies who will survive after the peanut passes. :(
Henrietta had fed all of her kits this morning, so we didn't need to help her. We'll check them later today to make sure they all get dinner before bedtime. Her babies are already so much bigger than Penelope's!
Some good and some sad news to share.
Yesterday afternoon we found a single stillborn baby in Rosie's nest box. It wasn't a particularly large kit, so we're wondering if last week's roofing job stressed her out too much. :(
This morning, we discovered that Missy had a single stillborn baby, as well.
On a happier note, Penelope had three babies arrive during the night. Two of them look good, but the third one looks for all the world like a peanut. I didn't make any notes about attempting to breed her with any buck other than Gumption, but I must have. Gumption is definitely a false dwarf, so I'm going to be playing, "Who's your daddy?" with them. It's either Finn or Sweet Tea, but my guess would be Sweet Tea. We'll hopefully share some pictures of them tomorrow or Sunday.
We added an update on The Nursery page about Henrietta and Gumption's litter.
Now we're just waiting to see if Posey has any wee ones in the next day or two.
October 18, 2024
October 17, 2024
Still no babies from Rosie or Missy. That was disappointing, but we will try re-breeding them later today. Henrietta's babies are still doing well. We should find out in a few more days if Penelope and/or Posey will have any new arrivals to announce. :)
We officially announced Henrietta and Gumption's litter on the Nursery page, including pictures! Here are some others as a sneak peek. Aren't they beautiful?
Still no babies from Missy or Rosie. We'll give them one more day before putting them on the "try breeding again" list.
If they conceived, Penelope and Posey would be due on Saturday-ish. It looks like Posey built a little nest, so we're hopeful.
October 16, 2024
October 15, 2024
6:15pm Henrietta and Gumption have SIX fat little babies! Nothing to report for Rosie or Missy yet. We'll make a formal announcement tomorrow. :D
A very Happy Birthday to Theodosia! She is celebrating her 3rd birthday and we received a very sweet picture of the birthday girl this morning. She opened her gifts and was doing happy binkies, so her new home and family are definitely her best birthday gift, ever!
Did anybody else enjoy that really loud thunderstorm during the night? I had a shaking. quivering mass of terrified Morkie on my chest for about 2.5 hours during the worst of it, and got up several times to make sure we didn't have water leaking into the house. I confess to being too tired to drive safely, so we didn't make it to church this morning. I'm very thankful that our new roof was completed on Thursday!
We have received permission to share Country Road updates! Here they are:
Hi!
We absolutely adore the little man He is so sweet and cuddly! He acts like he has been here forever lol. We found out he is a really vocal little dude and loves to honk at us when we come home or bring food. I haven’t had a bunny that honks in a while and it is so precious.
The bonding seems to be going okay so far! We got both of them to groom each other during the sessions so far. Still the occasional mounting to figure out the hierarchy but we are hopefully they will be fully bonded in a few weeks or less.
We will keep you posted when they are fully moved in together and rabbit condo land is complete!
Here are some photos!
October 13, 2024
Hi Guys!
Yes we are just going to keep his name Country 😊 it has really grown on us and we love singing “Country Roads!!” at him 😂 Please feel free to use any photos we send you. We don’t care if you want to post any with our faces in it.
He was super cute last night! He ran a bunch of circles around me for dinner excitement. It was beyond precious. We think he is trying his best to try to binky on the carpet too. He is more of just a zoomer around the room. He has been watching Winry parkour all over the place and trying to mimic it though 😂 We will try to get a video of it for you.
Thank you so much for the update, Reba and Jordan! We are thrilled that he is taking lessons from his big sister, Winry, and is learning to do all the adorable things a bunny should do. We had hoped this would be the case when we learned that Winry was a very active, playful girl, and she is just what Country needed to awaken his inner zoomies. Doesn't he look happy?
We have also been receiving some encouraging updates about Theodosia as she continues to settle in and bond with her family. They are moving slowly and Dozey is allowing them to give her little pets, so that is very heart-warming to know! ETA: She's doing great with her litter box training!
We're inching closer and closer to Nest Box Watch! Henrietta definitely made a nest. Missy did something, but we aren't certain if it's an intentional nest or not. LOL. The others tend to be last-minute nest makers, so we're not giving up hope. (Since we bred on two different days, Henrietta, Missy and Rosie would be due Mon-Wednesday, and Penelope and Posey would be due on Friday or Saturday.) We're going to wait 24-48 hours before formally announcing each litter as it arrives.
October 10, 2024
It's a day late, but we do have a new blog post today! Today's topic was a quick post about bunny vaccinations. We're having a new roof put on as I type this, so the banging and thuds overhead made for an interesting writing environment. LOL
We're happy to share that Theodosia is continuing to do well with her new family and is already more relaxed and accepting gentle pets. Yay, Dozey!
There is a great deal of anxiety in the rabbitry with the pounding roofers doing their job. We're very hopeful that the potentially expectant mama Buns aren't too upset. Nest Box Watch starts on Monday and I'm a bundle of nerves as we wait to see if Gumption is going to be a first-time daddy.
Theodosia joined her new family today! By all accounts things are going well and she is going to be given lots of time to settle in and quietly explore her new surroundings. Dozey's new family loves and respects animals and we know she will be given every opportunity to form a wonderful relationship with her new them. We are so excited with her placement. She waited for a year and a half following her spay to find the right family and she has been blessed with a very good one!
October 9, 2024
October 6, 2024
We received a wonderful surprise this afternoon! The second family who came to meet the does during the Retired Bun Matching Event contacted us to let us know they would like to be matched with Theodosia! They had been trying to decide if they wanted one of the older Buns or if they wanted to wait for a baby, so they met with us and asked lots of questions while meeting and interacting with all the girls. They wanted to take some time to think things over, (which we fully appreciated and respected since adopting an animal on a whim can lead to many regrets) and we were so excited that they reached out to us today to say they want to give Dozey a home! They are gathering supplies and setting up their home for her, but we're pretty sure she will be joining them later this week. :D
We're part of the way through our Retired Bun Matching Event!
Country Road just went home with Reba, Jordan, and their five year old Holland Lop doe, Winry. Country was quite the gentleman and Winry was very curious about him. We are confident that she will help him enjoy life and teach him to do many fun things. Reba and Jordan are very knowledgeable, experienced rabbit people, so we know Country is in the best of hands. He will even get to celebrate his birthday with them when he turns four years old next Saturday! I confess it was hard to say goodbye to this incredibly sweet little buck, but we know he will love his new life with his new family. <3