The place for news, updates, announcements, and water bottle gossip from the Buns and their humans.

Hot Cross Hoppenings

February 22, 2024

New photos of Whist (already matched and going home 4/15) and available does Boggle, Tiddlywinks, and Parcheesi, have been added to their listing page photo galleries. Enjoy!

April 11, 2025

We just added a new post about rabbits' circling behavior to the blog.

Things are really quiet. We've gotten a few NBQ submissions, took the time to respond to them, and then crickets chirp. Perhaps they lose interest when we tell them we aren't planning any new litters until homes are secured for our junior rabbits, Tiddlywinks, Parcheesi, and Boggle? I'm not sure, but it's disheartening to think that people only want tiny babies. Don't they realize that the tiny, cute baby stage is over in the blink of an eye, and that they will grow into bigger Buns who have just as much love to give? By the time most babies are placed, they are just about to enter the awkward "teenage" stage, so people like this are surely going to be disappointed if all they want is a baby rabbit. Rabbits grow and mature, just like other animals, but they do it much more quickly.

We always strive to be responsible in our breeding practices. We currently do not have the space to house more young rabbits if they are not immediately placed at 8 weeks of age. In addition to each of the aforementioned rabbits, we still have Noelle, Holly, and Ivy housed in another three cage spaces. We're pulling their listings until after they are spayed, as they are now six months of age. We will be having Nora spayed later this month, and hope to have one of each of the "baby" does spayed each month until we're caught up. We'll do Nora, Holly, Ivy, Noelle (her surgery will be much more expensive, as we plan to have her eye repaired at the same time), and then Boggle, Parcheesi, and Tiddlywinks, if they are still with us. The cost of their procedures will be added to their listing prices.

We're planning to list Gumption and Mississippi Mud Pie after Easter (we don't do "Easter bunnies") and hope that they will find loving forever families very soon. Gumption has been 100% spray-free since his neuter, so three cheers for neutering correcting that undesirable behavior!

April 9, 2025

A new bunny behavior question has been answered in today's blog post, "Why Do Rabbits Buzz (or Honk)? We love a good buzzing Bun and have had several that continue to make this sound, even after spaying/neutering. We hope you enjoy the article!

April 2, 2025

There re a few new pictures of Whist added to her listing page. She'll be with us until April 15th, when her new family will take her home. We're so excited for her pick-up day!

Boggle also has a new picture...all the rest were quite blurry. LOL. She is such a wiggle worm!

April 1, 2025

We're so excited that Whist has been matched! She's going to be with us a bit longer, until her new family is ready to take her home. Whist really surprised all of us by coming out of her shell and interacting so nicely with them, rather than being a muffin and staring with wide eyes. Boggle was the other contender and she was being more selective about to whom she wanted to give her attention, which was quite a change from her typical behavior.

We'll share the great news when Whist goes home with her new family.

March 29, 2025

We added Parcheesi's new video to her listing page this morning. Tiddlywink's was added yesterday evening, without much fanfare, so please take a look at how that sweet girl has grown, too. :D

March 28, 2025

I think it works! The All Things Bunny Blog post index seems to be functioning. We added it as a sub-tab to the blog. I truly found the bog post set-up annoying when I was trying to find a specific post. It required clicking through every page, so hopefully this will prove to be more useful. If you notice any of the links aren't working correctly, please let me know and I'll reset it. Please let us know what you think!

Here's a direct link to the page. https://hotcrossbuns.org/all-things-bunny-blog-index

We were able to add a new video of Tiddlywinks to her listing page. Hop on over to view it!

March 27, 2025

Today's blog post exploring the differences between a rabbit nip and a rabbit bite has been shared. I'm working on figuring out a way to create a table of contents or index of some sort to make finding past blog posts a bit easier. I'll let you know if I'm successful (or not). :D

March 26, 2025

March 25, 2025

We have a new video of Whist posted on her listing page. She is such a sweet, pretty girl, but can be painfully shy initially. We so hope some gentle, loving souls wants to add her their home. She will truly blossom in the right atmosphere.

I've been forgetting to share some update photos of Bear (HCB's Porridge) and his dog friends, Maple and Oakley. His Bun-Mom, Katie, sent them last week along with a wonderfully newsy update. Bear is doing great as an emotional support Bun and is enjoying life on campus, although he does seem to miss his dog friends and loves seeing them while home on breaks. Thank you so much for the update, Katie! Bear looks great!

Gumption is doing really well following his neuter. He's been behaving himself and hasn't sprayed at all since his procedure, so we're thankful for that! He should be ready to list in a couple more weeks. We're trying to get to know all the facets of this observant boy. His daughter Boggle looks so much like him, except for the fur coloring.

Speaking of Boggle, we added a new video of her today on her listing! She was feeling very active and playful, so it's not the most serene bunny video we've ever done. We actually put her and her sister Whist in a pen, hoping to make a video of them together, but Boggle was off and running while Whist gently explored. Boggle decided to attempt mounting her sister, so it's time to separate them for good. (Yes, we checked her gender again and she's still a doe.) Mounting (even between two does) is normal behavior to establish dominance and just generally weird bunny behavior. We plan to create and post Whist's video tomorrow, so stay tuned for another beautiful blue doe!

March 24, 2025

March 20, 2025

I neglected to mention that Gumption did great with his neutering. He tolerated the procedure well and was acting quite like his normal self this morning. We'll give him a couple of weeks to heal before listing him as an available Bun.

Thomas went home with his new family this evening! They were all excited to see each other again and Thomas seemed to do a little dance when he recognized them. He was with us for exactly one week. We are very thankful that he was able to be placed with his amazing family so quickly. They have promised to share updates, so we'll keep our readers posted!

A new blog post has been published. This one is an overview of when and why rabbits may bite. We will delve into the topic more deeply in future posts. Generally, biting is a very rare behavior in a rabbit that has been well cared for and well socialized, but it's important to understand the behaviors that could lead to a true bit (not to be confused with a nip, which is a very different thing.)

Gumption is being neutered. He should be home later today. We so hope this curtails his spraying behavior and that he will find a wonderful family who will adore this handsome boy.

March 19, 2025

March 18, 2025

Evelyn and I have been in negotiations (with each other) over whether we should add Hopscotch to the rabbitry as a future breeding doe. Since placing her grandmother, Genevieve, as a pet Bun, I have missed having a cream around. Nora, who hasn't shown any interest or cooperation when it comes to the prospect of motherhood, will be added to the spay and place as a pet list, so we will have room for Hopscotch to stay.

Things are continuing to go well. Thomas met a potential family yesterday and their visit went extremely well. He met their doe Millie, and was very sweet with her, even when he got excited and mounted her multiple times. He never pulled at her fur and there were no signs of aggression. He flopped and was very open to receiving affection from both of them. We're awaiting news of their decision.

Today we're sharing pictures of Tiddlywinks. She is a very sweet and quiet little doe. Observant by nature and fond of cuddles from familiar friends, she is a darling. We love her chestnut coloring!

10:45pm...UPDATE!!!! We're thrilled to announce that Thomas has a new family! He will be staying with us until Thursday evening, but will then be joining Nick, Ally, and bonded-friend-to-be, Millie. Once fully established as a bond, Thomas will have lots of attention and time to free roam in his new home. We're so excited for him!

March 17, 2025

March 15, 2025

Everything is still going swimmingly where Thomas and Missy are concerned.

Today is Parcheesi's turn to have her pictures posted. She is Quinoa and Sullivan's orange daughter and is a total busy-bunny. She boops and investigates everything! We love her energy and playfulness. She was being especially photogenic during her photoshoot, so she has a lot of new pictures posted on her gallery on her listing page (scroll all the way to the bottom to see the newest pictures.)

Little Thomas is doing wonderfully. He stayed in the exercise pen all night, used his litter box, and was binkying and looking for attention this morning. He ran up to every member of our family, to sniff and receive a quick pat on the head. He's a bit wary of too much handling, but I chalk that up to common sense for a rabbit who's still trying to understand what's going on.

Missy is continuing to do well and is showing more enthusiasm about eating. It took her a while to catch on that her pain medication was mixed in with her Sherwood Appetite Restore, but once she learned that the banana-flavored goodness would help her feel better, she was all in.

Today, we're sharing new pictures of Boggle on her listing. She is as delightful as ever, and has a very sweet, inquisitive personality. She is a busy-bunny who loves to be involved in all activities.

March 14, 2025

March 13, 2025

HCB's Thomas came back to us this morning. (We always refer to Buns being re-homed by their original HCB names, as it keeps things streamlined in our minds and paperwork.) Thomas is settling in well. We gave him some cuddles, clipped his toenails, took a few pictures, and set him up in an exercise pen for some play time and wiggle room.

Mississippi Mud Pie (Missy) is doing great following her spay. She's moving around slowly, but has been eating hay and food, as well as drinking her water, so we're very pleased with her progress.

We took new pictures of the younger Buns today and will be sharing one set of photos each day. Today, we have Whist! The broken patterned Bun is Thomas and Whist is the solid blue.

Today's blog post is about the joys of bunny binkies! It was definitely a fun one to write. :D

We dropped Mississippi Mud Pie (Missy) off at the vet bright and early this morning for her spay. If all goes well, she should be settled back into her cage space by 3:30 this afternoon. Originally we had planned to have Loofah neutered next, but Evelyn and I decided that, as Gumption suddenly began to spray and we didn't want this to become a bad habit that would make finding a forever family very challenging, we've chosen to retire him much earlier than planned. Our hope is that the spraying will disappear as his testosterone levels diminish.

With a new bunny vet available for spays, we're looking at retiring a couple of our older does (Rosie and Posey - they will most likely remain here as pets, as they are personal favorites of mine) and having the older, still-waiting younger does spayed prior to placement (Noelle, Holly, and Ivy.) The hope is to do one per month, in whatever order we deem best.

Plans have been made to take back a Bun for re-homing. Thunder Bunz (Hot Cross Buns' Thomas) will be arriving tomorrow morning. His family of five years have been doing a lot of work-related travel and have realized that he is not getting the time and attention he craves and deserves. After trying to make the best of it for a long time, they realized that finding a new family for him is in his best interests. We're going to assess him for the next week or so, give him time with one or two of our spayed does to see how he would do as a bonding bunny, and get a feel for his overall temperament before creating a listing for him. Our hope is to find a family for him quickly, before he becomes too accustomed to things at HCB. He's a neutered broken squirrel born on November 11, 2019. His family have answered a lengthy questionnaire to give us more information about him and his likes and dislikes. We'll share that information on his listing.

March 12, 2025

March 10, 2025

We decided to take some pictures of our French Angora pet doe, Sukie, today. Sukie plays a very special role in caring for the babies born at Hot Cross Buns. Some of the mamas don't pull enough fur to keep their babies warm in their nest boxes. This is where Sukie and her wonderfully warm angora wool come in. When we groom her, we collect all the softest, cleanest wool and keep it close at hand to use whenever we have a concern about the amount of fur in the doe's nest box. We take a hand full of Sukie's beautiful wool and cut it into much smaller lengths, so the babies don't accidentally strangle themselves in her longer wool. They snuggle in and stay warm and toasty until their own fur grows out and they are better able to regulate their body temperature. Sukie is truly an unsung hero at HCB.

Sukie lives in Evelyn's bedroom and free roams. She is opinionated and very sassy, and we love her for it! She loves to throw her toys and food bowls around, so we hear some interesting sounds emanating from the room at all hours. Sukie doesn't like other rabbits and has been known to nip a nose or an ear if some other bunny got too close to her space. That's why she now lives in Evelyn's room. She isn't particularly adventurous, so has never hopped up the steps to Evelyn's loft bed (as other Buns have done), but she loves to hop into the cubby holes in her book shelf and chomps on whatever she finds. Evelyn, who is very creative, often gets boops from a bossy bunny demanding more attention while she's drawing or painting.

We like to take pictures of her a couple of times each year to share and today, she was hamming it up! She has a HUGE personality in her very furry body. Thank you for all you do to help the babies, Sukie!