# 2012 Texan Tales & Tails



## TinysMom (Jan 1, 2012)

Hello! You can find last year's blog here. I debated about starting a new blog this year because I haven't been very active lately - but then I was reading back through my old blogs the other day and thinking about how glad I was that I had shared so many memories in them that I could enjoy later.

For those who don't know me - my name is Peg and I used to breed lionheads and then took a break - then bred flemish giants and holland lops. I decided to stop breeding last year for several reasons but I still have many of my rabbits here with us and we will let them stay with us until they pass on. Many times I have thought about rehoming them but this last year we lost several rabbits - among the hardest losses were several of my flemish giant bucks - and I've decided to just enjoy the rabbits I have now and try to help them have happy and healthy lives.

Some of the rabbits you may hear about the most are the ones that live in the rabbitry area. Mercury, Athena and Hermes are my three oldest flemish giants and were part of my original herd when I started breeding. Athena is neutered and enjoys living alone in her cage. At this moment, she is snoozing in her litter box. Hermes and Mercury (aka "puppy" cause he used to follow us around like a puppy during his playtimes) are both intact and probably won't be neutered since there are girls who need to be neutered first. Harmony is next and she is my largest flemish giant rabbit - she came to us from New England. I need to weigh her but I think she's over 20 pounds now. She and Athena are my sweeties and they just love to get pets. Harmony is next to Mercury and loves to flirt with him sometimes. 

Athena is next to my only English lop buck, Brady Hawkes. I don't know if its just me or what - but I find E-lops to be the MESSIEST rabbits I have. I love Brady dearly - don't get me wrong -but boy can he really mess up his cage. 

I have two other full flemish boys - they are sons of Nyx (who you'll hear about later). One is all black and is "Tiny Tim" cause he reminds me a lot of Tiny. The other buck is a steel buck and he's named "Smithy" and he is hilarious. He loves to run and play and literally binky into the back door. Sometimes I think he's simply trying to make the puppy look smart.

There are also two Californian bucks who are brothers and have lived together since birth. They are Dallas and Austin and my greatest fear is that one of them will die and I'll lose the other one short afterwards. 

I also have Sam and Dean Winchester - half flemmie brothers who lived together for over a year before they stated fighting -now they have separate cages. Sam likes to help me open his cage door for supper since it opens inward. Dean is our "box disposer" and we give him small priority mail boxes to chew up because he loves to destroy them. 

Fiona is a Californian doe we rescued last year along with her sister (RIP) and her two brothers Castiel & Crowley. Cas & Crowley live together in the office...more on them later.

Moving on - there is Duke aka "Dukey" our bottle-fed from 8 days old flemish giant buck. He's beside CJ which stands for Calamity Jane - a flemish giant doe from my first litter. She's got a very mild personality but doesn't play well with other does. Dukey is in between her and Popcorn - a New Zealand doe I got from Snap - a forum member who was leaving for college. 

Below those there are Lily and Rosita - two New Zealand does we rescued at the same time as Fiona - plus in the middle is Ske-doosh - a New Zealand/Flemish mix that I got from a forum member also as she was moving. I was in love with Ske for well over a year - maybe two? before I was able to adopt him. His story is very interesting - he was a leftover Easter bunny that broke his leg while at the store. The forum member took him and had his leg fixed, etc. and he was her heart bunny for a while...while he was my heart bunny from a distance. Ske loves to flirt with anyone - buck or doe - doesn't matter.

Charlie is our mini-rex that came to us at the same time as Popcorn. 

Finally we have Ziggy, our very fluffy teddy-style lionhead, and Leo, Jed & Bruno - our holland lop bucks.

That is our rabbitry. Don't worry - the test won't be for 2 days - you'll have time to study.

I really need to get moving here so I'll simply state that the office has Nyx - our black flemish giant doe from Wabbitdad12 and Wabbitmom12 (who really should have ?? instead of a number behind their names cause they're always open to helping bunnies, etc) along with several other bunnies.

And I can't forget Zeus - our bedroom bunny that we adopted when Tiny died a few years ago. I still miss "The BunFather" as we called him and will tear up when I look at his pictures. Its hard to believe that I've had Zeus longer than I had Tiny...but I think it s true - or it will be true soon.

Zeus has been extremely active lately which sorta scares me a bit - almost like he's in his second childhood. He seems healthy but I know he's getting older and is like 7 now - almost 8 I think. He runs around the room and almost sounds like a small pony when he gets going. This morning he even willingly gave me kisses- something he's only done two or three times before- once when I was very sick with a fever. Needless to say - I wonder what is going on with him - maybe he's finally happy and realized he's staying here - I don't know. He had another home once but when he disobeyed and peed on the floor he got returned to the shelter. He's tried peeing lately and getting into trouble and he knows he'll get locked up and he knows his limits. I think maybe by seeing he has boundaries he's happy now and has finally accepted this is his "forever" home.

Anyway - that is it for now. More later...

I'm going to try to update at least once a week if I can.


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## irishbunny (Jan 2, 2012)

Hi Peg! Thanks for the update.


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## Nancy McClelland (Jan 2, 2012)

:wave:


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## NZminilops (Jan 2, 2012)

Would love to see some pictures.


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## SnowyShiloh (Jan 21, 2012)

Hi Peg! Great to see you started another blog! And I'm with Michelle, pictures are definitely necessary


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## Wabbitdad12 (Jan 21, 2012)

Yea! New blog of Texas bunny antics! Give Nyx some hugs and kisses from us.


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## TinysMom (Apr 18, 2012)

Wow - hard to believe it has been months since I've last blogged. But so much has happened.

This will be mainly a people update - I'll try to share bunny photos in the next entry because I don't have any new ones really. 

My mom fell in late January and for about 2 months we waited to see if she was finally going to be put in a nursing home. Finally - in March - Eric & I drove up to Maine (he drove all but 100 miles) and we closed out her apartment for her and brought back a few things and sold most of her stuff. 

On the way up, we got a call that Art's dad was in Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME after a heart attack - so we stopped in to see him - and I'm so glad we did because he passed away about 10 days after we got home.

I got home and then it was Art's turn to travel on his motorcycle to Florida for his brother's wedding. He had a great time and really enjoyed himself.

My last day in Maine - my dad was taken to the hospital (I almost stayed up there but he was hospitalized for a couple of weeks)....now it looks like I'm going to fly back up probably the first week of May to spend some time with him. He's basically been told to get his affairs in order because his next heart attack will probably be the one the final one. He has oxygen to breathe (tanks) and that helps some.

As far as bunnies go - Zeus currently has what first looked like wry neck but is actually a tooth infection. He's currently being treated (when he turned down apple AND banana we knew something was wrong). He has become somewhat attached to my mom's cat Abby that we brought home from Maine. She mainly lives in our bedroom but gets let out in the house sometimes - if we don't have the front door open. We do allow her to go in the back yard.

I was amazed that we didn't have any bunny losses while I was gone - I guess they waited for me to get home.

It started with Buffalo Creek Sundae - my broken tort that was my first broken and 7 or 8 years old. Then we lost another older lionhead....a tort girl. Our next last (the hardest one of the group so far) was Brady Hawkes - our tort E-lop. I was treating him for an infection (it seemed like he always had something wrong with him) and he just went to sleep and when I went to give him some baby food - he'd passed. Then we lost Bandita - a black and white (broken) lionhead - that also hurt as she was such a funny little girl.

Everyone else seems mostly ok - just treated Princess Athena and Harmony with ear mite medicine. Harmony is my oldest flemish giant doe...she's neutered and I keep praying she lives a couple more years. She seems quieter lately though.

Athena is huge...and I'm thinking of taking her to get her neutered but am scared of losing her on the table. I think I will fly home to dad's and do what I have to do there and then face her neuter when I get back...partly for financial reasons too.

Nyx is doing good. She's so funny. We also still have Ellie Mae who the flemish girls have adopted as an "honorary flemmie" in spite of the fact she's an E-lop. 

Well, I guess that is about all for now...I will try to do a bunny picture type of update sometime in the next few days.


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## SnowyShiloh (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi Peg! So glad to get an update, though I'm terribly sorry to hear that things have not been going well lately


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## candykittten (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi nice to meet you :biggrin: I'm sorry to hear about your recent losses.. Try to focus on the positive things in your life


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## JadeIcing (Apr 19, 2012)

Some of those losses are shocking. Bandita being one.


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## TinysMom (Apr 24, 2012)

We added a new member to the family. His name was Agito after an anime' character....now it is Frank after a character in Supernatural season 7.

Here is his photo from the drive home....he's about 18 months old.


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## ZRabbits (Apr 24, 2012)

*TinysMom wrote: *


> We added a new member to the family. His name was Agito after an anime' character....now it is Frank after a character in Supernatural season 7.
> 
> Here is his photo from the drive home....he's about 18 months old.


Don't know much about hedgehogs, but he's a cutie! How are they as a pet? What is their disposition? How do you care for one that has such a prickly back? 

K


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## Bassetluv (Apr 29, 2012)

Oh Peg, what a cute hedgehog! Such and adorable face . I'm another one who knows absolutely nothing about hedgehogs...is this your first one?

Gosh, you've had both human and animal losses lately...my condolences on Art's dad passing. That must have been hard on him...on both of you. So glad you got to see him though, before he did pass. 

How is your dad doing?



> Zeus has been extremely active lately which sorta scares me a bit - almost like he's in his second childhood. He seems healthy but I know he's getting older and is like 7 now - almost 8 I think. He runs around the room and almost sounds like a small pony when he gets going.



lol...now that made me smile...'sounds like a small pony'....:biggrin2:


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## TinysMom (Apr 29, 2012)

Just a quick response with more to come later - I promise. 

Frank is my first (and hopefully NOT the last) hedgehog. He is 18 months old which means he is "mature" and an adult - but he was underweight due to eating poor quality hedgehog food. I've changed his diet and he's almost doubled his weight since we got him (he was 4 ounces - he's about 8 ounces now). I can definitely see the difference in him.

Hedgehogs tend to fall into different categories - much like bunnies. You have the cuddlers - the explorers - the grumpies and I forget the fourth one...but the grumpies tend to never come out of their shell and always stay in a ball, etc. 

I was worried Frank was going to be like that - but he's doing so much better now. He LOVES to run around and explore when I take him out of his cage. He is definitely NOT a cuddler and the only thing he like about humans is if he's offered some mealworms...then he might like you. 

Otherwise - get outta his way and let him roam.

He is mainly nocturnal....but I do wake him up a bit in the afternoons and early evenings to get him to play some and make sure he's ok. I think he sleeps more than many hedgehogs because he is going through a growth spurt thanks to the better food (it's a mixture of four different brands of cat foods). I had mixed his hedgehog food in with the cat food and he'll eat the catfood and leave the hedgehog food behind - and a breeder has said that is probably a good thing since the hedgehog food is known to cause poor nutrition.

I have a bunch of pictures of him on my facebook - I will try to get them on here sometime before I fly home to dad's this week. (I leave early Thursday morning and spend the night in Portland, Maine before renting a car and driving up to dad's on Friday).

He is a cutie....I just wish he'd let me pet him more. He is very prickly but I noticed that he's not making his quills stand up quite as much when I go to pet him and he will unduck his head sooner and sooner than he did before.

On a sad side note - we lost Puckina last week. She was my last link to Puck...some of the long-term members may remember him...she was his daughter.

It was so sad - felt like the end of an era...

Binky Free Baby girl...you're with your daddy and mommy again.


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## TinysMom (May 16, 2012)

Just a short update. I'm currently in Maine - again - this time to take care of dad as he got out of rehab. I was originally scheduled to return home on the 19th - but that isn't going to happen.

My mom was in the hospital with pneumonia last week but has now gone back to the nursing home - to a skilled nursing unit. When they were doing xrays for the pneumonia - they discovered that she has stage 3 lung cancer...at most she has 6-12 months to live but they don't think it is that long. They're not going to do any chemo, etc. due to her age (84) and quality of life due to Alzheimers. We're not telling her about it since she has about 5 minute memory span.

And to close this all off....Zeus is dying. He has someone with him 24/7 - but he is refusing food and water now.


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## JimD (May 16, 2012)

*TinysMom wrote: *


> And to close this all off....Zeus is dying. He has someone with him 24/7 - but he is refusing food and water now.



Oh no. 

We'll be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.
ray:


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## Bassetluv (May 19, 2012)

Oh Peg...I'm so sorry to hear about all of this. Adding my prayers for both your mom and for Zeus...

ray: ray:

I think you also need one of these:

:hug1


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## JadeIcing (May 21, 2012)

I thought I'd update for her. Last I heard Zeus was doing better. Still not out of the woods but a lot better.


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## TinysMom (May 22, 2012)

As per my email from Art this morning...

"Somewhere between 2:00 and 3:30 am CST this morning, the mighty Zeus left this world. He will be missed.

His early remains will be returned to the earth this afternoon.

May he find rest in the mercies of God.


My addition: RIP Big Boy...and give Tiny lots of groomings...and Binky free.

I will do a rainbow bridge thread for him later - when I feel up to it.


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## ZRabbits (May 22, 2012)

My heartfelt condolences for the loss of Zeus.

K


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## Wabbitdad12 (May 26, 2012)

Haven't been on RO much myself. I am just now catching up, I am so sorry Peg, I don't know what to say. Be praying for you and your family.


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## TinysMom (May 27, 2012)

Thanks Dave - that means a lot. Nyx has moved into Robin's bedroom and become a bedroom bunny in there....and I guess she's super affectionate and gives Robin all sorts of kisses, etc.

She also "marks" her territory...aka...Robin's bed.

Belle Star aka Gimpy has been in our bedroom since shortly after Zeus took ill....Robin locked her up in a cage yesterday while she brought the dogs in the room to be cool for a bit...and Gimpy threw a fit and was throwing around her food bowl, etc. Not sure how good Robin's nap was with Gimpy acting up so much...


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## TinysMom (Jul 12, 2012)

Wow - how can it already be July...know what I mean? Where has this year gone...

I thought I'd do a short update on my blog. I've been in Northern Maine since May 4th....Art is flying up tomorrow so we can spend a week together...and then on the 27th I leave for Connecticut to spend a few days with Alicia (JadeIcing) - and fly back to Texas on August 1st. In some ways - I can hardly wait - in others - I'm dreading it.

While I've been gone I've lost so many bunnies that I loved...those who follow me on Facebook know of the majority of the losses...it started with losing Zeus and went downhill from there. Among my losses are Zeus, Nyx, Portia (holland lop), Ellie Mae (E-lop), Bandita, Splash, Darla-Mouse and her daughter Sierra, Audrey, and...last but not least...Thunder. Oh -we lost Gimpy (aka Belle Star)...and Diane too (both flemish giants). With most of these losses - it was a virus that spread through the office and hit the bunnies on the floor and we lost the majority of them in a 4 day period if I remember right.

Fortunately, I still have Harmony, Mercury (who was sick for a bit because Harmony was moved to another cage when the air conditioning went down - but he perked up as soon as she moved back), Athena - who has had sore hocks but is doing better, Hermes, Smithy & Tiny Tim (Nyx's two sons), Sam & Dean - my two half flemmies, and a few others. Oh yes - and I can't forget Angel - dear sweet Angel! She seems to be doing great.

In addition to all these losses - dad has issues of dementia that I didn't see at first....it feels like I'm losing both my parents in a short period of time (we lost Art's mom a couple of years ago and his dad in early April).

So if I'm not online much - it's because I'm busy or traveling.

Hope y'all are having a better year than we are.

Oh - I do have deposits down on three hedgehog babies that are yet to be born...two girls and a boy. Not sure if I'm going to breed (I won't breed Frank for sure) - but I wanted some babies that would be socialized and have some of the different hedgehog personalities.


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## agnesthelion (Jul 12, 2012)

Read through your blog and boy you have quite the crew!  so sorry to hear about all your recent losses. Horrible for so many in a short amount of time 

Frank is adorable! My son and I just learned about hedgehogs at a local animal refuge in ourntown. They take on injured and abandoned animals. Anyway, saw some little babies...they were so cute!! The adults were all unique, as you said. One stayed curled up and made noise the whole time. The other adult was exploring and pretty curious.

Thanks for sharing!


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## HolyHandGrenade (Jul 26, 2012)

In searching for info on my flemmie, I came across your posts and was then led to your 2011 blog (linked in your profile) and read all of that yesterday and the day before. So sad to see all the losses, but the baby pictures are still my favorite  I hope these bad times slow down for you so you can savor the happy ones longer. :hugs:


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