March 29, 2002: I have started "grooming" Maggie more often and she is responding with more beautiful smiles. She hasn't yet left her safety zone pictured above while I am in the room, so at this point I am able to groom only her face. Reaching behind her face might appear very menacing until she is more comfortable. Her fur is SO SOFT! Cilantro is her favorite green, but her favorite food by far is (you guessed it...) carrots! She likes them enough to eat them right out of my hand! She eats small amounts of timothy hay and is now fully transitioned from her shelter pellets to the timothy-based pellets the Spike eats. She also enjoys a slice of apple each morning. She has a large bedding box available about two feet away but prefers to relieve herself right at the entrance to her little safety zone. I need to get one of those small triangular boxes that will fit a little closer. I hope that as she gains more confidence she will explore a little more and get some exercise. She may be running all over the bedroom while I'm not there but I haven't found any evidence of this. I have tested my hypothesis that she may be deaf or hearing impaired by making some small "squeaky" noises. These always make Spike's ear perk up and point at me and his eyes widen... but Maggie's ears don't move and her expression remains unchanged. I have searched the web for information on deaf rabbits but there doesn't seem to be much information out there. To rememdy that I created a website: www.deafrabbit.homestead.com If you have lived with a deaf rabbit please take a moment to answer the seven survey questions on the site. Together we can build a source of information that everyone can use! |
Magdalena, known to her friends as Maggie, was born in a clergyman's garden around 1999 or 2000. She later made Brambley Hedge Rabbit Rescue her home and had her picture posted online. Spike, lonely since Chloe passed away, saw Maggie's picture and agreed to offer her a new home. She moved in on March 2, 2002 and this is her diary. |
Maggie's Diary |
Magdalena, known to her friends as Maggie, was born in a clergyman's garden around 1999 or 2000. She later made Brambley Hedge Rabbit Rescue her home and had her picture posted online. Spike, lonely since Chloe passed away, saw Maggie's picture and agreed to offer her a new home. She moved in on March 2, 2002 and this is her diary. |
March 26, 2002: After three weeks in her new home Maggie is becoming more familiar and comfortable with her surroundings. She will now both eat and groom herself while I am in the room - good signs of building trust and letting down her guard. Once she even stretched out with her feet behind her while I was there! She gets nose and cheek "groomings" twice a day but still occasionally backs from my hand as I reach out. I want to slowly increase the number of groomings so that she becomes more accustomed to it and more comfortable with touch. She enjoys the rubs and gives me a beautiful smile after each one. I am developing a strong sense that she has a hearing problem. I am always sure to announce myself before I enter her room but several times she has been startled to see me. She still does not stray far from her safety zone, another sign that her defenses may be compromised. I wonder if the attack that marked her ears caused some internal damage too? Self-defense mechanisms developed in response to a hearing loss may explain what appeared originally to be shyness. Her ears are like amazing big scoops - much wider than Spike's or Chloe's. I have not attempted to pet them yet; they may be a sensitive area so I will wait a while longer. I had hoped to introduce her to Spike by the end of the month but I think I will wait several more weeks before I attempt that. I have heard her make some tiny noises, not growls or honks but just little high-pitched voices while she deeply exhales. It's almost like she's trying to speak while she yawns. |
March 29, 2002: I have started "grooming" Maggie more often and she is responding with more beautiful smiles. She hasn't yet left her safety zone pictured above while I am in the room, so at this point I am able to groom only her face. Reaching behind her face might appear very menacing until she is more comfortable. Her fur is SO SOFT! Cilantro is her favorite green, but her favorite food by far is (you guessed it...) carrots! She likes them enough to eat them right out of my hand! She eats small amounts of timothy hay and is now fully transitioned from her shelter pellets to the timothy-based pellets the Spike eats. She also enjoys a slice of apple each morning. She has a large bedding box available about two feet away but prefers to relieve herself right at the entrance to her little safety zone. I need to get one of those small triangular boxes that will fit a little closer. I hope that as she gains more confidence she will explore a little more and get some exercise. She may be running all over the bedroom while I'm not there but I haven't found any evidence of this. I have tested my hypothesis that she may be deaf or hearing impaired by making some small "squeaky" noises. These always make Spike's ear perk up and point at me and his eyes widen... but Maggie's ears don't move and her expression remains unchanged. I have searched the web for information on deaf rabbits but there doesn't seem to be much information out there. To rememdy that I created a website: www.deafrabbit.homestead.com If you have lived with a deaf rabbit please take a moment to answer the seven survey questions on the site. Together we can build a source of information that everyone can use! |
April 11, 2002: Spike and Maggie met today! Spike jumped into his carrier and was transported into Maggie's room at 8:44 a.m.. The two of them eyed each other up for five peaceful minutes. Spike occasionally looked a bit nervous and wide eyed but would then turn his back and munch on some hay (you're not bothering me!). Maggie remained relaxed and smiled the whole time. I will continue to supervise little visits like this for a few days, gradually increasing the amount of time they spend near each other. Our goal is to make Spike and Maggie as comfortable as possible in each others' presence so that a formal in-person (in-rabbit?) introduction goes as smoothly as possible. Maggie continues to respond well to her nose rubs, which I now try to do almost every time I enter or leave her room. I have groomed her back several times and she really enjoys the attention. I have gently stroked her ears and was happy to find that she is not sensitive there. I have tried making other noises and varied the volume but Maggie continues to show no response to sounds. She doesn't move around her ears much at all. The only stimulus I have found that makes her move her ears forward is to pet her cheek! She can move her ears forward when I pet her cheeks either one at a time or both at the same time, so her ear movement is not limited by any muscular problem. Interestingly, when she met Spike today her ears still remained pinned back in a relaxed pose. Ears forward when experiencing something new I thought was an instinctual reaction, but it may be a learned one that she did not pick up on. That response to her first contact with Spike makes me wonder if she has been deaf since birth - and maybe her lack of hearing allowed her attacker to sneak up on her. I have slowly widened her safety zone an inch at a time in hopes that she will begin to feel safe without having to hide. I would like for her to feel safe playing with Spike throughout their rooms and I want her to get more exercise so leaving her safety zone is a must. I realize now that her wedge-shaped safety zone protects her from anything sneaking up from behind. Rabbits tend to sit next to each other facing opposite directions, thus protecting each other from that same threat, so perhaps when Maggie and Spike are with each other permanently she will feel less of a need for her little safety zone. April 21, 2002: Spike and Maggie were formally introduced! I took down the bunny gate seperating the rooms and Spike ventured into the bedroom for the first time. He spent a lot of time checking the room out, scouting its perameters, jumping on the bed, curiously sniffing the desk, and marking everything he encountered with generous chin rubs. He noticed Maggie but played it cool, casually dropping by her safety zone twice before attempting to sniff her nose. That done safely he went on to groom her ear, which she very nicely accepted. He then wandered off again (chords of "I'm Not In Love" playing in his head) but in just a few minutes couldn't resist coming back for more. When he came back he got a little fresh and Maggie made it immediately clear that she wasn't that kind of girl! Spike scrambled out onto the patio and crashed for a few minutes (sensory overload!). Maggie looked thoroughly disgusted. "He seemed like such a nice boy at first!" April 25, 2002: Spike and Maggie met several more times tonight. She actually stepped out to the edge of her comfort zone to meet him. It wasn't clear if this meant "how nice to see you" or "back off - I'll charge you!" They had three or four brief sniffing to know you moments then Spike decided to sit on the bed next to me and watch me work on the pc. From that elevated vantage point he was able to look down on Maggie with a smug Big Rabbit On Campus look on his face. |
April 28, 2002: Maggie made her first honking noises! She was sitting in her safe area and appeared quite content. I was very curious if she would make any of the normal honking noises that Spike does. This raises the question of whether or not the oinking noises made by rabbits are an effort to communicate. |
Very interesting politics going on. Spike is sitting just outside Maggie's zone and is sitting with his back to her. She has had to come to the front of her zone to spy on him, and now he has responded by hopping to the edge of her zone. They met nose-to-nose, then she used her paw to swat him. He didn't even blink. They met again and she roundhouse punched him. He jumped back but went right back again. They met briefly then he ambled off... around the corner to try and find a back door to her safety zone (sneaky boy!). The really funny thing is how cool they both have to appear. Throughout this meeting they were both munching furiously on big mouthfuls of hay, as if to say "everything is normal, ho hum" while the rest of their body is frantically preparing itself for love, war, or a little of both. As the evening continued Spike raided Maggie's hay some more, forcing her to bat him again, but not as roughly. They both appear to be cooling down and even smiling a bit at each other... |
May 10, 2002: Spike and Maggie continue to meet each other and have kissed (touched noses) cautiously several times without conflict. This, and her recognition of our cleaning and feeding routine, is allowing Maggie to noticeably gain confidence and trust. When she first moved in she would jump into a defensive pose as soon as I entered the room; now she will remain in a relaxed "spread out" position until I either come much closer or make eye contact for more than several seconds. Her defensive poses are also different now; at first her back would be arched, her body leaning slightly forward, and her front paws would be visible. Now she is comfortable in more of a "breadbox" position with a relaxed back and shoulders and her front paws curled up underneath her. Great news this morning! She gave a big display of trust and traditional rabbit curiosity by moving suspiciously towards me while I was cleaning her area. She gave the bedding container a quick inspection and went back to her "breadbox" position. This was the first time that she had gotten out of her defensive position with me sitting next to her. Little steps like these are a great sign! Maggie has also recently started to show signs of play. She really enjoys tossing her bowl around, especially throwing it right at the wall. She may not be aware of the resulting clatter, but in the other room Spike jumps to attention and listens to it wide-eyed while she has her fun. When you consider that Maggie has been living here for two months and is just now reaching these points you get a better understanding of the challenges she has faced and of how much fear she has lived with. I'm glad that both her physical and emotional needs are starting to be met. |
May 15, 2002: Good morning Maggie fans! Maggie remained in a relaxed, stretched-out position when I came in to give her a slice of apple. To have allowed me that close while she reclined was great! May 22, 2002: Maggie's room (the bedroom) has been seperated from Spike's room (the living room) by a baby gate since she arrived. I covered the gate with a sheet so that eye contact between bunnies could not be made while Maggie established herself in her new home. The sheet was eventually taken off for a few minutes each day so that Spike could attempt a security inspection. That inspection time grew until about two weeks ago when the sheet was removed permanently. Today I took the step of removing the bunny gate all night, allowing Maggie and Spike to cautiously perform any nocturnal introductions. Things went smoothly; they were both well-behaved all night. May 25, 2002: The bunny gate was removed for the first time all day, allowing twenty four hour contact. Spike enjoys coming into the bedroom and spends a lot of time sitting on the edge of the bed overlooking Maggie, king of all he surveys. May 27, 2002: Maggie is getting much more relaxed around Spike and will now turn her back to him as if to say "you're no threat - I can ignore you!" Maggie still plays with her bowl by throwing it around, but does this most often while Spike is in the room, a way of asserting herself and showing her strength. In response Spike pushes around an enormous cardboard play box, then jumps up on the bed and turns his back to her. June 5, 2002: I was amazed at 4:45 this morning to hear intense rabbit chases around the bedroom! Three months and three days after Maggie moved in she and Spike did the "getting to know you chase of dominance." After Spike and Chloe had done this they became much more relaxed around one another because their social order had been clearly defined; I hope Spike and Maggie will have the same result! June 18, 2002: Maggie and Spike have been spending more time with each other, but not yet as a bonded couple. Their time spent together is more exploratory and less combative than it used to be, but is still very political in nature. When I sit next to them though the politics stop and Spike wanders off somewhere else. This morning though came a sign of their developing comfort with each other. I was on the floor petting Maggie and Spike came up and sat down next to me. For the first time I was able to pet both of them at the same time. They both allowed themselves to enter a happy, peaceful state, apparently not threatened by the proximity of the other. It was a really nice time! Let's see if we can have some more times like this... Maggie is very comfortable with the routines of her new home, allowing me to clean her "zone" with very little worry, eating while I am sitting next to her, and she is more at ease with the freedoms she is now allowed. One good sign: when she first arrived she used to bolt down her food; the speed has slowed down considerably! She makes a lot of "squeeky clean" noises while she grooms herself which are kind of funny. The noise of her pellet bowl being repeatedly slammed against the wall is not as common now; as her relationship with Spike slowly develops she has less need to prove her strength by throwing the bowl around. I'm thankful for that! |
Maggie is a "Harlequin Mix" rabbit, and her brown, grey, and white coloring is known as "agouti." Like Chloe she has a little white heart shape around her nose, a white tummy, and a white tail, but the rest of her is a beautiful mix of brown and grey. In this picture you may be able to make out some small notches on her ears, evidence of a previous attack. That attack, coupled with apparently little human contact for her first eighteen months or so of life, means that she is very shy. Spike and his human are working to slowly build her trust and acceptance. This is much better in the long run but means that Spike and Maggie won't actually meet for a few weeks. Since moving in Maggie has chosen a corner of the bedroom to be her safe haven while she adjusts to her new home. It is a nice, quiet place protected from the action of the warren yet close enough for her to get accustomed to the sights, smells, and sounds of her new address. |
