The Cute Animal Pics/Videos Thread

[Bluebell]

No, they should never be living in cages...unfortunately, still too many poor souls do!   Fortunately, at least in Germany the information about how to actually keep a rabbit properly as pet is (slowly but steady) spreading more and more among people who really love animals and want to give them a good home. I thought at first I couldn't have one cos I have no garden and stuff (which of course is the best way to have them: a big garden, of course made secure for them so they can't escape and no one can break in)...but if they can run around the rooms, it's fine. There are so many rabbits who need a home, any place like this is fine.

Here, Helga looks for the way to Hobbiton...(a few inches to the left is my bed...which is on ca. 1,80m pillars! underneath is another guinea pig home, that's how she got there: over the window sill, into the downstairs 'flat' and up she jumped - so where she is, is the 'loft'....) and my guinea pigs are wondering what 'Bunzilla' is doing in their home :lol: ...

 

about the chewing - you should not be squeamish about your carpet or tapestry, these are favourites - here Gandalf showed how much he loves me by ripping this into my carpet.... :lol2:

When I am lucky, lovely folks who have gardens with fruit and nut - trees, give me loads of twigs (currently some of my mothers friends cut their trees for the summer, it's awesome!), so I am able to keep them away from it for a while, and they have something more suitable and natural to chew besides the tons of hay and veggies I am giving them.

Anything with wood is the best, but if's either the trees and other suitable things - or your furniture. :P

By the way, the only things that live here in cages are the cables!

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

 

http://www.sadanduseless.com/2016/02/stuck/

Finally see this! 

 

Bluebell, like the bunny stories. How do you train them to use toilet, and do you bathe them?

I kept rabbits before and they are quite cuddly, but they didn't interact like cats and dogs. 

[Bluebell]

Honestly, I was lucky that they used the toilet from the start without me needing to train them. I don't know, even though I am sure Gandalf only had a cage in the lab and never had an idea about rabbit toilets. He just went to do his business right in the toilet and nowhere else, as if he automatically knew that it was exactly there for that purpose. Helga just picked up on it, she didn't have a toilet in the animal shelter either.

 

Basically, it's easy though. When you notice a spot where they frequently like to pee, you put the toilet there, so they learn that they have to go in there. And you can show them by putting their little crap bobbels (what do you say in english? we say 'Köddel' in german...or 'Knödel' which means dumplings :lol: ) into it, soak maybe a tissue in the pee and put it there so it gets their smell. Rabbits are smart, they soon will pick up on it. You should also give them a treat when they did it the first couple of times, so they relate it to something positive, and they will know it's a good thing to use the toilet.

 

I don't bathe them, they keep themselves clean very well. Rabbits only need a bath when they become old or sick, and they can't take care of themselves anymore. But never when they are still able to clean themselves/each other. That's also one reason why it's important to have more than one of them. They are very social beings, and they take care of each other very well.

[Arcadia]

Since we're having this discussion ... :D ... is the "toilet" the same kind of thing you would use for a cat? Or something else? And why am I so intrigued by this? XD
 
If you mean what I think you mean, in English we would most likely call them "droppings."

[Bluebell]

I remembered yesterday when I thought about what Gimli says in the forest about trees talking (when they are in Fangorn forest and Legolas explains the trees are talking to each other), when he says 'what have trees to talk about, except for the consistancy of squirrel droppings', haha....so yes, their droppings, is what I mean. :D

They are luckily dry, so you just collect them from the floor and put them in the toilet, when they drop them somewhere else. (I still have to do that sometimes because they just take them sometimes with them when hopping out if the toilet or 'mark' something in the territory...it doesn't bother me, as long as they don't pee anywhere, because rabbit pee stinks! ^_^ )

 

Yes, the toilets are basically the same as cats toilets, you only use wooden chips instead of kitty litter, because if they eat the litter they can choke from it and die. So always use wooden litter, I use the stuff for reptiles (also wood chips, only not so fluffy like they are made usually for rodents) and put a layer of straw over it so it's softer to their feet. The reptile floor is just more practical, as the usual floor for rodents keep hanging in their furry feet (it's so cute they have big hairy cuddly feet! I only had rodents with naked paws before, like rats, hamsters, gerbils or the guinea pigs...) and you have it all over the place, and really, the hay they carry all over the place is well enough, haha...

Also, rabbits love the digging, so the bowl should be high enough so the litter does not fly around when they start digging in it. I'll check if I find a photo with one of them in the toilet, so you can see what it looks like.

[Arcadia]

That must have been PJ's version, I can't imagine Tolkien writing that line! :d Although if I understand correctly, at one time he did imagine hobbits as having feet rather like a rabbit's. Or maybe it was just the trolls that thought that.

 

Anyway, thanks for the info! Curiosity satisfied, now to go chase that pesky squirrel out of the bird feeder.....

[Van Buren Supernova]

Wait...wait... imo, Bobbels and Köddel sound better than droppings.. :P

@Arcadia don't forget to post your footprint in Deduction thread, I want to know how that scary bear's paws look like. XD

 

 

[Arcadia]

@Arcadia don't forget to post your footprint in Deduction thread, I want to know how that scary bear's paws look like. XD

?????

[Bluebell]

Hehe, yes, it is Peter Jacksons extended edition of The Two Towers when Gimli says that....and yes, Köddel is a funny word also in german, I think it has its origin somewhere in North Germany.

 

- and extra for you I uploaded some 'toilet Pics'... :D Gandalf in the kitchen....

 

 

Helga in the living/sleeping room....in case you wonder about the cotton bag - it's filled with hay, they like chewing during toilet visits. In the kitchen I only put a bit of hay in the toilet as I have no opportunity there to hang a bag or something.

 

[Bluebell]

oh, and let me quickly introduce - Mrs. Hudson! :lol:

 

 

isn't she cute? thought it would fit a little into the 'Sherlock' theme here, hehe .... - she lives currently with a guy named Barney (whose brother's name is Fred, but he lives with other girls here), and no I don't have a Sherlock or John, unfortunately. 

I only have Gloin, Kili & Fili, to be named after popular film characters :lol2: ....Gimli (who was Gloin's son for real, they were actually my first guinea pigs...Gloin is 6 years old now) moved out in a different home a couple of years ago.

[Arcadia]

Mrs. Hudson is a perfect name for her! :d And the bunnies are beautiful, their coats look so soft and clean. Aghghgh, you're making me miss my kitties......

[Van Buren Supernova]

What... no Mr. Chatterjee for Mrs. Hudson? :P

[Bluebell]

Nope, just Big Barney... :D

 

I am a bit sad today. One of my oldest guinea pigs, Lola, died last night. She was one of my favourites, always so lovely and until her last days a very bubbly and friendly one...she became 6 years (or maybe more, I don't know her exact birth date, but she was quite an old lady).

Goodbye Lola. :'(

[Arcadia]

Aw, I'm sorry.

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Sorry..

[Caya]

Oh dear, poor you - and the poor other floofs, who'll miss her too :(.

[Bluebell]

Thank you.

It's pretty empty in their home now, because she leaves a huge gap. I think the one who misses her the most is Freddy, he just got to know her and the other two girls that moved in with him and his other two. Shortly before christmas Ali, their former leader (guinea pigs live in a harem (it's how they naturally live in wilderness) so I only have one 'boygroup' (because there's always too many male guinea pigs looking for a home, and those four guys get along quite well), but the others are one castrated male and some female piggies), died from cancer, he was still very young (and also one of my favourites), and when I put the 2 groups together, Freddy had suddenly 5 girls to take care of. And he and Lola became friends, now he looks a bit lost.

And no one demanded as cutely for food as she did. *sigh*.

But well, she had a long life, and she was taken care of and well loved. And she gets a nice burial beside her old friend Ali, a friend of mine has a garden where she buries her pet rats, and recently one of them died too, like on christmas, so she takes her along with it. So sad, recently always before the holidays a pet dies...(only that one time I had guinea pig babies shortly before easter, so there also was life....I usually do not support the breeding, and my pets are almost all castrated, it was only once - it was so cute )

 

And now enough of the sad thoughts, anyone got another cute picture of an animal? :sherlock2:

[Arcadia]

How about a bunch of ducklings?

[Caya]

Cute animals is a go .

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

What about, literally, a thousand of ducks crossing the intersection diagonally and all traffics stood still?

In the picture is probably 10% of all ducks and this is filter lane, they are crossing to the other side, diagonal, rows and rows of them.

 

I want the ducklings and the puppies!

 

Bluebell, it's very nice that you are adopting animals. One day, when I don't need to worry about money or anything, and don't have to be nice or proper anymore, I'll have my own dog sanctuary and be crazy dog lady. Sitting on the porch and taser human passerby who are being annoying or just because I don't like their eyes or their voices.

Bahahhahhahahha..

[Arcadia]

Why did the ducks cross the road?
 
To get to the other side.
 
Ba-boom.
 
 
At least geese use the crosswalk.

[Van Buren Supernova]

How well behaved! Good geese..!

My ducks crossed the whole intersection, four ways traffic, without looking at lines or traffic lights, they didn't even wave..

[Bluebell]

Hehe, somehow the picture with the geese reminds me on a Beatles picture, think it's 'Abbey Road'? :D

 

The good thing is, rabbits and guinea pigs don't cost as much as cats or dogs - but they can become expensive when it comes to vet visits, too.... :( also they need every day fresh vegetables. Sometimes though you find some stuff in the supermarket veggie bin for free, or in summer you can go pluck some grass that you can feed them. It's just a matter of creativity and organizition how expensive the nourishment becomes. ;)

I'm lucky, my rabbits have a 'godmother' since they came here, she pays a lot of their bills. I myself alone could not afford all of it. Maybe then I would only have the rabbits or so...because I could not imagine a life without pets at all anymore.

 

Yes, actually the godmother of my rabbits and me dream about something like someday having kind of a farm and helping animals, too. It's a good idea for later with the dog sanctuary, VBS! Then you'd probably be bit like Will from Hannibal, with all his dogs... :D

 

The puppies and the ducklings are so cute, the ducklings picture is already somewhat 'eastlery', isn't it? Next week I'd like to see here loads of happy and cute easterbunnys, ducklings, lambs ...

 

I just got a call that I will have a gerbil again soon. I gave my last one to a friend, after her sister died in February, and my friend wanted her to befriend with another one she had from me a while ago already and who lived alone. It looked well that it works, but now she called me that the other one is sick, and it looks like its about to die too, and as I promised her, the one gerbil goes back to me so she can stop having gerbils, since she has planned that already since over a year, and since it was mine once, I'll take it back. *sigh* I thought the little girl would become happy with her new friend, but well...now I have to take her back and look for either another partner again, or leave her alone (which is the last option since gerbils actually are social animals, too....it's just not so easy to find a proper partner, it's way more difficult than with rabbits or guinea pigs or rats, whatever....that's why I actually did not want to keep having gerbils, it's not good to have them alone, but they are very picky with their partners and it's nervewrecking to find a new one when you have only one gerbil left!).

 

That's her (the brown/white one) and her sister when they came to me as babies....

 

They always look so cute when they sleep, they also cuddle a lot, when they live together and like each other.

 

 

 

[Caya]

One cute lamb coming right up .

 

[Bluebell]

OOOOOhhhhh, the lamb!!!

I really have to go cuddle my rabbits now, haha....(I cuddle Helga often this way, too, she loves it....she just does not wiggle her tail like the lamb, again - oooooh how cute is that.... !!)