Around the Yard with Kenji

 

At first, Kenji wasn't sure about going outside.  

But once out in the yard he really enjoyed

himself.  

We would follow him with the leash around the yard.  

He would check out things around the yard.  

Rub the short log.

Smell the grass.

Exploring the yard was intermitted with sitting in one spot.  

Under the playset near the old tire.

A dirt mount under a bush. 

Hiding in the leaves at the maple tree.

Spurts of hop hop hopping, covering lots of ground.

Burrowing in the soil.  ( the house sparrows use his little hole in the yard to take a dust bath)

Surveying the area.

Good Morning, Hagrid

 

We would enter our youngest daughter's bedroom to peak in on Hagrid Beardie. 

Hagrid chose to sleep in her cave.  Shee would curl up inside and got to sleep.

In the morning she would come out when she awoke.

One morning, I peaked in the cave to see her just peaking out of his cave.

"Good Morning, Hagrid".  

She would go to the hotter side of her enclosure to warm up.  Once she was warmed up, she was ready for breakfast... of crickets.  

Good Morning, Kenji

 

Our family's routine has changed a little since getting pets.

It has become common for us to go see Kenji Bunny upstairs in my older daughter's bedroom.

The girls liked to have Kenji on the bed to pet and talk to in the morning.  We set up pillows so he could hop up on the bed easier.  

Kenji found pillows very comfy.  

He would sit on one on the bed and let us pet him and say "Hello".   

Beardie: research and reward

 

Our youngest daughter decided she wanted a bearded dragon for a pet.  

There was much research to do about bearded dragon lizards.  

Bearded Dragons are found in Australia.  Yet they are bred in places as the USA.  

Why a breaded dragon? 

Well my daughter has always been fascinated with Mythical creatures.  And likes to draw them.

Dragons are reptilian mythical creatures.  

There are many cultures that have dragons in their lore, or as a symbolic icon, like for example in China.  

My daughter didn't like the stories where dragons were portrayed as evil and sought after to kill.

We found a place in Cumberland, RI that specializes in reptiles, named Sabrina's Reptile Kingdom. The owner of the place talked to us about bearded dragons.  Amanda was to read five reference sheets with information on bearded dragons before purchasing one.  

We needed to know what we were entering into for caring for this reptile.

We read about a bearded dragons needs, care, feeding, etc.

Reptiles are cold blooded and need an external source for heat.  We would need heat lamps to regulate the temperature in the enclosure.  They need a spot to bask and then a place to go when it doesn't need the extreme heat.  

They eat live crickets and certain vegetables.

We had to look for a 20 gallon tank to start with a young bearded dragon.

We also needed a place to put the live crickets.

We slowly started to find the items we needed: the 20 gallon tank, lamps, accessories for the tank to create an environment for the bearded dragon. 

And a cricket keeper to have a place for the crickets to live.  

One day I took Amanda to the Reptile Kingdom and we bought a young beardie.  

("beardie" is the shortened name for them)

We settled her into her new home. 

Baby Bunny: Inside and 0ut

 

While it was still winter, we introduces Kenji to different rooms in the house:  

The Living room

Our youngest daughters bedroom 

Our bedroom

He liked to explore the bed's soft blankets and lay down.  He would sometimes do burrowing on the blanket.  Then settle to rest in a spot.

Once on the floor he'd go under beds, zooming in and out.  He was using those long back legs to move. "And Boy, Could he move."  

We set up pillows and cushions so he could climb up on the couch or a bed.  He was excited to explore.

Once the weather warmed up we decided to introduce him to our yard outside.  

The first harness leash we got was soft rope.  

He wasn't so sure about it at first.  

Rabbits do not like being picked up really.  

Even when we got it on him, he managed to get out of it.  

We order a different harness leash that had Velcro and a click.  We did eventually get that harness leash on.  The smoother and faster we did it the more he was able to be OK with it.  

Then we opened the door.  As with any new thing, he hesitated.  We placed him in his carrier and carried him outside.  We unzipped the carrier bag.  He came out slowly to explore.  He would venture out farther and farther around the yard.  

The small garden plot

The longer garden plot

The playset

We noticed he would mark things with his outer cheek.  

A Branch

A small log

An old tire

The Maple tree: touched with a foot

His walks in the yard consist of stop, look, surge ahead hopping.  Then stop again. Sit for a time.  He  could sit for 5-10-15 minutes.  Look around, then clean himself.

He noted dogs barking behind the fence.  When he moved to the front of our house, he noted cars going by.  At first he bound off and we'd steer him to the back yard.  Yet he started to become accustom to cars going by...he would flatten himself until it was gone.  

We try to mostly stay in the back yard.  

He found a small dirt pile near a bush he likes to sit on.  He marks things around the yard.  

He did do a little burrowing in the dirt in the yard, but nothing to be concerned about.  

He likes the bushes too, for he feels safe there.  

  

Baby Bunny: Burrowing and Boxes

We started out with shaving for bedding.  But we found disadvantages to shaving.  They seemed to end up every where and on everything it was near.  

Granted with any pet you're going to have to clean and refresh bedding, water, cage.  

Yet we looked to another way.  

We tried newspaper.  Kenji shifted the paper around and gnawed on it.  So we got rid of the newspaper.

In the end we just chose to have hay so he could graze through out the day.

As far as peeing and pooping, Kenji chose specific spots to do his duty.

Rabbits do burrowing activity and like a den like place.  It is a natural instinct to burrow.  His cage has a covered area that is similar to a burrow.  It makes them feel safe.

Kenji became fond of a red soft towel.  He'd do a little burrow movement, then stretch out to relax. Sometimes he'd fall asleep for a time there.  

We discovered that Kenji also loves Boxes.  They're are den like. Yet they are also a place to hop on and off of.

We started with just a couple of boxes.  Kenji checked them out first.  Then he would hop on one.  And hop off .  

There was a ottoman in the room.  Kenji found he could jump on that.  

It was a soft place to rest, too.  

There was the time I ordered a new comforter for our bed because it was getting worn.  I ordered it online.  When it was delivered I brought the package in.  Kenji had been hanging out in the living room. As soon as I came in with this package, he came over to me and sniffed the box.  :D

My daughter brought the box up stairs and made a bunny box house for Kenji.  She placed the soft red towel inside.  He loved it.  

It was entertaining to watch him move around the room to different spots.

Kenji would hop back and forth with excitement.  

Baby Bunny Kenji

 

My daughter set Kenji's cage up stairs in her room.  

We put shaving in the cage and a water bottle on the side of the cage.  It seemed OK, yet we knew he would grow.   

We looked around at cages in a couple of stores.  We couldn't find a larger cage in stock in a store, so we order a larger rabbit cage online from chewy.com.  

When the large package arrived we brought it in and opened it up.  It took a bit reading instructions and setting it up.  We called the support line to help us.  They helped and we were finally able to finish putting it together.  Whew.  

Kenji seemed to like the bigger cage, yet still went to the other cage to drink water and poop.  So we kept the other cage.

A little bit about Kenji: 

In the beginning Amanda and Jan watched Kenji. He didn't really do much at first, and didn't step out of the cage. After a few days, he finally stepped out and explored. His personality is friendly, but little timid. 

He loves running around, hiding, and exploring. He would mostly hide under the bed, and sleep. 

He has an energetic side, and a calm relaxed side to him. When he's energetic, he would run around a lot, and be entertaining to watch as he explores the room. When he's calm, we are able to pet him, he usually sleeps when he is calm. 

He eats Timothy and  Alfalfa hay, and pellets which is his main meal. We give him bunny biscuits, bananas, and salad as a treat. He especially loves bananas.  

We looked up breeds of rabbits to learn more.  

There are 49 breeds of Rabbits world wide.  We looked at the different breeders of rabbit to find what Kenji was.  He is part Lion Head.  They have hair that is similar to a lion's mane, hairs fluffs out around his head.  He is very fluffy and soft.  The description of his breed mentioned that they are good family pets though a little timid, as he is.  They mention not so good with young children who's energy is very high.  

Our girls are teens and love learning about their new pet.  

Illustrations of Kenji eating.  

His ears were small, as he was just a baby.  

He does seem to like to put his front paws on the edge of the  bowls.