The Rabbits of the Manor

Bandit

I first met Bandit at a pet shop on 10th July 1997, when she was about six weeks old. I'd been looking for a rabbit for a while and here she was, a tiny model of perfection, racing confidently around the open-top enclosure where she'd been living with other young rabbits and guinea pigs. The attendant said she was a female dwarf, which (surprise!) did turn out to be true. All for the sum of $20. I resisted the temptation to buy another rabbit, a black one, because I didn't want to end up with lots of rabbit babies in a few months' time. I bought the usual stuff -- a cage which opened at the top, food containers, lucerne hay and a pellet mix containing pellets, lucerne chaff, sunflower seeds, oats, wheat, and sorghum. (These days I use mixed lucerne/grass hay and plain pellets which I occasionally supplement with tiny amounts of sunflower seeds and whole oats.) I took Bandit and her cage home in a taxi. Once installed in the utility area of the house, she became very timid and withdrawn. She struggled for her life when picked up, and her nails were so very sharp. To this day she hates being picked up and I let her have her way, except when certain nasty-but-necessary things have to be done, like nail clipping.

On the third day, as I was cleaning out her litter tray, I heard a noise. There she was, balanced precariously on the edge of the cage entrance (remember, the opening is at the top)... as I moved toward her in alarm she happily hopped down and started exploring the area as if nothing special had happened. After it happened a few times I left the door permanently open and placed a non-slip mat at her landing spot.

She became accustomed to the tiled floor very early and often took advantage of its qualities to slide round corners when running her mad bunny race. Now that she's older she prefers the carpeted area but on occasion she'll still race between the tile and the carpet.

I bought a guinea pig (after reading the RSPCA book) to provide her with companionship, but it was a dismal failure from day one. The pig was noisy, messy and oversexed -- everything that Bandit wasn't -- and by the end of the first week I exchanged it for another rabbit, Smokey. Smokey was my second choice as the black rabbit that I'd seen earlier had been sold, but he and Bandit are now a loving couple.

When Smokey started mounting Bandit and spraying everything I had to move him out of the cage and eventually get him neutered. By then it was apparent that their home was much too small, and so I built them a double-decker cage with half-inch plywood, metal sheeting for the "floors" and very strong mesh. Before it was finished I'd taught them how to navigate the ramp, and once everything was done and they moved in they seemed totally familiar with the place. The upper deck is their preferred area (because of the view?) and instead of coming out during the day they are usually lazing away "upstairs".

About a year after Bandit arrived I adopted Misty, a female of about the same age, with a startling resemblance to the youngster I'd missed out on. They were reasonably friendly at first and shared the big cage for about two weeks, but then both of them started having false pregnancies and one drizzly morning in the garden they started hopping over each other. I thought they were having fun until great tufts of fur started flying. It turned out that they were actually raking each other with their hind feet. The fight was fortunately stopped in time and injuries superficial.

Bandit on the alert. 1998	Bandit in her litterbox. August 1999

All attempts at bonding or at least fostering peaceful co-existence failed and usually ended up in fights that no amount of water-spraying would stop. Bandit got her ear permanently notched in one of these fights, and even recently, when she was willing to groom and befriend Misty, Misty bit her in the groin without any provocation whatsoever.

August 1999	August 1999 A windy day. The permanent notch in Bandit's ear where she was bitten by Misty is clearly visible.

The last time Misty managed to sneak into the big cage, Bandit flew into a rage and attacked Misty with appalling violence. I reached in with my right hand and batted the rabbits from each other; Bandit latched on to my hand in the mistaken belief that it was Misty. She ended up hanging by her teeth from my hand, which I raised slowly until all her feet were off the floor, for around ten seconds before coming to her senses and letting go.

Bandit has has never deliberately bitten me. The closest she has ever come to it is nipping (seldom) and a very soft, warning bite when severely provoked.

Other quirks: a tendency to eat the calluses off my fingers. Running jumps onto my stomach whenever the snack box is shaken. Head in the snack box whever possible, and if the food isn't forthcoming, inserting claw in human nostril.

Bandit: first, feistiest, favourite.