We’ve teased you with random photos of our “fluffle“, but our bunnies aren’t just faceless, nameless wool-producing machines. They are living creatures, each with a mind of their own, and amazing personalities. And they are a cherished part of our family. We constantly strive to give them bigger/better living quarters, and might give them a few too many treats from time to time, but they are all quite happy and content – as they should be.
Molly is a purebred, pedigreed German Angora that we adopted from the wonderful folks at Hillside Rabbitry & Fiber, in Dedham, Maine. Like her brother Roger (below), she was a “runt” of the litter, but she hails from an amazing line of wool producers.
In the few months that Molly has been in our family, she’s gown quite rapidly, perhaps still not as big as other German Angoras her age, but her fur is as thick and soft as any other German Angora that we’ve ever met.
Molly is an all-out diva. She’s super friendly and playful, but if another of our rabbits gets fed before she does, she’ll stomp her rear foot and huff and puff and growl. The first time that happened, it was quite startling, but now, we’ll sometimes feed her second (or third, or last) just for her reaction. And perhaps to teach her a little humility.
Apologies for the language, but there is really no other way to describe Logan.
Logan and his brothers are an English/French mix (75/25 or so), and were adopted from a private breeder in Etna, Maine. Even as young adolescents, these boys have been providing a great deal of wool, and (because they’re boys) entertainment.
Logan, much like his namesake, truly has a heart of gold that is often misplaced. While he’s not particularly aggressive, he does have a tendency while being groomed or picked, to nuzzle in close to lull us into a false sense of security, then give a quick nip, or bring out his (thankfully, not adamantium) claws. You can almost hear him chuckle when he does it, too.
Hank – “The Scholar”
Like his namesake, Hank is very inquisitive, and a gentle giant.
He is super curious about the world around him and tends to be the first of the brothers to explore different places. Hank relishes “playpen” time when we bring the boys into the house while we clean their cages. He hops all around, his little furry nose twitching, exploring and learning as he goes. If any rabbit could take over the world, it’s Hank.
While Hank is being groomed or picked, he will fall asleep and take a nap. Although we can’t prove it, we do believe that he has a tendency to snore. Loudly.
Roger – “The Explorer”
Not to be confused with “Roger the Shrubber“, our Roger is the big brother to Molly. He, too, was a bit of a runt when he was younger, but has started growing quickly.
As with most rabbits, Roger is curious, and much like Hank, he tends to lead the exploration. If he had opposable thumbs, he would be the type who would open every door along a hallway, just to see what’s on the other side.
When we open his cage, he invariably stands on his rear feet, sniffing and asking for pets (which we always oblige, of course). While we love all our rabbits equally, Roger tends to bring a little more joy to our day during feeding and handling time.
Max – “The Mover”
Max tends to keep to himself, for the most part. Of the dozen of so photos of him that we took this morning, he was content to hide in the corner (camera shy, perhaps?). He doesn’t fuss when we handle him, and seems content to just sit quietly. Of course, he could be studying his prey, as it were.
Although, Max does have one rather hilarious personality “quirk”. Apparently, he has studied the ancient Chinese art of feng shui since he was a wee kit. It wasn’t until the boys got separate cages that we were able to narrow it down to Max, but he enjoys moving things in his cage: his food bowl, the hay rack, wood blocks… every morning, we find these things seemingly randomly scattered about his cage, and we have to put them back in place.
Rémy – “The Joker”
Rémy is the very definition of the class clown. In fact, we’re certain that he’s teasing his brother in this photo. We have yet to detect any sort of N’awlins drawl from him, but we’re certain that he has one.
Curious and mischievous, yet very sweet and mild-mannered, Rémy does everything he can to keep things light and fun. While we’re not sure how “tickle spots” work on rabbits, Rémy seems to have many of them. Oddly enough, those spots always seem to move. One day, for example, his right rear paw might be ticklish. The next day, it might be his front left paw.
Just between us, though, we think he might be putting us on regarding his tickle spots. Given then nature of his personality, that would make a lot of sense.
Surprise! Not angoras! Moira and Rahne are a mother/daughter pair of lionheads that we most recently adopted. While they won’t be great wool providers, they weren’t in the best of homes, so we made the decision to bring them into our family.
After a couple hours of grooming and picking, these girls are so much happier, and have started bonding with us fairly quickly. We did pick a good amount of wool from Moira, so we’re happy to add her fur to our growing stock. Rahne is much younger, and not as “double maned” as her mom. She’ll still provide wool, but it will most likely not be her strongest suit.
Regardless, we are super happy to have these girls in our family.