Birthday Buns

It's my birthday today - 22 again!

So I thought I would be very selfish and put pictures of me with  3 of my beautiful bunnies  and my husband Lance too. This is the first birthday in 11years where I have not had a bunny to share it with (: Oh well guess I will have to just put up with my husband instead :)

"Honey and Me"

"Daisy, Bud and Me"

"My handsome guys - Lance and Bud"

Stay tuned for "Animal of the Week", just waiting on some information. It is a very big one so watch out!.

RIP - Pacman The Ornate Horned Frog

This is the first of our RIP posts where "MKC" animals have recently died get a tribute.

Pacman was an "Ornate Horned Frog" and lived in our Aquatics room. He died at the end of April and was at least 13 years old. He had not been well for a while and had developed septicaemia which he never recovered from.

"Gone  but not Frogotten"

Pacman was my favourite frog and I always felt like he should be a toad. However there is a difference between frogs and toads. Frogs are smooth whereas Toads are bumpy with glands at the back of their neck. Ornate Horned Frogs are from Argentina and picked up the nickname Pacman due to their wide mouths and round eyes like the video game character; this is why our Pacman had that name. These types of frogs can live for up to 15 years and feed on insects like mealworms but can also eat small vertebrate like Lizards and mice. They are the most common type of horned frog and like to bury themselves in the earth. Pacman will be sadly missed but never forgotten or should that be frogotten :)

Animal Of The Week "The Axolotl"

I thought it was about time that something other than a fluffy tail got a look in :)

So this week's "Animal Of The Week" is from our Aquatics room and is an unusual animal called an "Axolotl". Our one does not have a name but has been with us for a few years now. When he first arrived we had a brown Axolotl but they can be quite territorial so unfortunately the pink one survived but the brown one didn't.


"I'm from Planet Earth - I'm not an Alien!"

 

Axolotls are from Mexico and have an unusual look to them - they are part of the order Caudata/Urodela which Salamanders are also part of. They are in fact a juvenile version of a Salamander and remain in their larval form all their lives which prevents them from developing in to an adult Salamander. This is something called Neotony which is quite unusual in the animal kingdom but does occur with some species and is thought to be a genetic condition or caused by low levels of Iodine. They have gills and can only survive in water.

has been said that on occasion with careful water reduction the Axolotl can grow lungs and go through the metamorphosis process changing  in to a Salamander but is not something generally or recommended to be attempted.
   

Haribo the Corn Snake

Haribo is a female corn snake that arrived with us on the 28.04.14. She was severely under weight and was rescued via a private breeder. Our own technician Jo O collected her from Croydon and has since been working on an intensive feeding programme.

"I'm sweet but not A sweet"

She has put on over 1gram in quite a short space of time and is currently being syringed fed on minced up pinkies (ewh!) Haribo is currently staying in with the technicians while she is in recuperation.

"Bunnies R us"

To finish "Rabbit Awareness Week" off meet are three remaining bunnies, Squeek, Benjy and Batch.



"Ears Squeek!"

Squeek is officially Sophie M's bunny but when Sophie was expecting Zachery it was decided that Squeek would get more attention at the college. Squeek is around three years old and spent some time living with Benjy, however due to the size difference Squeek has her very own enclosure and comes out for lots of runs around the classroom. 

"Who is this woman?"

Other than Peanut, Benjy is our longest serving bun. He was born on New Years Day 2009 and has been with us ever since. He started out at Horsted and is now with us in Gillingham. He had a wife called Tipsy but she died in October 2012. Benjy has since lived on his own, with Squeek and now with the very cheeky Willow Junior, when his eye is not playing him up.     

"Do I look impressed?"

Batch is the son of Peanut and Benjy and was born in the summer of 2011. He now lives happily with his Aunty Snowball. Batch was named after the Head of Function at the time Stephen Batchelor who took a great interest in the animals and not because of his looks :). Batch is very soft and fluffy and popular with everyone. He is now much better at being handled but still prefers his own space.   

Some Official College Bunnies - Rabbit Awareness Week 2014

So for I have not managed to show any official college bunnies yet as part of "Rabbit Awareness Week." So here you go:

Snowball - Came to us via a previous animal technician called Steph back in 2009 when she was about 9 months old. Snowball is now over five years old and to has seen a move from Horsted to Gillingham. She is so sweet natured and I am always amazed at how good she is with students and what she puts up with :) She seems to be a favourite of a fair number of our students. She has had one litter, none of which are at the college. She lives with her "Husbun" Batch and they seem very happy together.


"I'm thoughtful as well as cute you know"

Willow son of Willow - Willow is now about a year old and is the son of Willow snr (see earlier post). He is technically El's bunny grandson :) He was chosen to be the companion of Benjy who was getting lonely. They absolutely love each other, but due to Benjy's eye problems they sometimes have to be separated which neither bunny likes. He is very lively and likes to jump really high - before his snip it was all rather messy but much better now.

 
  

"El's my Grandma?!"

Animal of the Week - Bill the Ground Squirrel

As I have been going bunny mad this week I thought I ought to do a different animal for "Animal Of The Week"


"I can't talk I'm eating!" 

So this week's feature is the very lovely Bill who is a Richardson Ground Squirrel. Ground squirrels are found in quite a few different countries however mainly from the prairies of Mid-West USA. Bill has came to us about four years ago along with another one. At first it was thought they were both males so they were named Bill and Ben. It came apparent shortly after that Ben was a girl so she was renamed Belle - that seems to happen with our animals :)




"YUM YUM!"

Bill is one of my favourite non- bunny animals that we have but does not come out much as he needs close monitoring. I try to get him out as much as possible otherwise he is in his cage for long periods of time. Male ground squirrels are quite solitary and happy to live on their own, while female's prefer to live in groups. Sadly Belle died a couple of years ago but Bill continues to thrive and is getting towards the top end of his age which is 4-5 years old. In the USA they are known as gophers and they are great characters. Technically they are herbivores but do like the odd insect or two.





"Move away from my mealworms" 




Meet My Bunnies - Rabbit Awareness Week

As this is the blog I set up and the fact it is "Rabbit Awareness Week" I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about my own beautiful bunnies. Sadly they all passed away within 11 months of each other but still very much missed. Please note all the buns we have had have been house bunnies. Our other dearly beloved pets were Anakin and Tremble (male buns) and Squingey (male Chinchilla)

"Daisy Bo" - with us from 24/5/08 - 28/11/13

"Hurry up and take the picture, I'm getting anxious!"

Daisy came to us via a friend who rescued her - she had been badly treated and psychologically not in a good way. After a month we took in another bunny called "Bud" and this is just what Daisy needed to help her settle down - he quickly became her "husbun". They had 5 years and 3 months together and gave us so much pleasure and joy. Daisy is our famous bunny who has now appeared in "Rabbiting On" Magazine twice, once on the front cover! Daisy was also our first female bunny.

"Bud Bo" - with us from 28/6/08 - 29/9/13

"Is this my best side?"

My husband Lance fell in love with Bud before we even got Daisy and always made it clear we would have a home for him if the owners could not keep him anymore. That day arrived a month after Daisy and within an hour of getting the phone call asking if we could take him in he arrived in our house. He quickly bonded with Daisy and his laid back ways helped Daisy calm down and they were inseparable right up to the end.

"Honey Bo" - with us from 30/9/08 - 29/12/12

"Whoops, you caught me"

Honey came to us via a neighbour whose children had become bored of having a pet. We took her in thinking we could bond her with Daisy and Bud. Daisy made it very clear this was not going to happen so Honey became our upstairs bunny and my husband's very special pet.  She was so loving and sweet and we had a very close bond with her as she lived upstairs. She loved to jump on our bed and get me up at 4am. Unfortunately she was the only bunny we ever had that died at the vets and not at home -something we find very hard to deal with.

Rabbit Awareness Week

Yes this week is one of my favourites as it is "Rabbit Awareness Week 2014". This has been set up by the "Rabbit Welfare Association" who campaign for improved welfare for rabbits. There logo is "Because Rabbits get a RAW deal".

Rabbit Awareness Week 10th-16th May 2014
 

 We have five rabbits at "MKC" who form part of our Animal Care programme. I will feature one rabbit a day as the week progresses. So to start the week I thought it would be nice to include the other bun who is not part of the main programme and is in an enclosure next to Peanut (see last post).

This is Willow Senior who belongs to one of the technicians (Eliz). Willow arrived just over a month ago and is only a temporary resident. He is the father of "Baby Willow" who I will feature later in the week.

Willow Snr is a Netherland Dwarf  - Blue otter colour and is around 3 years old. He is very sweet but does not like being cuddled, much to the disgust of Jo D one of the techs :)

I am now in the habit of giving him regular strokes which he enjoys and the odd sneaky carrot.

"What does this camera taste like then?" 

    
Stay tuned for more bunny news during "Rabbit Awareness Week" and possibly some information on a couple of new arrivals (not buns).

Animal of the week (Peanut - Retired but not out)

Nuts about Peanut. Being a huge bunny fan I thought it was important that the first main animal feature would be about the very special "Peanut".

"It's a bit slippery up here."  

Peanut is a ginger and white "Dwarf Lop" that has been at Mid-Kent College pretty much all her life and arrived Mid 2006. She is an amazing bunny who has seen all sorts of changes including a move to a new site back in 2009.  She is a very entertaining bunny who has caused lots of amusement over the years. She got to the point a couple of years ago where she had enough of being a working bunny so was retired off.  She now lives the life of luxury in the technicians staff room and thinks she owns the place:)

Back in 2011 Peanut had a liaison with one of our male bunnies "Benjy" and this resulted in the birth of the beautiful "Batch" - These bunnies will feature in a couple of weeks time as part of "Rabbit Awareness Week".

"Another picture of Moi!"

Peanut still loves attention despite being retired and enjoys regular runs around the Aquatics and Mammal rooms. Everyone seems to be nuts about Peanut.