# Pictures from today!



## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

My little Cali buck lives with my older Cali doe, they are rarely more than a few feet from each other. They sleep together, eat together, beg me for food together. Buck lets me pet him, he's always been tolerant, doe wants food or get out of her line of sight, lol. 
Rounder, larger, lighter colored is the doe, the cute little one is the buck. 
Don't mind the poo, my open pen rabbits potty along the fence line.
Surprisingly clean for the week of rain we had and then the mess of rain/snow that fell yesterday. 



























*Already fed them this morning before I went back out with the camera, most could care less about me coming by so soon...   *
*
Sunning on one end, then they spooked because of the camera. *









*Little girl, she was being a bit hyper this morning. *





*Mother of the little girl above, also doesn't stay still long.*









*Buck letting me know he finished up his water after breakfast. He loves to escape, thus in a tractor. *





*My doe from original SF pair, she also tends to escape, so she's in a tractor.*





*Doe refusing to come say hello, she only comes up for feeding, won't come back over if I try feeding her a second time.*





*Pigs chatting and begging at me for more food, they never stop. *





*Pup hoping I'll come back to play again. I didn't, so she wandered back to her flock of sheep. *









*Pony hoping I'd feed him more hay, no way fatso!*





*Kitty's new favorite spot to sit and nap...*


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 25, 2012)

Nice animals and nice pics..

Edited to add, can your cat shot that gun?


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

Safety is on, so nope.


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 25, 2012)

secuono said:
			
		

> Safety is on, so nope.


I was joking.  I didn't really think you would have a loaded gun sitting around so your cat could sit on it.


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## elevan (Dec 25, 2012)

Nice looking animals.

Question...how do you have your open rabbit pens set up?  Did you trench your fence down 3 feet or is there wire under the pen?


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

ThreeBoysChicks said:
			
		

> secuono said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm sure other people were wondering the same thing, since I didn't mention it with the picture.


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

elevan said:
			
		

> Nice looking animals.
> 
> Question...how do you have your open rabbit pens set up?  Did you trench your fence down 3 feet or is there wire under the pen?


Here's a pic. Just as you see it, fence held up with step in posts, open top.


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Dec 25, 2012)

How do you keep out predators?  Around here, they would be gone in a day or two with Hawks, Owls, Ferral Cats and stray dogs?


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## elevan (Dec 25, 2012)

Are they out all the time?  Do they try to dig under?  What have your predator problems with this setup been like?


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

ThreeBoysChicks said:
			
		

> How do you keep out predators?  Around here, they would be gone in a day or two with Hawks, Owls, Ferral Cats and stray dogs?


We have 8 strands of electric fencing around the critter yard. Also have a LGD and 3 other pet dogs. LGD really hates unknown flying animals. 
Two of our 4 dogs.


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

elevan said:
			
		

> Are they out all the time?  Do they try to dig under?  What have your predator problems with this setup been like?


I'm slowly moving them into the coop for winter, but they could stay out year round. Only my AmChin is a chronic digger, but none "dig out", they dig for various other reasons. I do have a SF buck who always escapes, so he is in a tractor when on the ground, same thing with a SF doe, she also tends to escape. Rest have no qualms with where they are. Though, the escapees never escaped during summer when we had loads of grass. Grass stopped growing, the two started hopping out. They don't leave the critter yard, I catch them with a long fish landing net. 

Before the 8 strands of electric fence, we lost over 100 animals to coons and foxes. Nothing worked, traps, snares, body traps, shooting, did no good. 
Then we also got the LGD pup, she now keeps them off our property all together as well as chase off birds of any kind.


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## elevan (Dec 25, 2012)

Thanks for the info!  We're getting more into rabbits and I like the idea of pen raising them.


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 25, 2012)

Great pictures!  Thanks for sharing.  We were recently offered a rabbit (very friendly, sweet large breed, not sure of the kind), but we declined because we are already taking on a few new things at the moment.  Question for you---I have had several friends with rabbits that are bitey.  Is that something that can be trained out of a rabbit, like my friends didn't handle theirs enough or properly, or are some rabbits just that way?


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

They bite? None of mine have ever bitten, even the ones I don't handle until they become dinner. Though, I did have a pet rabbit once, she liked to nibble, but never bit in an aggressive way. Rabbits love to kick with their back feet in defense, some rabbits, when going through hormonal changes may lunge and attempt to nip, but that should eventually pass. 

Did these friends keep these rabbits or just get rid of them when the biting started?


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## Pearce Pastures (Dec 25, 2012)

One I am thinking of was from my childhood but the other couple had rabbits for their daughter's 4H project and they were not in the least sweet and bit frequently.  They got rid of them soon after the biting started.  So that is is not the norm then?  I wonder how they compare to other rodent types.  We had hamsters and gerbils growing up that bit, but our rats never did.


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## secuono (Dec 25, 2012)

Guinea pigs that are afraid or handled too roughly will bite, I only had one bite me from the 60+ that I've had over the years. She was really young and terrified of me, I never had one bite before, so I was careless where my fingers were. Oppsies. 
But rabbits are supposed to be bred for their calm and friendly temperaments, who would want a 'wild' rabbit in their breeding program? They would be dangerous and hard to handle if people didn't breed them to be docile. 
If they got rid of them right away, it could of just been hormones and the rabbits never had a chance to settle back down. Sometimes you get cage aggressive does after you breed them for the first or second time or after they have their first/second litter. But eventually they even back out. My AmChin doe was very defensive during her first two pregnancies and litters, now she could care less what I'm doing. 
I had a SF buck who was 'evil' from a little 9wk kit, after two months of getting him used to me, he stopped freaking out on me. 

We had a hamster...I got one for my brother. He bit him and then he became mine. But I kept my fingers away from him, he had little bite inhibition, that's pretty scary when larger animals do and you're used to that. Trial nips to figure out what is food and what isn't is fine, but that hamster never cared if your finger was food...I'm sure he wanted to chew my finger off and stuff it into his cheek. Oddly enough, the same hamster used to escape from his habitat and jump onto my bed, where he then would crawl up and onto my ear...He would sit there grooming himself until it woke me up and I'd put him back....It was so dang weird!


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## secuono (Dec 26, 2012)

Pup, pony and horse were all galloping around. Had to go outside, was hoping to get a video of my mare and pony playing, but I guess it's too icky for that. Pony nearly went through the hot fence again, pup was just filthy, like the horses. Only my sheep stay clean...

*
Video of me letting pony out. *
[video=youtube;XosK_1rvuxM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XosK_1rvuxM&amp;feature=youtu.be[/video]

*Mare sharing her hay with the sheeps.*





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Dirty LGD pup! *





*Smart and clean sheep!*





*Pretty in mud, lol.*





*My filthy mare, I went into the barn to get pics of the sheep and she came right over demanding hay...which she promptly received. *





*My crazy AmChin doe refused to hide in a hut while it snowed, hailed and then rained...
All the other rabbits were good and hid in their huts.*





*Good rabbits saying no to snow. *


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## bonbean01 (Dec 26, 2012)

Love the photos and video!!!  Thanks for sharing


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