The marvel of small mammals

I haven't posted in a month?!  Where does the time go?  Part of the reason for the radio silence is the ipad.  It's not amazing for typing and doesn't have a port for the photo card.  Someone dear to me confessed that she doesn't read posts that lack pictures so I try not to post without pictures.  Another reason is I joined the ranks of American unemployed.  Doesn't make me want to brag about my life.  Actually makes a small dark hole sounds most appealing.  So why today?  After all of these days what has driven me back to my blog?  Very exciting news!  You know I got more rabbits about a month ago.

 Kootenai

 

Ruben

They have been settling in well and Ruben is the sweetest rabbit though he clearly doesn't like to be photographed.  Before we left the farm Kootenai was bred to a lovely fellow named Mac, yeah, like the truck.  With the copulation date on the calender we were eagerly awaiting the kindle date (aka birth day).  But day 28 passed with no sign of babies or nest making, then day 30 and finally day 31.  Odd as it may sound, I tried to help her along with the nest making by pulling on her belly hairs.  My rabbit book says they pull out their belly hairs to line the nest and some assistance can initiate nest building.  The hairs would not budge.  I took it as the final sign that there were no bunny babies.  I gave up hope, just last night.  That's right, friends, 24 hours ago I was singing a song of woe for my barren doe. I called my aunt to complain and this morning I complained to my sister that my 'pregnant' bunny wasn't pregnant at all.  

But nature had the last laugh and when I finally did an afternoon check on the rabbits I saw a nest box lined with rabbit hair.  I stared in wonder.  There would be babies.  Ian, it seems, was staring a bit more carefully than me and noticed the hair was moving.  There were babies!  I swear they weren't there when I did the morning feeding at 6 am.  She may have been birthing while I complained about the situation to my sister .  So funny and wonderful and exciting.  Please let them all live.  Oh, there are five.  They are so hairless!  They are completely black right now and won't silver until they're a couple of months old.  So I'm a baby mama, kind of. Woot!