Amber Loves Rex

"It all started back in 2007...

Little Amber turned up at the Ansell household originally designed to go in a trio with two of my other bunnies. My other female decided that she didn't much like the idea of sharing her husbun with a fluffy little ginger baby bun, and it soon became apparent that a trio wasn't going to be an option.

We got her settled in her own room at home, and then set about looking for a partner for her. We'd visited Caroline a couple of years earlier, so we knew this would be best place to find a husbun for her to spend her days with.

We left her at home while we checked out the boys. Obviously lots were already happily bonded, some were a lot older than her, some were a lot fluffier than her, and then we saw him... Jay-Zee. The biggest, stroppiest rex rabbit I had ever seen. He was a beautiful broken castor standard rex, and he took one look at us, hopped to the back of the hutch and thumped his foot.

Caroline explained that his previous owners hadn't spent much time with him; their dogs chased him round the garden, and he had escaped from his hutch, impregnated their female, and landed himself at the rescue. As a result of his past, he was incredibly shut down around people and probably would have been quite happy never to have seen another person again. We knew that we may never have a cuddly rabbit, and he may always be shy / frightened, but we also knew we could give him a home where he'd be safe and secure, so we set the date for him to be bonded with Amber.

On the day we dropped her off, Caroline had set up a shed for them. Lots and lots of hay, and a divider in the middle. Jay-Zee was on one side, and we put Amber in the other. Straight away he was snorting, lunging and boxing her through the wire, while she munched on some hay. We drove home, hoping that we hadn't made a horrible mistake picking such a crazy rabbit.

Lo and behold, Caroline text us regular updates and pictures through the process, and after 2 weeks they were settled and ready to come home. When they arrived, he was a different rabbit. Gone was the aggression, and although he was still very very shy, he set about making himself at home.

He didn't bear much similarity to his rapper namesake, (he soon turned out to be a complete pansy), so we renamed him Rex. For the first year, we struggled to build a bond with him. He was lovely with Amber; they spent most of their time bonking each other, usually while one was trying to eat breakfast, or licking each other to within an inch of their lives. With us though, whenever we went to check on them, he would run off and hide in the corner facing the wall, and the slightest noise would make him jump and thump his feet.

With perseverance, and lots of sitting quietly with food, he is now is snuggliest bun and follows us about trying to beg food.

Even after 8 years together, the love hasn't fizzled out and although they've slowed down a little, they still find the motivation to wash each other's ears, steal treats...

...and snuggle up together giving bunny kisses."

Words and photo's by Lindsay