Hide and Seek

One of my Grand Daughter Amelias favourite games is hide and seek in the garden and i think Artemis Athena (Arteminx) has seen too much of it!
We had a game of 'guess which hole i am hiding in mum' tonight.

Went out to put then in and Dillon was suspiciously good to go to bed - hang on wheres Arte... he always waits for her to go in then gives me a run around before he goes in himself!

i knew she must be underground, as i couldnt see her above. Osi, the cat, said she was under too by looking down a hole in amusement, Dillon also kept going in and out of both entrances.

I also realised tonight the extent of the burrowing that has gone on, although i know a lot of it is probably legacy burrows from previous occupants from many years ago that have been dug into and opened up.

So, i tried poking a stick in one end of the known burrow, no joy, as sticks dont bend. So i stuck my arm in and realised just how big it was and that it branched off inside...
so to the other end, and again realised how bit it was and saw that another hole had 'appeared' since i looked last...!

Thoughts going through my head, do I start digging, maybe i could connect the hose up and flush her out, but supposing she didn't come out, supposing i drowned her..? what if i started digging, and hit her with the spade...? Maybe if i leave her she will come on..? but suppose she doesn't, it will be too dark to see anything soon...!

so i grabbed a handful of loose earth and threw it in the entrance to first hole, no luck. Repeated with the second, 'new' hole, still nothing. I was just thinking i may have to start digging after all when she emerged and went into bed - little minx!

Burrows are deadly.... when I had Toffee and Truffle they dug and dug and it could be hell getting them out at night, even worse getting the buck out, I was once out till gone midnight trying to get Riley to exit. I thought about fitting tracking devices on them... like they use on ferrets. Then I even thought, "Forget the tracker... just bung a ferret down!"
In the end I sorted up a load of bricks and began pushing them into the burrows (not while the buns were down them obviously).... I'm still digging the bricks out of the lawn!

They just love to do it to us don't they Freecycle hun, the more wound up and worried we get the better they seem to like it? I suppose really to them it is just a game but the anxiety it causes us knows no boundaries. I am sorry you are still digging bricks up Woodwench love. I agree burrows are deadly but buns will always want to dig.

Hugs
Jo xx

Who is the main digger?
Who knows the burrow best?
Mum or buns?
Competition is now opened!

woodwench wrote:Burrows are deadly....
In the end I sorted up a load of bricks and began pushing them into the burrows (not while the buns were down them obviously).... I'm still digging the bricks out of the lawn!

i'm always blocking holes up with bricks, i have a stash of bricks and logs in the run in case they are needed, and Arte is often finding old bricks from previous occupants block ups - she says she understands the annoyance of it!

Although she seems to have decided she was too silly and a bit too naughty with the hidey hole and has blocked it up herself today. If i hadn't seen her come out of it last night, i would almost think it hadnt been there... definitely a space to watch!

c.bolduan wrote:Who is the main digger?
Who knows the burrow best?
Mum or buns?
Competition is now opened!

Main digger = Artemis Athena. Dillon tries, but doesnt have the knack/attention span so gets it piled up under him forgetting to use his back legs then moves on to another spot.

Who knows the burrow best... hard call. I used to, and possibly still do, but Arte is quickly discovering the ins and outs (quite literally ) of the underworld.

I know best but I have a fair advantage my burrows are plastic and nylon and shop bought lol

Xxx

gemma997 wrote: I know best but I have a fair advantage my burrows are plastic and nylon and shop bought lol

Xxx

Same here or at least I thought.
Until one night when I needed to check on bubbles whom had barricaded her self in one runaround tunnel.
She sat in the bang middle. Now the only way would be to shake her out. She didn't like that and it's difficult because they are very long and stiff.
After I got her out next day the tunnel was cut in half.lol

My plastic tunnels are like squeeze boxes for easy storage so if they try that I just push the ends together and it turns from 150cm to 30cm. The nylon one is a trio tube and has a whole innate middle so you bribe them out lol.
Mummy has won the war on burrows lmao

Xxx

at least you have the control over plastic burrows, how long, where too and they generally tend not to aim at the neighbour's garden or out of the run (house) lol

Henry used to have a couple of nylon tunnels in a T shape and used to love loitering at the junction where the two joined and wouldn't budge. Then I discovered scratching on the nylon was, to him, like chalk on a blackboard and he always scooted.

Can't use nylon ones as bubbles eats them causing blocked tummy!
Soft plastic the same
Card board and veg past used in side. Outside make sure there is no bit of tunnel sticking out.

I have heard that lady bunnies are better at burrowing, does anyone know if this is true?

Hugs
Jo xx

It's only ever been my ladies that have tried to burrow in the tunnels but soundwave tries to dig the corner of his the cage but only at two of them xxx

Yes it's the does does the diggin'. Bucks just play at it and give a token scrape or two (just enough to send the litter flying out of their trays!).
In the wild rabbits live in a matriarchal society... you should read The Private Life Of The Rabbit by R. M. Lockley; brilliant book. It was Richard Adams "bible" when he was writing Watership Down.

woodwench wrote:Yes it's the does does the diggin'. Bucks just play at it and give a token scrape or two (just enough to send the litter flying out of their trays!).
In the wild rabbits live in a matriarchal society... you should read The Private Life Of The Rabbit by R. M. Lockley; brilliant book. It was Richard Adams "bible" when he was writing Watership Down.

I have to get this. As an ebook on iPad .thanks for the tip!

Me too but I hope it isn't a sad book. Someone once told me that the bucks get caught more often when they are in the wild as they are too lazy to dig proper holes, don't know if that is true.

Hugs
Jo xx

Private Life is the book written after a study the author carried out on the island of Skokholm. It covers every aspect of the lives of wild rabbits (including a history of myxi) and it really was a big help to me when I got Clawed, my first rabbit. It gave me a great insight into the psychology of rabbits and why they behave in certain ways and how to provide as near a natural environment as possible.
It's no sad, but it is a life study of a warren and includes fights etc..

woodwench wrote:Yes it's the does does the diggin'. Bucks just play at it and give a token scrape or two (just enough to send the litter flying out of their trays!).
In the wild rabbits live in a matriarchal society... you should read The Private Life Of The Rabbit by R. M. Lockley; brilliant book. It was Richard Adams "bible" when he was writing Watership Down.

Eyes likes a good dig given the chance, but he is the first boy i have known to dig properly. Dillon is as you say just one to give a token scrape of two - he forgets to use his back legs to push it out, so ends up on a mound under him lol.

i have that book somewhere - i did start reading it once, must dig it out and read it again, thanks for the reminder.

Checked and can't get it as I book. So it's gonna be ordered as paperback. A little treat for myself!

Thanks Woodwench love, I will see if I can order a copy.

Hugs
Jo xx

I'm sorry but this really made me laugh!

jolovesbunnies wrote:I have heard that lady bunnies are better at burrowing, does anyone know if this is true?

Hugs
Jo xx

A quote from Watership Down:

Buck rabbits on their own seldom or never go in for serious digging.

Thanks hun, that confirms it then lol!

Hugs
JO xx