A day in the life of two house rabbits

My husband and I both work from home and therefore spend a lot of time with our two house rabbits, Bailey and Flicka.  The rabbits are free to go wherever they want but have litter trays and a 'den', under a small table between the sofas, in the sitting room.  Here is a typical day in our lives...

Flicka on the bookshelf, Bailey encouraging her

We are woken sometime around dawn, usually by Flicka binkying around the bedroom or chewing on their wooden tunnel under the bed.  Whoever gets up to feed them gets raced down the hallway by Flicka (more binkies) and followed at a more sedate pace by Bailey (who is partially sighted).  Both rabbits circle our feet manically until their eggcup of dry food is measured out and wrestled to the ground between their frantic noses.  Then it's a furious speed eating, nose bumping contest until the bowl is licked clean.

The rest of the early morning is dedicated to foraging - eating hay, scrounging a bowlful of dried herbs or a dried banana slice - and playing - ripping up some magazines, chewing on a hay roll, racing up and down the hallway.  I give them fresh handfuls of hay two or three times during the 'morning forage'.  Around 10am, Flicka usually disappears to our bedroom for a solitary nap under the bed.  Bailey continues to forage a little but mostly lazes around on the sitting room rug, accepting some cuddles and nose rubs. 

Around lunchtime, Flicka returns from the bedroom (sometimes Bailey goes to fetch her) and they settle down either in the den or next to the coffee table for their 'proper' sleep.  They tuck their paws in and 'loaf', or Flicka may roll on her back, and they sleep deeply for several hours, sometimes twitching and nodding their heads.

At dusk, Flicka wakes up and moves to her preferred position in front of the TV.  Bailey soon follows her and they visit the litter trays for a good hay munch, have a long drink from the bowl and generally prepare themselves for the evening.  Again, I give them several hay tops up in the early evening.  Flicka begins to hassle for their dinner at around 7.30/8pm, following us into the kitchen and honking around our ankles.  They get a few leaves of spring greens, cabbage or kale at around 8.30pm followed by another eggcup of dry food at 10.30pm, which is eagerly anticipated.  When they're not begging at our feet, they are stretched out on the rug, grooming themselves and each other and snuggling up together.

The last thing we see every night... Flicka's face!

Before bed, I top up their hay again and give them a carefully divided carrot which is an object of much 'carrot jealousy' and sideways glances at each other.  They wolf this down while we're brushing teeth etc and then Flicka races through to do some more bed binkies and scrounge a raisin or two off my husband.  I give Bailey a treat too and then go through to get 'tucked in' by Flicka.  She might stay with us on or under the bed, or rejoin Bailey in the sitting room - either way, they will both always be ready and waiting in our bedroom the next morning to do it all over again.

In between all this, we sometimes manage to get some work done!  So that's a day in our lives and hope you enjoyed my first blog post.  Stay tuned for more random ponderings on house rabbits and the fun they bring into our lives.

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