Edited to include a decision that we made tonight:
We've changed Mallory's name (which was given to her in the rabbit rescue) to Pearl. I didn't like that Mallory means "ill omen" which just doesn't fit with Bennett's name (meaning "little blessed one") and Laurie didn't want to call her Megan, which I really liked that means "pearl" so we decided on just Pearl, which really suits her. I'll be going to fix all the names in this post. :)
So here's the big, exciting news! We went on Saturday to Glendale, where our local rabbit rescue, Brambley Rabbit Rescue, was holding an adoption/awareness day at a pet shop. Our intention was to take Bennett on a speed date with four lovely bunny ladies that we had looked at and selected from their adoptable bunny page online. Bennett decided that he didn't want to speed date and so it ended up that we just had one date with one bunny. Her name is Mallory, which we've changed to Pearl. She's an English Angora mix, probably mixed with some Lionhead, because she doesn't have the full angora coat, just around her front, like a lion's mane, on her face and the rest looks like a skirt around her body, with short fur on her back. Her fur is extremely long right now, I'm probably going to be plucking it this week, but we got some really cute pictures of her as she is right now. As you can see, she's mostly white or just off-white with little, tiny gray ears. The hair on her forehead is so long, she can't see, so we've been putting it up in a little pony tail so she can see. Even with the pony tail, she doesn't have the best eye sight. We were letting her run around Bennett's room for a little while, and two out of the four times she ran around the cage, she nailed the cage poles, head on. Ouch!
We're working on bonding Pearl and Bennett. Their date went very well, but the first day we had them home and together, they got into a few fights. Luckily, they didn't hurt each other, but I got a few scratches separating them. Yesterday, we only had one fight but we did have a lot of Bennett grooming Ms. Pearl, which I was very excited about. I'm sitting with them right now, doing a little bonding session. We've had mutual grooming and no fighting so far. They are quite the cute little couple. Bennett is really into her, but she's still settling in and has been pretty scared so far. Bonding is a process, so even though today is going really well, it's definitely not time for them to go to living together. They get short little bonding sessions, and if they go well, we let them hang out together for a little longer, then we give them a little more space and see what happens, and if all of that is going well (all of this is under strict supervision) we try them living together. Right now, we've divided Bennett's room in half, with each one in each half, the fence between them allows them to see each other and smell each other and even hang out through the barrier. One of the following pictures is of them kissing though the gate.
Let me tell you a little about Pearl. She was rescued from a abuse/neglect/breeder situation with 83 other rabbits. She spent the first two years of her life in a 20" by 20" cage, with little or no human interaction. She was rescued about a year ago and has been at Brambley Hedge ever since. She's very shy around us. She doesn't like to eat in front of us and it's just been today that she's come nosing around me to be a little curious about who I am. She's a petite girl, but she's definitely solid in a way that Bennett is not. She's cute as a button, though and I know with some time and some loving and some help from Bennett, she'll come out of her shell and be the sweet bunny that I can see in her.
Brambley Hedge has been fantastic in helping us bond them. We got all the information that we need, and the promise of lots of support from the volunteers there, especially Stacey. She's bonded somewhere between 60 and 70 rabbit pairs and she was a wealth of information. She gave me her cell number and promised us if it took us six months or six other bunnies, we'd bond Bennett, whatever it takes. I felt really good taking Pearl home with us knowing that help is just a phone call away. They also want permanent contact with us to check on how Pearl's doing and such. They are really a great organization. They even trim nails and clean scent glands (which I didn't even know about) for free!
So here some more pics of Pearl and some with Bennett, too!
Kissing through the gate :)
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