Monday, January 30, 2012

How I stay organized

I want to warn you, lots of pictures ahead! I will show you my file folder box, my pedigree book, and screen shots of the different folders on my  computer that I stay organized with.


This is the fourth installment of my little "What's in my..." series. It wasn't a series until now!

My showbox Contains
Bunny 911 (My medical box)
Some of my rabbitry templates


Ok, now on to the interesting stuff!


My box. Yes, the lid is lopsided. I've had it for a few years, and this is what it gets after having my cat sit on it from time to time. I bought it at Target btw.






Such a dirty carpet... Anywho. This is what I keep my worming dates, and weights in. Pretty important little notebook.





Sales book that I don't even use... I really need to though.



A lot of old show papers. So many papers!!!!


This is a folder for Honey Bun. She was the rabbit that really got me back into showing, and all of her legs,, pedigree, registration paper, and comment cards are kept in here. She's the only one that has her own folder.




Past rabbits. Mostly rabbits that have died. Their legs, pedigrees, and registration papers are in here. 




A dollar at Target!! I used to keep the legs either in an envelope in the pedigree folder, or just in their pedigree pocket thingy. This is soooooo much nicer. They're all in one place now.



Organized by ear number.



They all fit so I don't have to worry about size or anything.


This is my pedigree book. I swap it out depending on where I'm going, that's why it's not fancy. If I'm going to convention, I'll only take the one's I'm bringing with me. I organize by Buck/Doe. Blue for buck, purple for doe.



This is the general layout. In the back of my pedigrees I keep any registration, or grand champion papers the rabbit may have. I organize each rabbit by Group first, then Variety, and then by name. It's easier to find rabbits that way.



On to the screen shots!!
Click to enlarge



This is the "Bunnies" folder. First we will take a look at the pedigrees folder.


I originally planned to scan all of my pedigrees onto my computer, and then onto my PlayBook, but my printer decided to not scan anymore. For now, this is all I have. The folder has all of my homebred's pedigrees in there.



Breeding lists. This is the folder that holds all of the breeding lists, and breeding information.




In another folder I keep my lists and various templates that I forgot I had. This one was for my to use when decided who to keep, and who to get rid of.



My basic show necessities list. Important when I feel like it's one of those forgetful days.


My travel list. It has everything I will need for a rabbit trip listed here. Very important.



One of my for sale lists. I do charge for tattooing. Here, if you don't people will swarm you with requests to tattoo, wont do them themselves (I have had a breeder come up to me who I know owns a tattooer), and they will make you late to your class. I've had this happen, and it's sooooo frustrating!



My pistures!!!! Probably one of the most important folders <3. I organize by rabbit, and my computer puts it alphabetically automatically.






So, that's how I stay organized!!

Friday, January 27, 2012

They're a week old!



Here they are about a day or two old.




 Inside the cave!




Iris built a cave for her babies. That this was huge!!





Emma ended up having 2 fetal giants. I wasn't expecting that at all, since this isn't her first litter. I rebred her a few days ago. Hopefully she took, and we'll have babies in a month!

Friday, January 20, 2012


Bunny 911

There is one thing I hate when I need to treat a rabbit for some sort of illness, injury, or whatever and my stuff is scattered all over the place, and I can't find any of it. I became inspired by an old old OLD (2006) post on Rabbit Habbit which asked "what's in your rabbit medicine cabinet" <-- paraphrasing. I really really wanted to take that in a more literal sense, and have one spot to keep it all. That night I asked Spencer to take me out, and we went on a hunt for either a tackle box or a tool box. I ended up with a tool box, since the tackle boxes have become way more complicated than when I bought my show box.


I finally found one at Walmart, and it's rather large! It was 10 bucks, and I have to say it's perfect!




Below is how I have everything organized.




In the pull out part of it I have my Benebac,  baby food, some plastic bags, hand sanitizer, and a pocket knife.



 
This is the inside view of the main compartment




This is a little fishing organizing box. I don't know what it's used for. I don't fish, and I didn't look at the label. I have cotton balls/pads, a needle, syringe, and a dropper in the middle slot, and q-tips and 2 pairs of gloves in the last two slots.




This is where I keep most of my syringes and needles. I also have a few bags in there too.




My little supervisor for this blog post.



I have another bag of Benebac that expires at a later date.



Corn starch!!!! A must have. It cleans up the rabbits messy bums, and it stops bleeding.




Wazine, what I use to deworm.



Pedialyte for when I need to add electrolytes to their water.



KMR, bought for Penelo. Never know when it'll be useful.



I've never used these. They were given to me, so I figured why not keep it where I wont loose it.



Lastly a very, very, old towel.



Of course I will be adding to it as event occur, but for now this is all I have.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Emma, Iris, babies? Oh my!

Emma is due today, but it's hard to determine if she's pregnant or not. She is so angry! Her last litter was the first and only one she's had. She's normally grumpy, but she was worse when she was pregnant. She mellowed out after she had the babies. She let me mess with them, which was nice. I wasn't fearful my hand was going to get boxed off for once.

I felt her stomach a few hours ago, and I held my hand under her belly and just waited. I felt 2 very soft nudges. Spencer came out at feeding time and messed with her. He is positive she's pregnant. He said she's still pretty high, and expects her to have them on Wednesday or late tomorrow night.

I also decided to have him feel Iris, the doe I have pretty much given up on. She got huge! I am so worried about her now. Spencer thinks she'll have them a day after Emma.

Spencer can pretty much tell when they're going to have them. He used to work at a guide dog facility in the whelping room. He was around the pregnant moms a lot, and birthed a few.

For now, here is a picture of Emma, and a few of my kitty.




Friday, January 13, 2012

Palpating without actually palpating

Confusing title, but such an easy concept!

I was in chat yesterday, and I asked how to tell if your rabbit was pregnant without actually palpating. The reason I asked this is quite simple, Emma bit me (more of grazed me in a warning manner, she's not a bier believe it or not) when I went to touch her tummy. This rabbit is more pissy when pregnant, but to be honest I try not to mess with her when I think she's pregnant (stress and such), so I hadn't noticed any added aggression.

Tessa sent me this little paragraph:

"Then, on day 20, if she is pregnant, there will be a bulge on her right side, where the litter is pushing the caecum outward. This will not be so noticeable on the first litter, but will be obvious on later litters. Then from about day 25, you can feel some irregular lumps behind her ribs, its usually easier to feel these on her left side. These lumps are the little pups."

It's like she knew for one, which rabbit I was inquiring for, and how far along she was (smart smart). I went out to try it after asking her a few questions about it, and I have to say it is the freakiest thing next to feeling them kick for the first time! I actually felt 2 bumps on either side, and they went in when pushed lightly. I pulled out Iris to test this, and she didn't have these bumps. I will surely let you know if this is what the article described. I think this is a great way of testing, and you really don't need to take them out of the cage.

Here is the website the rest of the information is located:

http://pan-am.uniserve.com/pg000031.htm

It's located in the "pregnancy" part of the website.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Monday, January 9, 2012

What a week

So, this year hasn't been treating me too well yet. Time to move past everything bad, and focus on the good. What's been going well, you may ask. Well, my dear friend, I will tell you!!

The new blogging circle I created, the Hoppin' Circle is doing well! Many many bloggers have joined. We even have a domain name! Check it out. It's in the baby stages, but it's getting there.






I also stared a new blog, It's called the Hoppin' Blog. It's going to be centered around the Hoppin' Circle, and it's bloggers. We plan to have guest posts, featured blogs, interviews, and updates to the website. Feel free to follow it. I promise, you wont be disappointed.




I also have 2 very sweet rabbits still in the next box. Ashelia is the sweetest, she always comes up to me, and I am falling in bunny love with her.


FP's Yuffiy, Ashelia (Ashe), and Penelo. RIP Penelo.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Great Changes

2012 is going to be a big year of changes. In order to increase the quality of my herd I'm going to have to cut back heavily on the shows I attend. Right now I really need to focus on breeding my does, and improving my herd. Plus my bucks aren't in coat. I'll still be blogging, that wont change at all.

Today I bred Tea Cup and Espresso, so I expect an increase of Tans coming soon. There is a possibility that Emma is bred, she didn't show any interest in the buck. She's due on the 16th as well as Irish Lass. My next mission is getting Marshmallow bred. I plan on adding apple cider vinegar to her water. Giving that stuff one more shot! I believe I am working on breeding all of my does, except for Holly and Night (I need to give Holly the ACV as well).

It's completely pointless to go to a show when I only have one buck in decent enough condition to show. I think I will be completely vacant from the show circle other than 3 shows: the Bell show next Saturday, the show in Deland the weekend before Nationals (to show the ones I want to bring), and Nationals. Other than that, I think I wont be going to any shows unless some of my does don't take. Right now, it's only 3 scheduled until Fall.

It's hard, I love going to shows, but it has to be done.I n order for me to breed my does, and get further in my herd, I need to let them breed, and try to get more litters born. It's the only way I'll begin to improve.


This will be a good thing. I know it.


Lastly, I leave you with bunny pictures =). Ashelia and Yuffie.