Our little fleece growers
Picking up the bunnies proved to be a little more inconvenient than initially thought. The woman emailed me to tell me she’d be out of town on Friday, how about picking them up at a show closer to Huntsville on 1 March? So I picked them up on the way to Aiken, a two-hour detour at Atlanta. And what a state they were in.
To begin with, Jasper, who from the pictures was by far my favourite, had his entire fleece missing, cut off unevenly with scissors. He did not look attractive at all, and this was due to matting she said. Nomi was also totally chopped up, and much younger than I expected! He is only six weeks old! I had no idea, I thought he was already a young adult. His fleece was a lot lighter than I had expected, but apparently this is due to it still being baby wool, which will begin to grow out over the next couple of weeks. Sienna, the female, on the other hand, totally exceeded my expectations! Her colour is simply indescribable, it needs to be seen in real life. It is a lovely copper colour with so much depth, dimension, shimmer, glow, and shine, that it almost seems unreal. She is absolutely the PERFECT match for Demi’s fiber! She is also still carrying her baby wool, her adult wool will be darker, silkier and smoother. I can’t wait to see what it develops into!
I had nowhere to put them in SC, so they spent a couple of days in huge tubs. During that time we groomed them a lot, because even though the boys had been clipped, all three had a great deal of large matted areas underneath their bodies and around their tail. It was quite sad, because we had to cut it all out. Even now, almost a week later, we have still not removed all of the matting. Satin Angora rabbits do tend to mat up more than other angora breeds, but this is easily prevented by regular grooming. They groom themselves like cats anyway, so with a combing session once a day, their coats stay tangle free.
They were glad to be put in the large cage when we got home - Sienna has the top level to herself, the boys are together in the bottom. What a mess they make! They chase each other around to play, scattering paper bedding, food, and droppings absolutely everywhere. But at least they are happy and comfortable, and Jesse likes to open the door and crawl in there with them.
Jesse and Nomi doing some bonding
Nomi and Jasper on the couch with Jason
Bought to blend with Demi’s fiber, and to provide a litter of babies later
(to attempt to get more colours)
Jesse in with the boys on the bottom level
