She is an 8 month old French Angora. She reminded me of the color of smoke and I wanted her to have a french name so Fumeé is what I came up with. I think it is fitting with her grey coloring.
She is soooooo soft. Can you believe I got her for free?! She needed a good home and I have been wanting to get some angora rabbits, so the timing was perfect. I was even given a nice large cage and some food for her as well. She was originally purchased by a school teacher who wanted her for the class room. The kids mad her nervous and she would nip at them. So she was given to a friend who had 3 males. She didn't want to breed them and just couldn't keep her so I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time and now she is mine.
I really love the varrigated greys in her coat. The softness is unreal. I just want to hold and cuddle her all day. I can't wait to get the first round of wool from her. Is it worng of me to be excited about this? I am sure thouse of you who have fiber bunnies can relate to this feeling.
We currently have her in our garage. Kevin has built a shelter around her cage with wooden skids, tarps, a king sized comforter and card board. He has made a larger box around the cage with the skids then added the tarps to the top and three sides of the cage with the comforter on top. The cardboard is under her cage and covers up the front so that we can regulate the temperature. Inside the box is her cage and an oil filled heater (it looks like an old home style radiator). So she can huddle close to the heater or go to the other side of the cage where it is cooler. So far so good, her water hasn't froze so that is good. I just hope that it continues to work. She seems happy with the set up, so that is what matters.
I do bring her in the house. I am working on socializing her with the other animals and James. I have been keeping her in the bathroom with a baby gate blocking the door so that she can get some exercise without being too scared of the dog.
We have a small litter box in the bathroom for the cats, just in case they decide that they can't make it to the basement. I make sure that it is completely cleaned before I let her in the bathroom. In two days she had trained herself to use the litter box! The first day she was using it, but I thought it was just a fluke, but she has been using it ever since. I am so happy, now I need to get her a litter box for her cage. I would much rather clean out a litter box than the nasty news paper at the bottom of her cage all the time.
So any of you out there that know anything about Angora rabbits I am all ears. This is my first and I am doing what I can to make sure that she is happy and healthy. Any and all advice would be much appreciated.
* She has a tendancy when she gets nervous to dig at you with her front paws then chew your clothes. Is there any way to help her relax or stop the behavior?
* What method do you prefer to harvest the wool? (plucking, brushing, other)
* Is there a certain diet that you think is better? (only pellets, pellets and grains, other)
* Any foods that I should avoid giving her?
That is all that I can think of at the moment. Any info that you might have I would appreciate. If you don't want to leave a comment you can Email me. Thanks for your help and info.
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