It’s time for an update on the trio of bunnies Ruth adopted in December 2020.
Taylor
Unfortunately, the trio are now a duo – we lost Taylor last autumn after she was put to sleep after one of those typically tricksy rabbit episodes a.k.a. a brief, vague yet apparently extremely serious illness involving all her organs shutting down. A shame, as having a trio of rabbits had been cute, especially when all three of them decided to cram together under one chair, as here.
After initially appearing less forthcoming than the other two, we had fairly quickly realized that Taylor was the dominant animal of the trio, despite being the smallest. She often assertively thrust her way between the other two for access to the food bowl, forcing them to move aside. Like the other two bunnies, Taylor loved the outdoors and, unlike the others, proved a keen burrower, up until her death working determinedly on a hole somewhere in the middle of the garden, causing some concern that she might disappear down it and emerge a few gardens down. After Taylor’s death, we did ponder whether it would be fitting to use her lifeless body to stop up the bloody great hole she'd made, but Ruth decided against this in the end. As a memorial, here are some pictures of Taylor, plus a clip demonstrating her enthusiasm for the outdoors.
 |
| Squished between the other two |
 |
| Let me out? |
 |
| In the garden |
Unsuitable renamings
The two adorable black bunnies are, thankfully, still with us as I write this. Ruth made the IMO odd decision at some point last year to rename Aragorn ‘Cassius’, supposedly after Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali. I have not considered Cassius a suitable name mainly because, being sophisticated and erudite, the name ‘Cassius’ makes me think not of the boxer but of Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’, and the quote “yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look”, which makes the name seem incompatible with Aragorn’s fairly round, prosperous appearance. My father’s story about his older brother naming one of their cats Cassius because he had a lean and hungry look has further etched this quote, and association, in my mind. Also, it was a nice match with Arya's name, both beginning with A and being named after fantasy characters. However, as I am high-minded and not at all petty, I have decided to respect the change of name.
 |
| Aragorn |
We have continued to bicker about it though ('Julius Caesar’ was my assigned Shakespeare play for O-level English Literature back in the day, and I remember being very taken with the performances (and general hotness) of James Mason and John Gielgud as Brutus and Cassius respectively in the 1953 film, which we watched more than once at school).
Outdoorsyness/energy levels
All (well, now both) the bunnies love going outside and show none of the reticence Harley showed about crossing the slight gap between the back door and the paving. Here they are out the garden shortly after we adopted them:
And here's Aragorn looking longingly at the garden through the closed back door:
And here, having jumped into a plant pot to try to get around the obstacle we'd placed in the bunnies' way to keep them in:
The board in the picture above is something Ruth has used for a while to fence the bunnies in to the under-stairs cupboard at night. Aragorn has proved to be the first bunny we've had who actually routinely jumps over this board to escape captivity. As he's no longer a young rabbit, we're surprised he can manage this, but clearly he doesn't like to be fenced in.
Aragorn also climbs the stairs, as Harley did, but as none of our female rabbits have done - I've no idea if it's a sex thing, or if that's just coincidence. As rabbits' hindquarters are bigger than their front legs, they've both looked much more awkward going down the stairs than going up them; as Aragorn is bigger and heavier than Harley was he has more than once slid/rolled the last few steps. It hasn't seemed to put him off though. Since I have moved back into the house and am using the second bedroom as an office, he has frequently been joining me during the day. Ruth has provided him with an empty box for his amusement.
 |
| In his box |
 |
| On his box |
Aragorn's intense blackness
I mean. He is SO BLACK. Even next to Arya, also a mainly black rabbit.
Update on re-bonding of Catherine Howard, aka Pippa
A footnote. As previously related, we returned CH to Reading Rabbit Rescue after Harley's death so that she might be re-bonded with another companion. Since then, Ruth and I have been amused to gather from RRR's intermittent Facebook posts that several attempts to bond her have been unsuccessful. Here's one post from April 2021 (we returned her to RRR in September 2020):
And another one from September 2021:
We are charmed that she's clearly not having any of it. Perhaps she enjoys the single life, and/or has decided that life at RRR as a "hard to bond" bunny is pleasant.
