New Bunny Week: Watching, Guessing and Learning the Face
First week with a new bunny is all watching. This is my field journal, day by day, what I set up, what he did, what I stopped assuming. Breed guesses are fun, but the daily log matters more. Personal journal, not new-owner advice; for settling, diet, or health questions I ask a vet. Setup from day zero: same feeding spot, fresh water twice a day, one hiding box, one tunnel, nothing fancy.
Days 1-2: the box era
Day one: inside the hide before the carrier door fully opened. Ate nothing visible, drank nothing visible, poops present by evening (counted: normal). I sat on the floor 2 meters off reading, 15 minutes, twice. Day two: nose out at 17:00, full emergence 19:20, one hallway patrol, back to base. Fur texture says maybe rex to me, dense, velvet, springs back, but I stopped guessing the breed and started watching instead: curious, sweet, fearless. Short floor visits, let them come to me. Curious nose, day three, the photo that opens this post’s gallery.
Days 3-5: the inspection tour
Day three: every corner inspected, tunnel entered and exited 6 times (counted, obviously), willow ball nudged once and dismissed. Day four: first binky, small, mid-tunnel-exit, logged with three exclamation marks. Day five: Disney face photographed side-on (gallery frame two), then the tunnel inspector portrait: sitting tall inside the tunnel mouth like a supervisor. Enrichment so far: tunnel, willow ball, cardboard castle. All approved, tunnel most of all. Appetite and poops noted daily, both normal from day two. I note curiosity, appetite and poops, the three lines that matter in week one, everything else is decoration.
Days 6-7: the face I learned
Day six: first flop (rug edge, 19:40), first tooth purr during a cheek rub he solicited by pressing in. Day seven: morning greeting, waiting at the corner when I arrived with water, the week’s graduation. What I stopped guessing: breed (rex? mixed? who cares, the sheet says curious, sweet, fearless and that is a better breed standard). What I started instead: the face, ear angles as mood semaphore, learned frame by frame from the week’s 40 photos. Week-one totals: 7 days, 5 floor sessions, 3 photos a day minimum, zero handling beyond carrier moves, one tunnel-obsessed bunny fully home. Watching, guessing, learning the face, in that order, and the order matters.
Week two preview and the filing system
Days 8-10 sketched ahead: first full-room access granted (tunnel moved to the doorway as a safe corridor), first shared evening with the resident bunny’s scent on a cloth (neutral, sniffed, flopped beside, promising), first3940 photos sorted. Filing: day folders 01-07 with three best frames each starred, blurry 190 deleted without ceremony, the 21 keepers forming week one’s album. Breed-guess postscript, closing the file: rex? The fur says maybe, the ears say maybe not, the sheet says curious-sweet-fearless and outranks both. A friend guessed polish; another said dutch mix. All guesses logged on the last page under totally-unverified-fun, which is exactly where breed guesses belong until a vet or a pedigree says otherwise. What week one actually established, in order: safety (hide respected), appetite (normal day two), curiosity (tunnel day three), joy (binky day four), trust (flop day six, greeting day seven). Watching first, guessing second, face learned daily. Week two: the door opens wider.
Field notes appendix: water changed twice daily without fail (the one constant he could count on), hide never moved all week (anchor in a new world), my floor sessions logged 5 for 5 (attendance perfect on my side too). Photo count: 231 frames, 21 keepers, 3 gallery stars. Supply list for week two: second litter corner (approved location scouted), willow tunnel spare (first one showing love-wear), cardboard castle extension (requested via persistent sitting on the plans). Breed file: still open, still fun, still last. The face file: filling daily, ear semaphore decoded to three positions, flop latency down to minutes, greeting ritual established. New bunny week complete; resident bunny era begins.
Lessons for the next first week (mine or anyone’s): setup before arrival beats improvisation (the hide was ready, day one worked), watching beats guessing (breed file stays fun-last), floor beats furniture (every approach happened at his level), same beats new (hours, spots, order frozen all week). The 21-keeper album now opens the notebook, curious nose first, Disney profile second, tunnel inspector last. Order matters: nose, face, home. He arrived a stranger and ends the week waiting at the corner for water duty. Seven days, five sessions, three stars, one home. Journal complete.
Week one filed and starred. The tunnel inspector takes up residence; the journal takes up the next page. New home, same log.
Curious, sweet, fearless, the breed standard that matters.
Watching first, guessing last, face learned always.
Day eight: the door opens wider.
Journal continues.
The inspector approves; week two begins with open doors. Home, at last. Fully.Next in this chapter…
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