The place for news, updates, announcements, and water bottle gossip from the Buns and their humans.

Hot Cross Hoppenings

February 22, 2024
March 27, 2024

Truffle's new video has been created. He wasn't the most active of Buns in the world because he was so enjoying having Evelyn pet him. He did some happy binkies once he went back to his exercise pen. LOL

I so hope we can get this incredibly sweet little guy placed soon. He craves all the love and attention he can get.

March 25, 2024

We have made Truffle's re-homing listing on the Available Buns page. He is so sweet and was doing happy binkies and zoomies this morning. We know there will be an amazing family for this beautiful boy's second loving home. Click on his picture to read about Truffle and see pictures of this gorgeous boy!

Hot Cross Buns' Truffle - broken chestnut neutered Holland Lop buck on white backgroundHot Cross Buns' Truffle - broken chestnut neutered Holland Lop buck on white background
March 24, 2024

Little Trinket (HCB's Cheerio) went home today! It was such a joy to meet Scheiby E. and her mother this afternoon. Trinket was warming up and giving nose boops during their time with us, so we believe they are off to a wonderful beginning! We look forward to receiving updates as she settles in with Scheiby. We are going to miss that little morsel of sweetness very much.

Truffle is continuing to settle in pretty well. We're hopeful that we might be able to handle him for pictures in another day or two. He's one of those Buns you just want to scoop up and love on because he is so precious.

You may have noticed the addition of the HCB Shoppe to our website. Evelyn and I have been sewing snuggle mats and I have been crocheting many things (only a few have been added to the store, thus far.) For the time being, we have designed it for our clients who will be visiting us to pick up their new Buns. It is a cash upon pick-up system right now, as we investigate shipping options for a wider reach.

I confess to having ignorantly believed that Priority Mail with the USPS was still an affordable option. Goodness, did I get sticker shock when I saw how much the prices have increased! Nearly $19 to ship the medium-sized boxes! :0 I'm trying to come up with something that has better prices and good service, which doesn't involve buying a ton of shipping materials and finding a place to store them. Any suggestions will be most welcome!

March 22, 2024

New pictures of Posey and Rosie's babies have been added to The Nursery page, along with some updates.

We are sad to share that a very special Bun has come back to us for re-homing. His Bun-Mom is moving out of state and is unable to take him with her because of her housing situation. This was an unhappy parting, and we promised her to do our best to find her beloved buck the very best of homes. He is an already neutered broken chestnut who is the litter mate of our breeding buck, Pumpkin Roll. He will be four years old in June. He is very, very sweet but is a confused little guy right now. We will be sharing pictures and more information about HCB's Truffle after he settles in a bit and is comfortable enough with us to allow us to handle him. Right now he is mourning and we are respecting his need to do so. We're sharing a few pictures his Bun-Mom sent to us, so you can have a peek at him.

March 21, 2024

New photos of Porridge (Bear) and Cheerio (Trinket) have been added to their galleries. They are so sweet. We're gearing up to say goodbye to Trinket on Sunday, as she heads off to her long-anticipated home. It will be such a joyous day for her and her new Bun-Mom. We can't wait to finally meet her.

Quick update on how I'm faring: I met with the orthopedic doctor today. She confirmed the diagnosis of the ER doctor and said I have an occult fracture of the elbow. Thankfully, it doesn't require surgery or a cast/splint. I'm still in a sling for the next 10 days (but can remove it for gentle stretching) and can't put any weight on the arm (no planks or pushing myself up off the floor) for the foreseeable future. We do another x-ray in a month and should be able to see where the new bone growth is occurring and will then know the exact location of the break. I'm still quite bruised and a bit swollen, but the worst of it was the itchiness of the cast and bandages. I am so thankful that things weren't worse and can now get back to a (somewhat) normal routine. Thank you so much for your kind messages and prayers!

Now, enjoy the new pictures of Trinket and Bear!

We are having email issues once again. I sent out several messages yesterday. and they gradually all came back as being undeliverable, even though I was replying to messages sent to us. Normally, if I mistype an email address and send it, the undeliverable message is returned to me within a minute or two. This time, it's taking several (4-6) hours for us to be notified. I can't figure out what the problem is.

ETA: Thankfully, the email issue seems to have resolved itself. Tomorrow will hopefully bring new photos of Cheerio (Trinket) and Porridge (Bear.) That's my only goal.

March 20, 2024
March 19, 2024

We can't thank you enough for all the kind messages we received expressing condolences over Cookie. Our hearts are very full, knowing that so many of you understand that love and the pain of saying goodbye.

I wanted to let our readers and clients know that email responses, updates and pictures may be a bit slow for a while. I slipped on the ice early this morning, hitting my head and elbow badly. The ER folks said my head looks fine, but they suspect a fractured right elbow. I'll find out for sure on Thursday. Since that's my dominant arm, I'm going to be teaching Evelyn how to take pictures of the Buns when that needs to be done. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

March 18, 2024

Froot Loop has been matched with an absolutely lovely family. He has been re-named Bagel. I had been a bit apprehensive about whether or not he would be a good fit for them, since he is typically a pretty active little explorer. Rather than being his normal wiggle-wormy self, he was as quiet and cuddle-Bun like as could be. I wanted to ask him who he was and what he had done with Froot Loop. :D They are looking forward to his playful and goofy antics, once he settles in.

We also want to share some sad news. We lost our beloved doe Cookie this morning. She was not quite 10 years old and had been becoming increasingly frail with several health concerns. We had been dragging our feet about making the call, but she is now at peace but will be so, so missed. Cookie had our very first litter of kits at Hot Cross Buns. She had been placed as a bonding buddy for several years and came back to us a few years ago following the passing of her bunny friend. We were blessed to have her as a member of the family and to care for her as she enjoyed her golden years.

March 16, 2024

New pictures of Rosie and Posey's kits have been posted on The Nursery page. They are all doing well! Rosie's opal and squirrel babies are out of the nest box and spend most of their time curled up and dozing, although they do a bit of exploring in between naps. Posey's chinchilla baby has decided to stay in the nest box longer and isn't very ambitious about exploring the wider world yet. We are considering keeping the chin and/or squirrel kit(s) as future breeding Buns, but the opal will definitely be available for matching when the time comes. Our clients are strictly forbidden from falling in love with the other two babies until we decide if they will be listed or retained. :D

March 15, 2024

Froot Loop has many new photos on his gallery, which is accessed through the Available Buns page. He has been growing so much the past couple of weeks. He is just as fun as ever, although you can read of some changes in his behavior in his listing description.

We did receive some very distressing news today. When we attempted to schedule Genevieve's spay at the Friendship APL, we were notified that the amazing veterinarian, Jennifer McClain, who performed many, many spays and neuters on our Buns and our clients' Buns for several years, died on March 5th. We are so saddened by this news. She was an amazing doctor, with such a compassionate heart for animals. She will be so missed.

We were given a list of other possible locations to try scheduling our spays/neuters and will let you know when we find someone trustworthy and affordable to care for our Buns and yours.

March 14, 2024

We added some new photos of Porridge (Bear) and Cheerio (Trinket) for their new families to enjoy. We saw more of little Bear's eyes today than we have in a very long time. He usually shields them with his ears during photo shoots, but he kept giving us side-eye and coy looks this time. Trinket was being very bouncy, so she doesn't have as many images. They were very blurry.

March 12, 2024

Theodosia has finally been re-listed on the Available Buns page. We were waiting for her to get over the worst of her spring molt before taking her new pictures. She was spayed in February 2023, but prefers to be an only Bun. Please click on her photo to visit her page.

Hot Cross Buns' Theodosia - spayed solid chinchilla Holland Lop doe on teal and white backgroundHot Cross Buns' Theodosia - spayed solid chinchilla Holland Lop doe on teal and white background
March 11, 2024

Darling little Snap went home with her new Bun-mom Cassady this morning! We have no doubt that they will be the very best of friends. She was still working on Snap's new name, but we know it will be absolutely perfect.

As I type this Froot Loop and Quinoa are hanging out and playing in an exercise pen in the living room, giving Pigeon a much-deserved break from caring for her not so little charges.

March 9, 2024

Kashi and Brian went to their new homes today! We look forward to receiving updates and learning how they are settling in with their loving families in the coming days.

There are new pictures of the tiny babies on The Nursery page!

March 8, 2024

We just updated photos of Pigeon's litter! Froot Loop was being very silly and kept flopping throughout his photo shoot. Kashi was being her sweet and slightly goofy self. Such a pretty little girl! Quinoa kept binkying and attempting zoomies, so most of her images were blurry. We had to settle for the few that were not. She is so much fun!

Kashi will be going home tomorrow morning, so we will be giving her extra cuddles and saying our goodbyes tonight. We know she will be in wonderful hands with her Bun-experienced family.

I've added a couple of new blog posts this week and will try to continue to do so in the future.

March 7, 2024

We took new pictures of Porridge (Bear) and Cheerio (Trinket) today! Both Buns are already matched, so we love taking updated photos for their new families until they are able to be together on their Pick-Up Day.

If all goes well, we will share some new photos of Pigeon's babies tomorrow. :)

March 6, 2024

New photos of Snap (already matched) and Brian (Available) have been added to their pages. Their photo galleries are getting really looong because they are so photogenic. Their newest images are at the bottom of the gallery. Snap will be going home with her new family on Monday, but Brian is still waiting to be matched.

Enjoy a peek! Snap's new photos are on the top row, while Brian's are on the bottom.

Great news! HCB's Kashi has been matched and reserved.

March 5, 2024

We have been working diligently on our recommended Bunny Care Supplies page and would greatly appreciate your feedback. Please let us know if we've forgotten anything, or if you see any errors or broken links. I'm trying to edit everything, but lots of interruptions are keeping me hopping today!

We spent some time taking new photos of two of our breeding does, Periwinkle and Francesca. Following their photoshoots. they spent time in the breeding pens (Peri with Yoga Pants, and Frankie with Country Road). Peri wasn't particularly interested, but Frankie may be successful this time around. We are trying to learn if Country and Yoga Pants are able to sire babies. Both have been paired with different does over the past few months, but none of the does have conceived. We want to try all possibilities before making the decision to retire them as pets.

The newest babies are continuing to do well!

March 3, 2024

We posted the first photos of Rosie and Posey's litters on The Nursery page. :) The babies are doing beautifully!

I spent about 30 minutes snuggling and petting HCB's Brian. He actually seemed to enjoy it! LOL

March 1, 2024

Although no new babies were born yesterday on "Leap Day", Posey had a beautiful little kit early this morning. :D Nothing new to share about Francesca or Periwinkle. We aren't even sure if either conceived, so the next day or two should tell us what we need to know.

We're planning to take photos of all the older babies, as well as Pigeon and perhaps Theodosia (Dozey), our available spayed doe we have yet to add to the Available Buns listing. She's in the midst of a molt, so isn't looking her beautiful best. We'll unveil the photos later today!

UPDATE: There are new photos of the babies, viewable on their individual page galleries. We also added some new photos of Pigeon to her page, which is accessible through the Meet the HCB page. Enjoy!

Rosie had babies this afternoon! Four kits arrived, but one is definitely a peanut and one could be a larger peanut or a runt. The other two kits look great! To read more info, hop on over to The Nursery page and scroll down to the bottom. It will be a few days before photos of the new arrivals will be shared.

In the meantime, I'm working on SEO (search engine optimization) for our website, which can be a very frustrating and time-consuming process. I think we've been making some progress, thankfully!

Miss Evelyn and I have been a bit under the weather yesterday and today, so we will be updating photos when we're feeling better. It's nothing serious, just a little bug one of the boys brought home from school that's leaving everyone rather listless and "blah."

February 28, 2024
February 26, 2024

It was a marathon day of working on the website. I believe all of the does have been added to the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page properly. You will notice that Genevieve's little opal doe whom we decided to keep, has been renamed. She was Chex, but is now Quinoa. Evelyn likes saying "quinoa" so when I asked her advice on a new name for her, that's what she came up with. We like the name Chex, but thought it was too masculine for the wee lass.

Hot Cross Buns' Quinoa - solid opal Holland Lop doe on grey background
Hot Cross Buns' Quinoa - solid opal Holland Lop doe on grey background
February 25, 2024

If any of our readers were unsuccessful in accessing our website today, I share in your frustration. Our server was down for maintenance most of the day and has only functioned properly since this evening.

We had the joy of spending the afternoon with Cassady C. today when she came to visit Snap, who is her sweet little doe. Snap will be going home with her on March 11th, but Cassady couldn't wait to meet her, so made a special trip to Oberlin to get to know her little doe. It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

February 24, 2024

Little Millie (HCB's Crackle) went to her new home today! We are thrilled for her Bun-mom Peyton and her new big brother Moose (who was originally HCB's Mousse). We know they will make a beautiful family!

Hot Cross Buns Crackle - solid squirrel Holland Lop doe on grey backgroundHot Cross Buns Crackle - solid squirrel Holland Lop doe on grey background
February 23, 2024

Porridge and Cheerio have both been matched!

Porridge has been very appropriately named "Bear", and darling Cheerio's new name is "Trinket". It suits her! We are so excited for them to go home with their new people. Due to previously scheduled commitments on their calendars, we will be enjoying them a bit longer than is typical, but we won't mind one bit!

Brian, Froot Loop, and Kashi are available for matching with individuals/families who have been approved through our application process.

We are pleased to announce that all of the breeding bucks now have videos on their individual pages, accessed through the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page. Pumpkin and Finn's are on the older side and we will update them in the future, but our next item on the To-Do List is to add our beautiful does to the page so new clients can see the lovely ladies who are working behind the scenes to raise precious Buns.

Hot Cross Buns' Porridge - Holland Lop baby black tort buck on teal and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Porridge - Holland Lop baby black tort buck on teal and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Porridge - Holland Lop broken black baby doe on grey background
Hot Cross Buns' Porridge - Holland Lop broken black baby doe on grey background
February 22, 2024

It's been a very busy day at HCB! We were taking photos of nearly all the Buns, baby and adult, and taking footage to be turned into videos as time permits. We were able to post all of the matching information on the newest Available Buns: Kashi, Froot Loop, Porridge, and Cheerio.

If you visit the Available Buns page, you will notice that we changed the layout again. To view a Bun, you'll click on his/her photo and will be taken to a page designed for that particular baby. It's identical to the layout for the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page, so will hopefully become comfortably familiar very soon.

We have noticed that (sometimes) the videos on the pages don't load properly. Simply refreshing the page usually corrects the problem.

We hope to work on the does' pages that will be connected to the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page over the next few days. Rosie, Posey, Periwinkle, and Francesca's pages will be delayed as we didn't want to risk upsetting them this close to their kindling date by taking photos/videos. Before that, however, we plan to create videos for the bucks whose pages are lacking them (Country Road, Yoga Pants, John-Boy). They were being very "bucky" today during filming, so the videos could prove to be interesting. LOL

February 21, 2024

Pop went home with his very happy and excited new family yesterday! He is going to be the eventual bonding buddy of a a beautiful blue doe named Blossom. His humans adore bunnies and can't wait to spend time with him and watch him grow. They are a very kind, animal-loving family, and we have so enjoyed working with them!

squirrel Holland Lop baby buck on grey background at Hot Cross Buns Holland Lops Rabbitry
squirrel Holland Lop baby buck on grey background at Hot Cross Buns Holland Lops Rabbitry
February 19, 2024

We received something of a miracle this morning! After being told that our deleted website, which had debuted just over a week ago and was lost later that same day, could not be recovered, we received an email stating that it had been recovered! We are now able to copy and paste all of the blog posts which had been lost, and integrate any preferred changes to this newly rebuilt website, which is now further along in development. While we would have preferred to receive this good news earlier in our reconstruction, we are grateful for this unexpected and very helpful blessing.

Evelyn and I are in serious discussions about what changes need to occur to keep our rabbitry healthy and viable for several years to come. While she has been my right-hand since Hot Cross Buns began, Evelyn is growing up and will soon be completing her sophomore year of high school as a homeschooler. She wants to spread her wings and it is good and right for her to do so.

We are examining each of the rabbits in the rabbitry and are contemplating where we need to retain babies for future breeding and which Buns are reaching a point at which they need to be spayed/neutered for retirement and placement in loving pet homes. Three of our bucks are going to be turning four years old this year, which means we're going to need to add some younger boys who will be reliable breeders. Three of our six current bucks have not yet sired a litter with us, so they are going to need to prove their abilities to be breeding bucks very soon. or they will be heading to pet homes, too.

The does are under close scrutiny, as well. Rosie, Posey, Frankie have not conceived recently, despite repeated attempts over the past several months. Periwinkle conceives, but she has not yet been able to kindle living babies; they have always been stillborn thus far. With Genevieve getting ready for spaying due to age and Missy not being much further behind, that leaves us with only three does who have been bred successfully and are of a good age to continue breeding for a while longer.

We have bred Rosie, Posey, Periwinkle, and Francesca once more. They should be due at the end of this month/early March, if any conceived. If they fail to conceive, we will be placing them on the "to be retired" list, although they are all still quite young.

Where are we going with all of this? Evelyn and I have come to the realization that we have to make some decisions that are not going to be popular with the people on our waiting list for a while. For the survival of Hot Cross Buns and the availability of babies in the future, we need to retain kits from the current and upcoming litters.

We are going to be looking for baby bucks with great Holland Lop type and conformation with a more outgoing and curious temperament. We will prefer for them to be true dwarf rabbits. We have thought very long and very hard about retaining Porridge. He is absolutely beautiful and it's ripping our hearts out to offer him for placement, but he doesn't have the "eager breeder" personality that we want our breeding bucks to have. He will be listed later this week along with Froot Loop.

We are going to need several does from the current and future litters, as well. Preference will be given to does who exhibit false dwarf characteristics. They have a much easier time kindling and will not have the possibility of having peanut babies when paired with true dwarf bucks. If we never have the sorrow of watching another peanut baby slowly fade away again, that will be fine with us. We have decided to retain Genevieve's opal baby doe, Chex, who is being fostered by Pigeon. It appears she will be a bigger girl and is very similar in temperament to her birth mama, who has always been a fabulous mother and raises friendly, happy babies. Kashi and Cheerio will both be listed later this week.

We hope that by explaining our rabbitry's future needs, current and future clients will be understanding when all of the Buns are not listed on the Available Buns page.

February 16, 2024

There are new pictures of Penelope's babies! Click the images to visit the new pictures in the photo gallery of each Bun.

Progress is a bit slow today, due to prior commitments. We're working on the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page. I'm hoping to have the bucks completed tonight, but it may be a few days before the does' descriptions and photos are ready.

Hot Cross Buns' Brian - solid opal Holland Lop buck on grey backgroundHot Cross Buns' Brian - solid opal Holland Lop buck on grey background
Hot Cross Buns' Snap - solid opal Holland Lop doe on grey backgroundHot Cross Buns' Snap - solid opal Holland Lop doe on grey background
Hot Cross Buns' Crackle - solid squirrel Holland Lop doe on grey backgroundHot Cross Buns' Crackle - solid squirrel Holland Lop doe on grey background
Hot Cross Buns' Pop - solid squirrel Holland Lop buck on grey backgroundHot Cross Buns' Pop - solid squirrel Holland Lop buck on grey background

Brian - opal buck

AVAILABLE

Pop - squirrel buck

MATCHED

Crackle - squirrel doe

MATCHED

Snap - opal doe

MATCHED

February 15, 2024

We made some decent progress on the website today. The New Bunny Questionnaire is up again, so we can receive submissions. Links to the Sales Policy, Placement & Spay/Neuter Agreement, FAQ page, and Are You Ready to Commit (previously called "Before You Apply") are all active on the NBQ page.

I spent a large portion of the day trying to find a widget that wasn't too expensive or a plug-in that would work with our website builder without being too complicated. We ended up doing something totally different. Rather than having videos, photo galleries, and obnoxiously large slideshows (when viewed on a desktop) for each available, on-hold, or reserved Bun, we figured out how to create a personal page for each Bun, accessible by clicking on the Bun's name or photo image. I find it much less visually overwhelming that way. What do you think? We would love some input from our clients and regular readers. We don't want to do the entire site that way if people hate it. LOL Brian's listing has been kept in our more traditional view for comparison on the Available Buns page.

What's coming up next?

We desperately want to squeeze in time for another photo shoot of Penelope's babies before they start going to their new homes next week. (Sniff, sniff.)

We need to get the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page up and running again. If people like the personal page for each individual Bun, we'll probably set the Meet the HCB page up in that manner, to keep it visually simpler.

We will be writing a bazillion blog post articles since those have totally vanished.

Also, should we continue with the Happy Results page, or do an ongoing page with a photo of each of the Buns who has been matched?

Please remind me of anything we might be missing that was a part of the original Hot Cross Buns website. My brain has turned to mush after spending so much time in front of a computer screen.

February 14, 2024

We have updated the younger babies' photos...finally! They are viewable on the Nursery page. We're still trying to find a workaround to avoid the cumbersome photo galleries, but didn't want to continue delaying new photos.

We're also ready for official gender reveals!

Hot Cross Buns' Kashi - solid cream Holland Lop doe on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Kashi - solid cream Holland Lop doe on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Cheerio - broken back Holland Lop doe on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Cheerio - broken back Holland Lop doe on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Porridge - solid black tort Holland Lop buck on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Porridge - solid black tort Holland Lop buck on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Quinoa - solid opal Holland Lop doe on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Quinoa - solid opal Holland Lop doe on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Froot Loop - solid orange Holland Lop buck on grey and white background
Hot Cross Buns' Froot Loop - solid orange Holland Lop buck on grey and white background
Froot Loop is a buck!
Kashi is a doe!
Quinoa is a doe!
Cheerio is a doe!
Porridge is a buck!
February 13, 2024

It has been a roller coaster ride the past couple of days. I had worked so hard and diligently on our website and finally got it up and running yesterday. All was great. There were a few tweaks I wanted to make, so after going through the AI maze of chat bots, trying to get the help I needed, I finally got a human. At least I think he was a human. Anyhow. He was trying to help me but would leave the chat for long moments of time, during which I was wondering if he was ever coming back to finish helping me. I followed the steps he told me to take and our website disappeared. Poof! Totally gone. I was heartbroken and cried buckets of tears in frustration because I had loved how it turned out (for the most part.) There was no possibility of recovering the information.

Here we are again, rebuilding. I no longer have our old website to fall back upon, to aid in cutting and pasting information to integrate it into the new site. Once we transferred domain names, the old site I hadn't been able to post updates on, disappeared. I knew that would happen, so that wasn't a surprise. The amount of material I am going to have to rewrite is overwhelming, so this is going to be a much slower process. I'm hoping we can add one or two pages each day and gradually build it back up. Please be patient! We could use some encouragement, if you have a minute to send some love.

Some changes to the site thus far: Baby Holland Lops page has been changed to The Nursery. Rather than being located on The Nursery page, we have moved the waiting list (and the matched list) to a dedicated page of its own for a cleaner look.

I'm still struggling to find an efficient way of posting photos in a slideshow on our current builder. The "slideshows" look decent on a mobile device, but are huge on a desktop. If our readers are okay with this, I will go ahead and load up all the pictures in it. Feedback would be appreciated.

I had been planning to take and post new pictures today, but since I don't have a place to post them, that will have to wait. We have decided to get the "easy" pages online as quickly as possible and will fill in missing information as we go along. We have a busy week on the home front, so will work on the site as time permits. I share in your frustration over the lack of bunny updates and photos. Rest assured that all the babies are doing well. We're still trying to figure out genders for some of the kits who are proving to be more challenging than normal.

Little Brian is still available for matching.

Hot Cross Buns' Pop - solid squirrel Holland Lop buck on white and pink background
Hot Cross Buns' Pop - solid squirrel Holland Lop buck on white and pink background
Hot Cross Buns' Crackle - solid squirrel Holland Lop doe on white and pink background
Hot Cross Buns' Crackle - solid squirrel Holland Lop doe on white and pink background
Hot Cross Buns' Snap - solid opal Holland Lop doe on white and pink background
Hot Cross Buns' Snap - solid opal Holland Lop doe on white and pink background

Snap has been matched!

Crackle has been matched!

Pop has been matched!