The place for news, updates, announcements, and water bottle gossip from the Buns and their humans.
Hot Cross Hoppenings
February 22, 2024
April 26, 2024
Nova has many new Bun pictures on her listing through the Available Buns page. She is such a sweetly shy little girl, and has a loving, cuddly side. Most of our recently approved NBQ clients are awaiting babies later in the summer, so we're patiently waiting for the right person to find their way to us and to little Nova. We're excited to see who her family will be!
Yoga Pants and Country Road are doing great following their neuters and will be ready to place after next Friday. They will be wonderful additions to the right homes!
We received a lovely update about HCB's Snap (now Winnie) and were given permission to share, so here's the latest news on Winnie. :D
"Hello!
I took some absolutely precious pictures of Winnie this weekend while she visited her grandparents and got to try out grass for the first time. I thought I'd share! She was a trouble maker yesterday while I repotted my seedlings I turned around and she ate 2 of my pea plants! Ungrateful considering I am growing dill and lettuce just for her. I hope all is well at the rabbitry!
Cheers, Cassady"
April 22, 2024
Yoga Pants and Country Road are continuing to recover very nicely from their neutering procedures. We were initially worried about Yoga because he was hiding under his box and didn't want to come out with his usually exuberant greetings, but he was doing much better yesterday. Country never missed a beat and you'd never know he had his procedure so recently. Today is the last day for their pain meds and then they should be getting accustomed to their new normal and we can work on getting them matched with wonderful Forever Families!
We wanted to give a shout-out to our client and friend, Robyn, who noticed an issue with the HCB Shoppe checkout and notified us about the problem. I had accidentally set it up for "express checkout" which only allowed the purchase of one item at a time. After it was brought to our attention, the issue was resolved quickly and now our shoppers can add items to their shopping bag without having them disappear. Thanks again, Robyn! We hope you, Sweet Pea, Rosie, Basil, and Hamish have a wonderful week ahead!
ETA: I just found out that some of our responses to clients' messages have been ending up in their spam folders, so please check your spam if you are awaiting a response. We promise we're keeping up with our correspondence. :D
April 19, 2024
Yoga Pants and Country Road are being neutered today. I'm going to be a Nervous Nellie until I pick them up and know that all is well and that they are safe and sound from their procedures.
To distract myself while waiting, new pictures of Nova, Esther, and, Sunshine will be taken, edited, and posted in the morning/early afternoon. After that will be time to sew more bunny snuggle mats.
The meeting scheduled with one of our clients and Nova and Esther went very well yesterday. She is taking a bit of time before deciding if she wants to be matched with Nova (who turned out to be quite the content lap Bun) or if she will wait for a future litter. She promised to let us know her decision soon.
You may recall that Evelyn and I had a difficult time deciding to list Esther, rather than holding on to her as a breeding doe. Well, she has been listed for a week and no matches have been made, so we have decided to pull her listing and keep her as a breeding doe. Since we were never crazy about the name Esther for her (it's a lovely name, but just doesn't fit this little bundle of energy), Evelyn and I spent considerable time thinking of a more suitable name and have settled upon "Chummy" as her new name.
The next time we are able to take Buns for spaying/neutering, Genevieve and John-Boy will be going in, and possibly Periwinkle and Francesca, depending upon how things go in the next month or two. Mississippi Mud Pie will also be retired before the end of the year, since she's an older girl.
ETA: Yoga Pants and Country Road are back home and settled into their cage spaces. Country dove into his food bowl and started munching happily. Yoga hid under his box to sulk and mourn the loss of his manhood. ;)
April 17, 2024
We have some good news, bad news, and neutral news.
The bad news: We were hoping to announce the arrival of some babies from Penelope and John-Boy's breeding, but no babies. John-Boy was another one of the bucks who hasn't sired a litter for us yet. We're more than a bit baffled by this, as we have only had one infertile buck in our many years of breeding, and we now seem to have three at one time. We're not quite ready to throw in the towel on John-Boy yet, so will try him again before deciding to retire him as a pet Bun.
The good news is that a visiting veterinarian is going to be filling in at the APL where we normally take the Buns for spaying/neutering when they retire. This particular vet is confident with bunny spays/neuters, so we will be taking Country Road and Yoga Pants in on Friday for their procedures. We are so relieved that they will be neutered prior to placement!
The next litters on the horizon will hopefully arrive just before the end of the month.
The neutral news: We have been busy adding more items to the HCB Shoppe today. I'm running out of room to store Snuggle Mats, so have been forbidden from buying more fabric until some of our current stock is sold. :D
April 16, 2024
The matching process is going a tad slowly. We have a family interested in Yoga Pants, but the timing isn't just right, so we'll wait and see if that placement is meant to be in another month or two.
We have scheduled an appointment for one of our waiting list people to meet Nova and Esther on Thursday afternoon, so are very excited to see how the little does do with their first introduction.
Everything else is quiet for the moment. We're working on planting some fruit trees, canes, and plants to have a little orchard and bunny (and human) treat garden. :D
April 12, 2024
We're working on listings and videos today. They should be ready to post by this evening. We are listing Nova (opal doe), Esther (squirrel doe), Yoga Pants (cream buck - almost one year old), and Country Road (chinchilla buck - almost four years old.) Yoga Pants and Country will need to be neutered by their families' vets upon placement because they are very "bucky" in behavior, although neither has sired a litter for us. More info will be shared soon!
******Edited to add: Listings for Yoga Pants, Country Road, Esther, and Nova are up! Hop on over to the Available Buns page and click on their photos to find their individual listing pages for a video, loads of photos, and descriptions of each Bun. We're reaching out to the families on our Waiting List who are ready to be matched and will update this page matches are made!
We also added Posey's baby, who has been named You Are My Sunshine (Sunshine for short) to the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page. There are several new pictures and a sweet video to enjoy.
April 11, 2024
We have finally given the babies their HCB names! Rosie's babies are Nova (opal doe) and the squirrel doe is Esther (which means star), and Posey's chinchilla do is officially going to be called HCB's You Are my Sunshine, and called Sunshine or Sunny as the mood strikes. We want to thank our friend Natalie P. for sending eclipse and solar system-related name suggestions which finally helped us figure things out. (Sorry for the re-posted pictures! I haven't had time to take new ones yet this week.)
We are working on creating little Nova's listing. We're still struggling with whether or not we're gong to hold on to Esther as a breeding doe. We love her to pieces, but also want to focus on keeping false dwarf does for our breeding program so they will have an easier time kindling and not produce peanut babies. We can't tell if Sunshine and Esther are true dwarf or false dwarf yet, but know for certain we are going to hold on to Sunshine. Evelyn has said we should list Esther, but I'm the one who's struggling. I was so hopeful that one of them would be a buck and would take the place of one of the retiring bucks, but it didn't work out that way. We just need to make the best decisions for the continuation of future litters at the rabbitry and it is so challenging since we can't see the future.
We are still struggling to find an affordable vet for spaying and neutering the retiring bucks and does. We reached out to another organization this morning and, if that avenue doesn't lead to anything in a timely manner, we're going to go ahead and list them with the condition that their new families must have them spayed/neutered shortly after taking them home. This isn't as problematic for the bucks as it could potentially be for the does. There is always a possibility of any doe being diagnosed with a form of cancer of the reproductive system during the spay process, which is why we prefer to have them spayed prior to placement. If a health issue is discovered, we would prefer to be the ones to deal with it before a family falls in love with her.
April 9, 2024
We added a new Blog post today entitled, "Are Rabbits Good Pets for Families with Young Children?" We so hope this post is helpful to people considering adding a bunny to their hearts and homes.
Evelyn and I are struggling to name Posey's kit and Rosie's babies. All are little does. Virtually every name that comes to mind is something we have already used for another Bun, so suggestions are welcome! We're listing the little opal later this week and are still deciding about the little squirrel. We're trying to keep only false dwarf does for breeding, but it can be challenging to determine if they are true dwarf or false dwarf at this stage.
We're sewing more snuggle mats today!
April 7, 2024
New pictures of Rosie's squirrel and opal babies, along with Posey's chinchilla kit have been taken. More are viewable on the Nursery page. All of these little Buns appear to be does. They were dishing out the stink eye today! LOL
April 6, 2024
Two beloved Buns have gone to their new homes today!
Bear (HCB's Porridge) was charming his new family with his moving ears of invisibility, his face washing, his digging on the couch, his nose boops..pretty much everything he did brought out the oohs and awwws. He is a cutie, for certain. We are going to miss this little boy very much but can tell that his new family already thinks the world of him.
Little Truffle has been given another opportunity for a very loving home. He has a new animal-loving family with grown-ups and kiddos who will love him, play with him, and enjoy every minute of his gently curious and sociable behavior. They are all going to be such wonderful friends! We can't wait to hear how he settles in and adjusts to his new life. Although he was only back with us for a short time, we grew very fond of him and will miss his sweet presence, too.
We finally learned that Posey's little chinchilla Bun is a baby doe! We're keeping this little one and are searching for just the right name for her. I was trying to think of another "P" name, since her grandmother was Primrose and her mama is Posey, but Evelyn believes we have too many "P" names as it is. I have to concur.
We added a few more styles of Snuggle Mats to the HCB Shoppe today. Check out these fun, new prints!
April 5, 2024
We've just taken what will most likely be our last pictures of Bear (HCB's Porridge) before he goes home tomorrow. We have become very fond of this gorgeous little curmudgeon who loves to play peek-a-boo behind his ears. Click on his photo on the Available Buns page tp see more!
Still no news to share about the arrival of any litters. We know we're not the only ones disappointed by this outcome. Plans are being made for more pairings, so we will hope for some new arrivals in the near future.
We just added these cuties to the HCB Shoppe!
April 4, 2024
Thankfully, we didn't have any flooding issues with all of the rain we received. All the Buns are settled back in their normal spaces and pens, so we can, once again, walk through the house without tripping over them or banging our shins. :)
You may have noticed that Truffle is on hold. A very interested family is coming to meet him this afternoon, so we hope this little doll is going to have another family to love and adore him later today. We'll keep you posted! ETA: Truffle's meeting had to be postponed due to car issues. :(
So far, no news on any new litters. I have a feeling that there aren't going to be any babies this time around. Neither Missy nor Periwinkle was especially cooperative when I was observing them with their bucks, so I left them alone for about a half an hour while they discussed the matter among themselves. When I need to give them some space, sometimes there are babies, and sometimes there aren't. We had also bred Frankie with Country Road. Things seemed to go well, but we suspect she may have miscarried a little over a week ago due to the presence of some unexplained blood we saw on her snuggle mats. All is not lost, however. We may have some better news to share in a couple of weeks. We will re-breed Peri, Frankie, and Missy in the next few days.
April 2, 2024
The rain is really coming down! We're taking precautions to keep all the Buns safe and dry in the event we lose power tonight. We have a history of our lower level and garage area flooding, so we're trying to move everyBun to the safest and driest areas areas of the house. It's going to be an interesting few days until things dry out, especially as we potentially have three litters arriving in the next few days (but I have my doubts that any of the does conceived this time around.) We know that April showers bring May flowers, but this is a decidedly soggy mess!
We pray that all of our readers are safe from flooding, tornados, and any other ills that can come from this weather front.
This image was an AI generated freebie from our website host that I've been saving for a rainy day. (Couldn't resist that one! Ha ha ha!)
April 1, 2024
We are often asked, "What is the adoption process (at Hot Cross Buns)?" We added this question and our (quite) lengthy response to our Frequently Asked Questions page today. It has been a long time in coming, but I finally typed it out and hope it will be helpful to potential new clients.
March 31, 2024
Easter Blessings to you and yours!
With love from all of us at HCB (Especially Bear who will be joining his new family next weekend. )
ETA: There are additional photos of Bear on his listing page. :D
March 29, 2024
We want to thank client Suzanne N. and her Bun, Bunsley, for completing our first order in the HCB Shoppe! Her snuggle bunny is on the way and we so hope she enjoys it!
We finally worked out the kinks in calculating shipping, so hopefully checkout will be a smooth process. Our only payment option is still PayPal, although we are investigating other options. We want to fully understand all the fees and risks involved before signing up for a service allowing the use of credit/debit card information. Please let us know if there are any other payment options that you would like us to look in to.
New pictures of the little Buns have been added to The Nursery today. They are so, so sweet.
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!
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.
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!
