Catching the Bug

Angora rabbits! Angora fiber! Bun Bun Heaven!

I've been doing some research and I'm quickly falling in love with these fiber producing rabbits. As some of you know, I've had a rabbit before, Mr. Bun Buns. He had a past and he was not the happiest guy. Luckily, I found him a home where teenaged pet-lovers could tend to him and hopefully see him enough every day that his demeanor would change for the better.

Now I'm catching the bunny bug again. Ever since I got my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel for Christmas (2010) I have been working with fiber and spinning it into yarn. I have had dreams of working and living on a farm with pygmy goats, chickens, horses and now... fiber-producing animals. So, what better way for me to ease into this out-in-the-sticks lifestyle than to just go ahead and get a fiber-producing animal that can safely be cared for at home, without 4 acres?

Enter the Angora Rabbit. Research has told me that there are some differences between Angoras and other rabbits (pictures could have easily told me that, duh). For example, they are bred to be more passive and docile than other rabbits due to the frequency in which they must be brushed and groomed. Mr. Bun Buns, bless his heart, HATED to be touched, especially on the hips where he had a past injury. So brushing and grooming this creature was a task. One time, as I was preparing to brush Mr. Buns, he lunged out of the cage at me (as I sat on the floor), mouth open, incisors bared, in order to protect his precious territory. I guess he didn't like the nail clippers I was hiding behind my leg. I should have known that he sensed my fear.

Erik and I talked about it and he is the one who is concientious about the money in the family, as he should be. And he recognized that having another pet is having another expense. I just thought to myself, how sustainable would it be to have my own fiber producer in the house? I wouldn't have to pay someone else all my hard-earned cash on fiber (as often), I wouldn't have to pay for shipping, I'd be taking the equivalent of 1,562 delivery trucks off the roadways, and I'd be taking the equivalent of 80, 904 lbs. of CO2 gases out of our air! All because of one sweet (herd of) Angora rabbits!