Panda & Burrito's Adoption Story

We had been "childless" in the 1.5 years since our former bunnies Cookie & JJ passed away. After taking a break to take care of foster bunnies, make some big life changes (quitting our jobs), and waiting for our finances and routines to stablise, we were finally ready for new rabbits.

When we went to the House Rabbit Society Singapore adoption drive on 3 September, we pretty much knew there was a 99.9% chance we would dabao a pair home. We had already seen photos of Panda and Burrito, but once we saw them in the flesh (Burrito under a cardboard box) we fell in love and asked for them

On 11 September, HRSS volunteer Ting delivered Panda and Burrito to our doorstep. And just like that, we had our bunnies.

After moving into our house, Panda and Burrito were initially shy, sticking closely to each other and hiding under the sofa. Burrito in particular would lunge (see above photos) if you tried to get close.

Eventually however, they learnt that the whole house belonged to them and happily started bouncing around the place. 

Being free roam, they're allowed to express their personalities fully. And boy do these bunnies have big personalities.

Here's what Jon says about Burrito:

The word burrito means "little donkey" in Spanish, the diminutive form of burro, or "donkey". Burrito is a big, brown boy who, not unlike his namesake, carries a large burden within. 

Our little donkey is a big brown boy whose cuddly exterior hides a dour disposition – some traumatic experience in the past may have led him to shun human company. He bites and struggles when we try to handle him, though we are gradually figuring out the right buttons to push – of late, he seems more receptive to our touches.

As for Panda:

Panda, the dominant one in the relationship, is a small white girl with dark rings around her eyes and dark spots on her body.

She doesn’t really like being handled either, but can be easily bribed with pieces of fruit. Apart from fruit, her diet may potentially include curry, nasi padang, spaghetti, ice cream, and that weird fermented Icelandic fish stew that nobody likes (she is highly food-motivated and will harass us whenever we eat anything).

When she isn’t making clumsy attempts to dominate Burrito’s face, she is dominating everything else in the house – chewing through our books, abusing our wooden furniture, leaving little puddles of pee everywhere (poor bladder control).

Fueling her appetite for gratuitous destruction is a diet of copious hay and several times her body weight in water every day. 

Ah the joys of being oppressed by bunnies!