I know that Treats are a Huge Topic of Discussion at Our Warren. It’s an on-going dialogue between you bunnies and me – which treats are “good” and which are merely “good for you”? Which treat do you want in your Evening Salad? What tastes best? And that magical question, "Have you tried...?"

As I'm sure you all remember, there was a time when Craisins topped the list as "Most Favourite Treat". I have pictures of Belinda snatching them greedily out of my hand.

Bananas became popular with Hunny, to the point that Dadda swore Hunny could a banana being peeled one floor and several rooms away. Missy will remember how Hunny would stand up on his Tippy-tippy-toes to get his ‘nanner. Of course, he was a very elderly and fragile bunny by then – and his balance was horrible, too – so to prevent him from tipping over and possibly hurting himself, Dadda and I used to creep up the stairs to the BunRoom on tip-toes and then rush Hunny on the count of “three” – just to make sure that he'd get his ‘nanner, first and not tip over in his excitment. 

Raisins were always “big sellers”, too, as were apples, and all of these foods stayed on the Treat Menu until a couple of years ago when I learned a lot more about sugar and it being “bad” for bunnies. Now, I have pretty much limited Our Warren to two Baby Organic Carrots every day – one as a snack and then one along with Evening Salad (Morning Salad has no “treat” per se, because too many treats are also "bad for you"). There haven't been any more apples, raisins, Craisins or ‘nanners for a long time, I realise, but that's because I am a concerned Bunny-Parent now, all about “healthy treats”.

Well, as you guys all know, we ran out of Baby Organic Carrots on Saturday. (Yeah, “Bad Maman”, I know, but stuff happens and that is the way of the world). So I substituted generous pieces of apple for Baby Organic Carrots in the Evening Salad. If you'll recall, I told everybun that I was giving you all a Special Treat.

And Everybunny looked at me like I was trying to poison them!

First it was you, George. You sat and blinked at your Romaine Cup, sniffed at it’s contents and then nose-tossed the whole thing all over Missy.

And you, MissyBun, perused the contents of your Romaine Cup, delicately lifted off the apple and tossed it into the water-crock.

And how about you, Mouse? You grunted at Dadda, lunged, and then scattered Romaine leaves and herbs all over the place.

And poor, little Dusty-bun - you sat and looked so terribly offended that we would even dare to offer you such a pathetic excuse for a meal! 

While you, Little Princess Foxie Chick,  stomped off to eat pellets!

All because there were no Baby Organic Carrots and you were served apple-slices, instead!

By morning, though, everything was gone from your habitats, so I assumed that apples had been re-discovered as a treat-food and were back on the menu.

Wrong!

Because when I offered apple-slices for Morning Treats, George and Missy stared at me, and then George went to lie down. Mouse circled around his slice like it had cooties. Dusty ignored his and Foxie traipsed back to her pellet-bowl.

But by afternoon, all of the apples were gone! Ha! So I thought to myself, "They must like apples now!"

So before bedtime, I cut up a third apple to go on your Evening Salads.

This time, only Dusty grudgingly ate the apple while I watched. Everybun else ate the herbs and Romaine leaves and avoided the apples like they had plague. Dadda said you were looking for carrots and only accepting apples as second-best while I wasn't looking. Is that what was going on? 

Then how come this morning, everyone was bouncing up and down for their Morning Treats and everybunny seemed delighted to have apples?

Yeah!

But…In the meantime...

Dadda has been to the store, hasn't he? And he returned with Baby Organic Carrots, bananas and more apples.

So I opened the bag of Baby Organic Carrots and - whoa-ho! You’d think I’d suddenly opened a bag of gold - every last bun of you was circling around my feet like it was a rehearsal for the Bolshoi Ballet.

Clearly, you now like carrots better than you like apples – but (to borrow a word/phrase from George) Whuttaheck? Have you forgotten what apples were? There was a time, you know, when each of you bunnies would have danced your little socks off for a slice of apple, or a raisin, or even for a Craisin and most certainly for slices of ‘nanner!

So I sliced up a banana, didn't I? And I waved a bit under each of your little noses…and what happened?

Rejection!

"Ewwww!" "Take dat away!"  "We don’t like whutebber dat is!"

So I ask you, do bunnies forget certain treat-tastes? Did you forget what apples were? Or are you suddenly all jumping on the "healthy foods" band-wagon? What's going on here?

 I know you guys don't like change, but this is eerie…

----------------- By Maman (who is really getting worried!)