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Hasenpfeffer appeared at our back door on the Sunday before Mother's Day
in 1990. He apparently followed one of our two cats home. My wife,
Susan, told me that the first thing that crossed her mind was, "I want
that bunny!" She opened the door, and the rabbit did not hesitate to
come into what turned out to be his 4-bedroom, 2-bath hutch, with
atrium.
We have had to install corner guards on all of our moldings, both inside
and out, to keep him from gnawing. We have bunny-proofed our atrium and
covered all planter beds with clay pavers. He managed to fell an organ
pipe cactus, which stood about six feet tall, by gnawing around its
base. We have placed wire trunk guards around all of our atrium
plantings to protect them.
Hasenpfepper is litter box trained. He uses his box only when he wants
to. He has found that he gets special attention if he makes his "raisin"
deposits on the papers next to his box.
In spite of the bother, he is a joy to have around. He has not seen the
inside of his cage since he joined our family. He has made a buddy out
of one of our cats. They frequently lie side by side with the cat
draping one paw over the rabbit.
On one day
Hasie grew very concerned about the goings on in his hutch (our home). He
checked on all of the re-arranging we did in preparation for
entertaining some 20 guests recently. We thought it might be best that we seclude
him in the guest bedroom in order that he not be frightened by all the
commotion. Totally unnecessary. About an hour into the evening we
happened to tell our guests that we were now the proud parents of a pet
rabbit. They insisted on seeing him and we brought him out to join the
festivities. This bun is a social butterfly. He "marked" each of our
guests and made his rounds. He would nudge feet of people seated and
demand to be petted.
For some reason he does not like to be picked up and held, but recently,
our pet house rabbit has taken to getting up onto our couch and waiting for
us to join him and comb him. The couch is where he has been given treats
from time to time. His treats used to consist mainly of carrots. We have
since discovered that raw peanuts attract his attention more than a
carrot ever did.
We always pictured rabbits as "do nothing" type animals. Nothing could
be further from the truth. These critters, when uncaged, are a source of
almost non-stop entertainment.
This friendly rabbit takeover story
came from George Gerner.
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