Saturday, 17th March – The adaptation

As soon as they woke up, the kids were running to the terrace to say good morning to Peter, who had spent his first night at our home. It was cold in the terrace, and M2 had a cough, so I wanted them back in the house. It was hard work to get them back in, and I was only able to make them leave Peter with the promise that we would go back to him after lunch.

The sun was strong, and Peter seemed to have found a favorite spot in the terrace, against the cold wall under the railing and the bushes, where he could enjoy a nice shadowy spot and a view of the house dwellers in the living room. Every time we looked out we would see him sitting there, sniffing and staring back at us. Sometimes he climbed to the big flowerpot next to his cage, at the corner of the terrace, and would nibble at the gardenia leaves. The next favourite spot that he found was one leap away from the gardenia flowerpot, and it was our bedroom’s window ledge.

He would stay on the ledge for hours, with his ears tucked back and his eyes half-closed, with the cuddly position of the one who has found a perfect vantage point, an observation post. It was the right place to get brushed and combed by us as well, with the cute little rabbit comb that was offered to us with all the rabbit equipment. He specially enjoyed being brushed around his head and on his cheeks.

I was surprised to see how quickly such a small animal could wolf down a plateful of grub. When I refilled it for him he came desperately to eat some more, even if the kids had already fed him a whole carrot, as well. He is not an especially big rabbit, and not especially fat either, but obviously eating is an important part of a rabbit’s life, and the result of it is that you get big amounts of small pea-sized blackish balls, mainly in his cage but also all around the terrace, where basically he trots about freely. However, rabbit droppings are perfectly organic manure for plants and gardens.

A cool spot for Peter