“Hey!” I greet Ingrid Erickson as I step into her backyard. She waves and returns my smile, walking over to me with something white trailing behind her. I laugh as I realize that this fuzzy creature is a rabbit. “Who’s this?” I ask, bending down to get a closer look.
“This is Cosmo,” Ingrid tells me. “But you can call him Mo, Mr. Mo, or Momo. He’s a Dwarf Hotot rabbit.”
I look around the yard. “What are you doing with him out here?”
“Well…” Ingrid motions for me to follow her. Cosmo trails behind us. “We do a sport called rabbit hopping. It’s basically like horse jumping, except for rabbits. I put him on a harness and lead him through all sorts of obstacles. Recently we’ve been doing cross-country, which means more natural things to jump over, like these logs, and they’re more spread out. We’ve worked on distance jumping too. His record is two and a half feet! And he can jump a foot and a half in the air.”
“Wow!” I exclaim. “That’s impressive for such a small creature. Is that all he likes to do?”
“Actually, no. He knows how to play tag. He’ll chase us all around the yard, and he’s even faster than my younger sister, so it’s hilarious to watch. We have a bench in the front yard too, and he likes to dig in the mulch underneath it.” Ingrid rolls her eyes. “He’s got white fur, so that doesn’t make us very happy. He’ll zoom around and around the bench before he gets tired, and finally lets us catch him. But not without giving us an evil bunny glare!”
I glare playfully at Cosmo. “What a naughty rabbit. What does he like to eat?”
“His favorite is banana,” Ingrid replies. “He’ll lick my fingers endlessly to get every last bit off. He enjoys celery, apples, grapes…oh, and the apple peels! He’ll grab one end and munch his way down until it’s all gone.”
“The only real way to eat an apple peel,” I agree. “How long have you had Mo for? And what do you think is the hardest part about having him?”
“I got him last August. I do 4-H, so we found a breeder at our State fair and got him from there. The hardest thing? Cosmo will get into moods. All dwarf rabbit breeds are known for that, but Dwarf Hotots are especially nippy. He’ll get territorial about me reaching into his cage sometimes, and he can be really stubborn, which makes him hard to train. He’s got a lot of energy though, and he likes to think he’s really tough.”
“That does sound like a challenge. Now, I heard you have a cat too?”
“Oh, yeah! Her name is Candy Cane, because you guessed it, she’s got stripes.”
“How creative,” I say dryly. “Tell me about her!”
Ingrid begins to talk. “She loves cuddles, especially in the cold weather. She has to live outside because my mom is allergic, so occasionally in the winter she’ll get to come inside and sit on my lap while I’m doing school. Both of us enjoy that! When she’s tired, she’ll hop down and go over to the door; she’s gotten pretty good at communicating what she wants.”
“What does she do outside?” I ask.
“There’s a chair on the deck that she’s claimed as hers, and nobody else dares to sit on it. It’s under our bird feeder, and she’ll sit forever, waiting for a bird to come along. I’ve never seen her actually catch one, but we’ve found bird legs and feathers lying around, so she must’ve had some successes.”
“Does she have any favorite foods? And when did you get her?”
“She’s not picky; she’ll eat almost anything. She really loves wet salmon food, though, and we feed her that pretty often. It was on my 8th birthday that we got her, almost 9 years now. She’ll turn 11 this year, so she’s getting pretty old.”
Nodding, I continue. “Do you have any other animals?”
“Yep! There are the fish: Macduff, Macbeth, One-Eyed Wonder (and he’s named that for a reason) and then two unnamed fish that I got from my sister when she left for college. Besides them, we just have a crested gecko. Her name is Kumquat, but we call her Kumi.”
“Aw, I love that name,” I say. “What’s life like with a gecko?”
“Well, she’s nocturnal, so we feed her in the evening and she’s active at night. The humidity of her tank is really important, so I have to turn on her light in the morning and I’ll mist it with a spray bottle a few times a day. She likes to be left alone most of the time though; she’s sort of a hermit. She’ll bury herself in the bedding of her tank, and get stuck between the glass and the backing of the tank–which totally doesn’t make me panic!”
I express sympathy, knowing how troublesome pets can be. “Does she have a favorite snack?”
“Mealworms!” Ingrid answers with a smile. “Live mealworms and crickets. She stalks them and pounces like a cat. It’s very entertaining!”
“It sure sounds like it,” I say while laughing. “What would you say is the best part about having pets?”
“Do I have to pick just one thing?” Ingrid complains. “I guess I’d go with the relationship you can establish with them. Taking care of them, as we were called to do in Genesis. It’s such a privilege to get up close with them, and learn about their unique personalities.”
“It’s such a joy, isn’t it?” I respond as I prepare to leave. “Thank you so much for your time, Ingrid!”
“My pleasure!” Ingrid sends me off with a grin, Cosmo still on the ground beside her.
Photo Credit: Ingrid Erickson