I haven't been too good at keeping my pets recently.
ShadowAt the end of April our beloved Shadow (pet rabbit) vanished and hasn't been seen since. He was with us for 4 years and was an absolute darling. We gave him full run of our backyard and house and occasionally let him into our front yard, supervised, as well.
During the winters he'd jump up onto the bed, find the hot water bottle at our feet and sleep next to it. Or, if he couldn't find the hot water bottle, or if it was too cold, he'd sit on my pillow next to my head.
During the summers he'd sleep under the bed and jump up onto the bed at dawn to wake us up (not always appreciated).
Of course sometimes he'd sleep outside too.
He ran with abandon outside with our pet chooks. There wasn't a lot in our backyard to fear. He'd stomp then run inside, or into the shed, or under the house if a cat appeared or anything else particularly scarey happened.
He'd often come into the back room where I work from, in order to see how I was going and stretch out and relax.
He was a very happy rabbit.
Then one night he decided to sleep outside, as he had for a few weeks previously and he didn't show up the next day. He didn't come into the back room to say hi. He didn't frolic in the tall grass. I looked everywhere and couldn't find him. He'd gone. :(
We put up flyers, pulled the shed apart, looked under the house, searched the house. No rabbit. :( Tiny hole in fence, probably not rabbit sized. Could have been taken by the fox, we don't know.
We probably won't be getting another rabbit any time soon (they're not very cable-safe), although having this one certainly ensured that we didn't have any rats nests of wires under our desks.
Phoenix, Isa, LaceBack at Easter we purchased 4 new chooks (Dig-Dug, Pacman, Isa and Lace) to replace the ones the fox ate last year. They'd just started laying when we went to Canberra for a week's teaching. The first night we were away the fox came and killed Phoenix (the old chook that the fox had had a go at before) and Lace.
Four nights later, when we were back home, the fox came back for Isa.
Down the most lovely old chook you've ever seen and half of our new chooks. Bastard fox. It didn't even eat them, just killed them and ran away.
Sure we scared it off, but I'm sure it could have tried to take its meal.
More fox proofing to ensue. I think we'll have to roof over the whole pen with wire. That'll be a pain. Not looking forward to that.
I haven't been very good at keeping my pets recently...
