The Bunny Box

Rocket

Rocket came to us the same day that Holly did and he's been a character right from the start. When a new four legged family member arrives, I usually wait a few days until they name themselves. Rocket's name was obvious within a few hours! He ran full speed around the house doing multiple binkys, twists and turns, he sniffed this and that, he knocked over all the videos clambering around behind them. If and when he stopped it was for a few minutes and he laid stretched out with his head resting on the floor. We decided he had only two speeds... flat out or flat out. He still is a bundle of perpetual motion and nearly every photo I have of him is blurred.

Rocket intergrated extremely well. I think being a baby help enormously in that respect. Which was lucky as he had to move to the big pen rather suddenly when Holly had her nose stitched. He developed a case of hero worship where Apache was concerned and would follow him around constantly.. you could almost see poor Apache rolling his eyes as he tried to find somewhere quite to loaf without that silly baby bun climbing all over him.

At around 4 months the hormones kicked in and he started trying to mount the girls, which they didn't appreciate very much. A trip to the vet took care of that problem and he was back to his bouncy self the next day.

Apart from the high speeds he achieves, Rocket can jump. He has given me a number of scares by escaping out of the pen, but it took me quite a while to find out how he was doing it. At first I thought he was using the large TV box as a jump off point as I had caught him on top of that a few times. After removing it, he got out again. So I removed the smaller, inner boxes.... he got out again. I checked all the panels and gates to no avail.. he got out again. This time I sat and watched him. He came up to the side of the condo and started pacing, looking up judging the distance. Next minute he leapt up, casually walked to the outer edge and jumped down outside the pen! I was stunned. While I knew that rabbits can actually jump quite high, I thought the height was in relation to their size and none of my other buns would have attempted that jump. I reshuffled the bits I had stored on top of the condo and felt fairly confident that I had him bluffed. I was wrong. He used a small 6 inch square that I hadn't piled with bits. I reshuffled again. He got out again. Undaunted, he had jumped on top of the large pile of newspapers I had in one corner! This time I made sure that everything was overhanging the edge of the condo. Finally, I had him bluffed. In the meantime this bunny that stood no more than 7 inches tall had managed to leap on top of an obstacle that was 37 inches high from a standing start! I was beginning to wonder just how he came to be wandering around that park by himself.

Rocket doesn't restrict his superman efforts to escaping though. When I clean out their pen he quite often jumps onto my back while I'm crouched down. He happily clambers around my shoulders, keeping a close watch on everything I'm doing. If he's not doing that he's constantly underfoot, tripping me up or nipping me if he thinks I'm in the wrong place. He did that one day when I was sitting on the floor brushing Sultan. Poor Sultan was happily tranced out on his back until I let out a shriek. Rocket just sat there looking at me as if to say "Well it's MY spot".

Whatever he does, Rocket never ceases to be adorable. He reminds me very much of a small child, enthusiastic, inquisitive, demanding and lovable. He has grabbed life with both paws and intends to have some fun with it. I don't think things will ever be dull while he's around.