The story's kind of crazy. I guess you could say he's a rescue, because I sort of literally rescued him. :)
Back in 2009, when I was in highschool, my family had just moved to a condominium complex. The way it was set up, all of the backyards connected, and there were woods behind it all.
Well one night, my little sister calls us all to the back door to come see that there was a tiny little white rabbit sitting in the yard under the tree.
My mom and I both said that it definitely didn't look like a wild rabbit at all, he looked like the perfect pretty ones you see in pet stores.
The next few days, he kept showing up, and sitting in our yard under our tree for hours. I put out water and vegetables for him, but he would never let me get very close to him without running off back into the woods. But he always came back. I'd always look outside and see him back again, sitting under the tree.
We found out from our neighbors that he used to belong to a family that had just moved out of the neighborhood. They apparently decided that they didn't want to take him wherever they were moving, so they "set him free" into the woods behind the complex.
If you know anything at all about animals though, you know that abandoning a domesticated animal that was born into being a pet, is NOT "SETTING IT FREE," it's "leaving it for DEAD."
He was scared, hungry, dirty, and all alone among wild animals. When people came near him, he acted like an abused animal. Which, if these people were able to just abandon him like that, I have no doubt they probably didn't treat him very well when they had him.
The neighbors who told us about him said his name had been "Snowball."
So the next time he came back, I called his name. He perked his ears up and stared at me. So every time he came back, I would say, "Hi, Snowball." And he would respond every time.
So I kept leaving food for him, and he kept coming back. Each day he would let me get closer and closer to him, and after about a week, he let me pet him.
The next day, I decided that I'd try to bring him inside. I got a small cage that we had for when we took our cats to the vet etc., and I tried to lure him inside.
The first two days, he wouldn't go in, and started to get skittish around me again.
But he still came back. Then one day, he was on our neighbors deck. She let me come over, and he was hiding under their grill shaking like a leaf. I went over and pet him for awhile, and then tried to lure him into the cage.
This time, he went in! :)
So I brought him inside our house, got him some food and water, and kept an eye on him.
The next morning, I let him come out and run around me and my sisters bedroom.
He was scared at first, and didn't come out for probably 20 minutes. But when he did come out, he started exploring and sniffing around, hopping all around and kicking his little feet in the air, and he let us pet him.
It took a long time for him to get comfortable with me, but I let him go at his own pace and pretty soon he was letting me hold him, groom him, feed him treats from my hand.
One day, he did this little thing where he rubbed his chin on my hand and licked my finger. I looked it up, and found out that that's how male rabbits will mark their territory, they have glands on the bottom of their chin, and will rub it against things to mark it as theirs, or do it to their owners to show affection. Kind of like how cats will rub their heads against things.
So he was marking me as his own, and kissed my hand. He does that everyday now! :)
So now, four years later, I still have him, he's in the best of health, and he's my best little buddy! I swear sometimes hell think he's a dog, he likes to be pat on the head, and he'll get on his hind legs and beg for treats or when his water bottle needs refilling, LOL. He's such a snuggle bunny, my family said it was like he thought I was his mother the way he's so attached to me. Especially at the beginning, he never wanted to be apart from me.
Even mow, he'll literally just sit in my lap for hours and be perfectly content. He loves to snuggle, and always marks me with his chin and gives me kisses.
The funniest thing about him though? He HATES carrots! Yes, my RABBIT hates CARROTS. LOL!
He will eat any other vegetable I give him, but if I give him carrots he won't even touch them, and he gives me a look like, "WTF is this, mom?! Are you kidding me right now?!" LOL. :p
So that's my literal rescue story of my furry little best friend. :)
I hope you guys enjoyed it! <3
(Oh and a quick birthday shout-out to my little sister, Happy 14th Birthday Emmy! Love you! <3)
Below are some pictures, a few are from the day I got him to go in the cage, and then they get more and more recent until the last ones which were taken a few days ago. :)
