Baxt

Small and furry, cute and cuddly, no family is ever complete without their loving pets.  It seems like they are the magic ingredient that makes near any family come together and feel complete.  While, over the past few months, our family has become quite attached to the furry friends we live with, it seems it was time for us to have our own furry companion.

A month or so ago a friend of ours was leaving our house and found a wild rabbit on the side of the road.  The poor thing had been hit by a car and was dying.  It was likely one of the rabbits from around our house that had been living in one of the bushes on the property.  Unfortunately, she wasn't healthy at all and was likely going to die soon.  We had a small funeral for our little furry friend upon her passing, and it was a sad night for bunny kind.  We moved on, hoping the best for the rest of our bunny folk friends.

A couple weeks later the yard work was being done when the same friend found a small furry animal bouncing around by the ride-on lawn mower.  The poor thing could have easily ended up in a bad way if it had chosen to hop out in front of the mower, but instead our room mate found it, caught it, and brought it in.  It was a tiny little bunny.  We were pretty certain that the mama bunny was the one who died so tragically and we figured this little guy must be lost without her.  We all came to the conclusion that we would care for the little one until it was large enough to fend for itself, and then let it go.

As things go with animals, it's so hard not to become attached.  Try as we might, the little guy kind of grew on us.  We gave him the somewhat generic name of "Benjamin Bunny", though my room mate kept insisting we call him "Thumper".  He was such a social little guy.  I was in love with him.  He loved to e held, and we worried that perhaps he would become way to friendly to handle life out in the wild.  He might try and befriend some kind of snake!  And having food on hand and easy to access, he may not take to well to having to fend for himself when he got bigger.  We decided that the best option would be to keep him as a pet, at least until we were certain he would do well in the wild.

He's still a skittish little guy, but he's become quite friendly.  He's a bit of a bugger to catch when he's out and lose, or hiding in his cage, but once he's caught, he's the sweetest little love.  He cuddles right up to you and tries to snuggle in my sleeve.  His favorite place to hang out seems to be on the bed.  He runs around in circles, trying to burrow into the pillows, then pops his little head out again.  It's so cute to watch him!  He's become a real part of the family!  I've even given him a real name.  I've started calling him "Baxt".  He's quite frequently called "Baxty" by others in the family.  I found somewhere that Baxt means "luck" in Romani.  I think it's luck that we found him before some predator did.  Chesh calls him "Baxty" because he said it's his way of calling him "lucky".  He's our little buddy for sure!