The Light is a Rabbit Light

To be, in the grass, in the peacefullest time,

Without that monument of cat,

The cat forgotten in the moon;

And to feel that the light is a rabbit-light,

In which everything is meant for you

And nothing need be explained;

From "A Rabbit As King of the Ghosts" by Wallace Stevens

Now, guess what Eler Beth is taking care of. Go on, guess!

A friend of ours who has a lawn care business, accidentally ran over a family of rabbits today, in one of those big zero-turn mowers. Only one of the babies made it out alive, but he thought it had been hurt. He's a very soft-hearted guy, and this really tore him up. So he called Thomas to see if Eler Beth would like to try to save it. Well, of course, she would!

It's a tiny little thing, probably hasn't had its eyes open very long. We have it in a big plastic tote with a nest of freshly mowed grass and some clover. I ran out to get some kitten formula (Note to self: You really *should* keep that stuff on hand!). She fed it with a medicine dropper, and it seemed to like it. They start eating on their own at about 14 days, so it may actually start nibbling on some clover at any time; but I figured it would be best to feed it the formula for a few days to make sure it's getting enough hydration and nutrients. We can put a little piece of apple and some pellets in there with it and see what happens. When our friend first picked it up and then brought it over, it was acting like its back legs were hurt, but now it is moving around and using them just fine.

Eler Beth took a flashlight and checked its fur all over to make sure it didn't have any ticks on it. Then after she fed it, she put it on her lap and very gently used her two index fingers to trace all its bones and muscles to see if she felt any breaks or if it acted like it had any really sore spots. It didn't.

She put it up on her chest, and it started burrowing under the neckline of her shirt. It stayed in one spot for a while, then started burrowing around and trying to crawl up on her neck. Now it's on one of her shoulders, sleeping. It is very aware, moving around, and willing to drink from a dropper, so I think that's a good sign that it might make it. Of course, it might not. You just never know with baby wild animals.

For those of you on Facebook, you will know that about a week ago someone gave Eler Beth a leopard gecko. This was a rescue, as well, though of a different kind. The grandfather of a couple of kids down the street is caretaker of a property nearby, and someone had moved away and left behind two geckos in a tank. We found out about it because the little girl came down to get Eler Beth to go see what kind of lizards they were. Eler Beth knew at once they were leopard geckos, of course, and proceeded to tell them what they needed to do to take care of them. The little boy told her that if he couldn't keep them, he'd give them to her. About two days later he came down to say that he could only keep one, and he let her have the other.

It is a female, and she has named it Samantha. Samantha now has a nice, snug little home in a tank, with reptile carpeting, two hide-aways, food and water dishes, and a heating lamp. She loves her "magic" crickets that just suddenly appear in her tank once a day, and she has already shed her skin once, which was really cool to see!

Let's see, the count is: 5 dogs, 1 cat, 4 cockatiels (2 that were rescues), 2 parakeets, 1 rehabilitated opossum that now lives in the wild, but comes home once in a while to eat, 1 rescued flying squirrel, 1 rescued white rabbit, 1 rescued leopard gecko, and now 1 rescued wild rabbit.

When Thomas and I retire, we will have to buy a big place in the country so Eler Beth can have a rehab center and petting zoo. Wouldn't that be cool??

Pictures coming soon!