Dancing

I didn't have Stipple for very long, when I found out he would dance very early in the morning. In those early days in our relationship, Stipple would wake me up by bounding around in his cage at what I think he thought was a "late" time in the morning. Thankfully, he has since stopped doing that all the time. He now only does it if I do actually sleep in or if he needs something from me.

Anyway, this post isn't about the first time Stipple danced for me. This post is about how Stipple danced for me and my mom.

I had had Stipple for about two weeks, and my family, him, and I were all moving me and my roommate into a new apartment closer to the vet school. Mom and I spent the night in my room, since she and I were going to finish setting some things up the next day. Stipple also spent the night in my room, since I didn't see a point of having him sleep somewhere he wouldn't be sleeping in the future. Also, I could close my bedroom and allow him to hop around without worrying about him getting into a lot of trouble.

The next morning, Stipple started to make a big racket as soon as he realized I was up. He was bounding from side to side of his cage, crashing into his litter boxes. Mom was up and was a bit concerned by what was causing him to "freak out", so I let him out of the cage. Stipple leaped from his cage, and started to dance. He lept, twinkled his toes, flopped his ears for side to side. He spun, bounced, and flung himself with wild abandon. It was one of the most joyous things I have ever seen in my life. But the important thing of this story is, when my mom saw Stipple dance, she finally understood why I loved this rabbit. And that's how Stipple won over my mother.

The Beginning

It was dead week during the spring semester of my first year at Purdue when I got the email. At the vet school, the vet students are constantly being bombarded by emails about pets needing homes. By the end of the first semester, every vet student has heard every possible reason for a pet needing a new home. This actually kind of deadens us to these sort of stories, but this time, when I checked my email, it was different.

"Luna needs a home!" it read. One of the receptionists at the vet school had found an adorable lop-eared rabbit in their backyard. It was obvious the rabbit had been dumped. This receptionist took the rabbit in and  the rabbit started to get along great with their cat, but their puppy was intent on eating it, even after a few days. The receptionist needed someone to take the rabbit, since it was unfair that her home wasn't as safe as it should be for the rabbit. 

I had been wanting a rabbit for a year by this time. I jumped at the chance, and a few days later, went to go pick up the rabbit at the vet school. It was the Friday before finals week. Not the best time to be adding a pet into my life, but I still jumped at the chance. At the vet school, I met "Luna". 

"We've been calling her Luna, but we've just been assuming she's a girl," the receptionist told me. "Can you tell what sex it is?"

I looked, and I honestly have no idea how the receptionist had missed the massive testicles on this rabbit. "It's a boy," I said.

"Oh, well you could still call her Luna if you'd like!"

That was not going to happen. I thanked the receptionist, and carted my new rabbit home. The rabbit was white and black/gray. It looked like someone had stippled his coloring in, so I named him Stipple.

At the apartment, Stipple was terrified. Rabbits respond to all new stimuli in about the same way: run away and hide. If they can't hide, they go as still as possible in the hopes that the new stimuli would go away. Stipple was so freaked out, he just sat in the litter box of his new cage for the rest of the day. 

(Stipple, judging me from his new "safe spot", first day home)

It took a long time to gain Stipple's trust. He didn't trust me until after finals and I had been home for quite some time with him. However, just having his cute, rabbit-y presence during finals week helped keep me sane during that last week of the semester. While looking back at things, I wouldn't change the timing of getting him for the world.