There's this forest I sometimes go for long walks in. One time I decided to just stay there until it's completely dark. Just to see how it is. When it was quite close to complete darkness and all the people left, I suddenly saw a fox. It saw me and looked very surprised, but didn't run away. It was just standing there, looking at me, like it was waiting for me to leave. And it was so awkward and a bit eerie, uncomfortable even, so after a while I was like "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking", and I just left.
I don't know what's with the foxes here, but those ones that I see outside of forests look weird, like they're disfigured. Although the one in the forest looked fine, I just felt like I'm infringing on something.
Foxes creep me out too... There's just something about animals that look close enough to their pet counterparts and yet it's immediately obvious they're wild animals you shouldn't get close to or try to mess with. It just triggers an uncanny valley effect for me...
Funny thing is that wild cats never make me feel that way because pet cats are basically just smaller versions of wild cats that aren't capable of tearing my throat out because of their size, but otherwise more or less identical.
I was walking down the street of my town at like 2am when a group of black, four legged spindly black creatures crossed in front of me. It wasn’t dark from all the lights but at our position they just looked like emaciated black greyhounds on stilts gliding by. Took me a second to realize they were deer and that I need new glasses.
The closest I think I ever could come to getting a real eldritch experience though is driving home one night and something crossed the road in front of me. It was like my brain couldn’t fathom what I seeing so the first thing it came up with to try and make sense to me so I wouldn’t succumb to madness is that must be a cyberpunk deer.
It was just a dude on a bike with some lights and reflectors.
I had a similar situation with a wild boar. I saw it in the distance in the middle of a night, in the middle of a city, and I thought it's a very big, oddly shaped dog. It was quite spooky, because when it got closer, I realised how enormous and jacked the dog is, and that it is moving in a way that is really strange for a dog. Only after another few seconds I realised it is a boar - which is a very normal thing where I live.
As somebody that has a hare in the house (don't ask - found hypothermic as a two-week old, family and vets barely managed to keep them alive, now permanent family member), I can agree that hares stare like crazy madmen. Also, they are basically living balls of fear, stress and panic that get scared shitless over a sneeze or you moving your hand a little bit too fast.
What is it like living with one? Anything you have to do differently than caring for "normal" bunnies? I think its hilarious and awesome that you have a pet jackrabbit btw.
Most of the differences can be boiled down to having to watch myself and my movements/noises because of how quickly they get scared. For example, we don't ever brush or otherwise remove the hair they are about to shed because they would get scared and it isn't worth the risk or stress.
Also, they really don't like hay - they eat dry rabbit food pellets, grasses (dandelion preferred most), apple slices, radichio lettuce, certain twigs (apple tree twigs) and certain leaves, but hay or dried plants are out of the question. And they have to have a vertical space (in this case 2 connected tables) with boxes to retreat to and hide in for some extra comfort.
The biggest problem though is the fact that they can never be let out of the house for any reason outside of a container/cage, because they can jump over 2 meters high and our fence is useless in that case. Happened twice, both times they came back scared, but after the second round we basically added strong meshes to the outside of windows and put in 2 automatic door closers so there's no more risk of accidents happening. That and any problems or consultancy require an exotic veterinarian, because even vets who do things with rabbits on the regular are hesitant to do anything other than nail trimming on an actual hare.
Hah wow, yea like you said ball of fear, stress and panic. I didn't even think about theyre jumping capabilities so thats crazy when put into that perspective! Thanks for the great answer to my question :)
No problemo. All in all, I love our hare with all my heart, but holy crap they are basically a shit-tier pet: way more vulnerable/sensitive than almost any other pet you can get + high maintenance and effort and attention for anything going wrong required, just so that you can't touch them for more than a couple seconds on the nose before panic sets in, and sometimes they get worried just by you making eye contact, so almost no love is ever really returned. But that doesn't really matter, seeing them safe and healthy and happy is worth it.
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u/qualityvote2 24d ago edited 22d ago
u/gavats, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...