Tarkblog

Recent discussions on theduck have brought up a rabbit raising related story I thought I’d share.

When I was younger, we raised rabbits (amongst many other animals). This was perfect for my parents, because I had to take care of the rabbits and all they had to do was buy food and sell them and or eat them. It was a win situation for them, and a not so much win situation for me. But it was part of life, so I did it.

Our rabbit cages were about 200 feet from the house down a small embankment. One year we got a lot of rain. And by a lot I mean a WHOLE lot. I was accustomed to going and feeding the rabbits after school, and on this particular instance I did it barefoot as to not get my shoes muddy. It was easier to hose off my feet than my shoes.

Anyway, I’m walking down to the rabbit pens and I start doing my feeding when I realize I’m stepping in something not so pleasant. I look down, and the ground is completely covered in grub worms.

Literally thousands of them. The rain had forced them up from underground and they were lying on the surface. Most were dead (from drowning I suppose) but some were still twitching.

Anyway, this whole thing completely disgusted me. Particularly since I was barefoot and had just stepped all over some of them. I went back up to the house, running, and told my parents I wasn’t going to feed the rabbits anymore. While counting their windfall rabbit raising profits, they promptly told me I was wrong and to get back down and do it. I put my shoes on, and did. Very reluctantly.

Those dead grubs persisted for a few days, then were eventually gone. I never ever again fed the rabbits barefoot.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2006 at 9:32 am and is filed under Random Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.