CHAPTER 206 – The Secret Life of House Rabbits
T’was 3 AM when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a… Wait. What’s all that noise?
Dad woke up. The room was dark, but the house was not still. In his bedroom, he heard Bentley munching quietly on some greens. Bentley was always very considerate and tried not to disturb Dad while he was sleeping.
But coming from the living room was the pitter patter of little feet as they zipped across the room from one side to the other. Well, actually, it was more like a herd of very fast miniature buffalo. Dad wondered, “What are they up to?” He had always been curious about what the rabbits did at night. He had read that rabbits are crepuscular, meaning they are active around dawn and dusk. Was this really true?
Dad ordered a couple of wi-fi security cameras. One was a battery-powered camera he could place anywhere and the other one was a pet camera that could pan and track pet motions. The cameras could record video clips whenever motion was detected as well as provide him with a live feed to his phone and computer.
A couple of days later, the cameras arrived. Abigail hopped over to investigate. As the household manager, she needed to inspect everything that came into the house. “What this is?” she wondered. Dad explained, “These are cameras. I’ve always wondered what you guys do when I’m not around. These will give me a glimpse into the secret life of house rabbits!”
Dad set the pet camera on the floor. He hid the power cord in the bookshelf behind it so the rabbits wouldn’t chew on it and then plugged the camera in to a nearby outlet. Then he mounted the security camera on a tripod on the other side of the room. Since it was battery-operated, it didn’t require any cords.
Abigail went over to the pet camera on the floor and sniffed it. It moved. Surprised, she jumped back. Then she posed for a selfie. Enzo hopped over and asked, “What is it?” Abigail replied, “Dad says it’s a camera. I just took a selfie. Go ahead and try it.” Enzo stared into the lens and struck a pose. The camera swiveled towards him and the blue light blinked. Abigail thought, “Well, that wasn’t very exciting.” The bunnies went back to their business and ignored the cameras.
The next morning, Dad was eager to see what – if anything – had transpired during the night. He opened “activities log” and was surprised to find video clips about every ten minutes. All. Night. Long. Dad exclaimed, “My goodness! You have been busy all night, haven’t you? So much for the theory that rabbits are active only around dawn and dusk.”
While many of the clips were Enzo grooming himself, every so often, there were funny moments of the bunnies darting across the room chasing each other. One clip even caught Abigail binkying. Dad said to Abigail, “No wonder you guys nap all afternoon! You’re up all night!”
That afternoon, while Dad was out running errands, he decided to check the cameras from his phone. Sure enough, everything was still. No motion. Not a rabbit in sight. They were all hiding somewhere for their afternoon naps.
Dad was hooked! This was better than television! He ordered more cameras so he could keep tabs on all the other bunnies at the House of Buns. Every morning, he looked forward to watching a new episode of The Secret Life of House Rabbits.
Dad looked over at Abigail and said, “All we need to do is figure out how to live stream these cameras and we could start our own rabbit channel!” Abigail just stared back and thought, “No, Dad!”
Dad sets up some cameras so he can see what the rabbits do when he's asleep.
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