From dwarf to giant: the rabbit that fooled us
A true story
When I moved to Athens, Greece in 2017, I fell in love with the city even though I had visited it many times. I arrived in March and was welcomed by the cool temperature of Spring and the quieter period where the city wasn't heaving with tourists.
I grew up with pets and my cat Milo was in London with my family, and even though I missed him, I knew it would be better for him to be in the comfort of his home. Although I looked to adopt a stray cat in Greece, I wasn't quite ready yet.
There is a major holiday celebrated in Greece on May 1st every year, and they do this by setting up street markets that stretch across different neighbourhoods, so that locals can celebrate through festivities and have options to purchase local products.
Unfortunately, at these local markets, they sell pets too. You can find parakeets, hamsters, fish and rabbits. They do keep them in good conditions, but it is sad to see these stalls selling pets in open spaces. I promised myself to never buy from these markets, but then I came across something that would change my life for good.
I spotted a tiny rabbit with a black and white fur coat, that resembled a mini cow's. This tiny rabbit sat in the corner with its eyes closed, cuddled up to its siblings as they all slept peacefully on a warm Spring day.
The owner of the stall was friendly and when I asked questions about taking care of the rabbit, what kind of breed he was and the life span, he told me this:
"Rabbits have to eat plenty of hay, a dry trail mix and fresh vegetables. This rabbit is a dwarf and they only live up to four years."
I believed him. Little Skepta was very active when I got home. I let him out and he was running around our living room with excitement. He was so small that he could fit in my shoe.
He settled in right away and wasn't shy at all. Even though it took time for him to trust me, I bonded with him right away and showered him with love. A couple of days later and after doing a lot of research, I found a local vet that specialised in rabbits, so I took Skepta to his first appointment.
Let's just say that we were taken aback by the news the vet shared with us. It turned out that Skepta wasn't a boy, but she was a girl (we still kept the name), she was a baby that was around 15 days old and weighed 300 grams. The vet did say that she would only grow slightly bigger.
What an understatement.
As time went by and Skepta continued to grow, she didn't stop. She finally grew into her long, velvety black ears and her body grew longer. Soon she became a bunny version of a bread loaf and added on a few pounds due to her breed. She most definitely wasn't a dwarf. At the time, I couldn't find a vet in my area that was an expert in rabbits and I wasn't going to back to the first one that told me she was a dwarf, so I did some research on large rabbit breeds.
After a whole day of looking, I discovered the rabbit breed that Skepta closely resembled the most was a giant checkered rabbit. That's right, she wasn't even named after a breed with one of those cool names, but the irony just screamed at me that we were told that she was a dwarf and it turned out that she was a giant.
That didn't stop me from loving her, I just saw her as my giant fur baby. Four years strong together and she now weighs 4 kilos and is probably bigger than most small dog breeds.
Many people don't believe me that my rabbit can reach up to my knees when standing, and they live to see the legend whenever they come over to my house. Ironically, she's the friendliest giant that you'll ever meet and she has a serious addiction to apples - it's borderline a problem. You'd think that it's easy to have a healthy diet, but not when you live with a pet rabbit who bullies you into sharing your fruit and vegetables with her. Taking a bite out of an apple has to be done in secret, otherwise, she will come after you and harass you until you give her a piece.
The moral of the story is, do your research first when it comes to buying/adopting pets, rabbits are high maintenance animals and need a lot of care and love, but they can be the best pet companions ever.
About the Creator
Adrianna Anastasiades
Born and raised in London. Living in Seoul, South Korea. Studied BA (Hons) Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing at Southampton Solent University.
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