Seoulscapade

It’s time for update on Panda and Monty, and for this episode of their adventures, I thought I’d focus on what they are munching on these days. I mainly thought of doing this to detail the treats they indulge, so that other people who have rabbits might try the same , if they don’t give them already. Rabbits don’t live that long; so, why not let them live it up while they can.

Here is what they have in their snack bowl, which is constantly topped up: Quaker Oats on one side and Vita pellets on the other. Panda and Monty would go through a good handful of oats a day. Panda is not keen on the hard pellets but loves the oats. The pellets are mainly enjoyed by Monty, who I think may have been fed similar as a young rabbit, or else he just likes crunchy food.

We order the pellets online, but the for the oats I need to make a special trip to one of the import stalls at the Namdaemoon Markets in central Seoul. I buy a couple of the biggest Quaker Oats containers they’ve got for around $10 each. I don’t just buy them for the rabbits, either. I mix Quaker Oats in with my cereal for breakfast everyday. Sometimes I’ll be eating my oats and cereal and the rabbits will be at their bowl eating theirs, so we’ll be all breakfasting on Quaker Oats at the same time.

Here is the next staple of their diet, a variety of fresh green leaves every morning and evening. Both Panda and Monty prefer these over other leafy greens like lettuce. They’ll only eat lettuce as a last resort. One good thing about Korean supermarkets is that they all have these assorted leaves. People use these with various meals, sometimes wrapping rice or cooked meat with sauce in them. I have them in the vegetarian sandwiches I make for lunch at work.

I couldn’t even begin to name all of the varieties here. All I know is that Panda really likes the fan-like white and purple colored ones.

When I pull the plastic bag full of these leaves from the fridge, Panda prances around much like a dog would, and attacks the leaves as soon as they are set down. Monty is less of an enthusiast. He nibbles on them later, but sparingly, usually after Panda has finished. Of course, sometimes he’ll snatch a leaf away from her, but most of the time, he shows only passing interest. Curiously, whenever you hand a leaf to him at head height, he’ll munch on it, no matter what kind of leaf.

I always leave a handful of alfalfa like this before I head off to work each day. They both go for the tasty soft leafy bits first and perhaps the dry stalks as an after-thought. Usually, I’m left with stalks spread around the floor, which they don’t touch after a day or two. We order this stuff online, and it usually comes to our door in a box packet with whatever else we ordered plus some freebies.

What we find, however, is that the supplied treats for rabbits are generally ignored by Panda and Monty. Only two things can give them bliss, and they expect these at a set time of day, without exception: dried pineapple and dried plum. How we arrived at the times for giving these treats I can’t recall. But now they are a fixed part of Panda and Monty’s daily routine.

A sliver each of dried pineapple like those above is greatly enjoyed by Panda and Monty each morning. Panda sometimes won’t really touch anything else until she’s had her sweet slice of pineapple, after which she may move onto some cool and refreshing leaves. The pair of them jocking for position at my legs when I’m about to pass them out, and I have to draw their attentions in different directions with a piece of pineapple in each hand, so that there isn’t any snatching.

Pineapple is their morning treat and plum is for the evening, around 10.30, although sometimes they’ll start milling around to make it clear they want their treat “now”—perhaps earlier at 10pm. We cut one of these moist plums up with scissors into strips. Monty will eat the most. He inhales them. Panda will be satisfied with perhaps two large strips. After that, any more gooey sweetness seems to be an overload. At the most, they’ll consume one and a half plums, and then show no further interest.

In sum, Panda and Monty’s diet is not really expensive. Some of the things they eat I buy anyway for my own diet. The dried fruits, which I don’t eat, are costly; however, they last a long time, so the cost is minimal because it is spread over a month or two.

Panda is the most attentive when it comes to food, and is ever alert for the sounds food preparation—the unscrewing of a plastic lid or the crackling of a plastic bag from the fridge. Around a scheduled treat time, she’ll be waiting in anticipation, while Monty is perhaps attacking furniture somewhere. At night, Panda is the one who’ll first start hanging around the kitchen, or us, urging us to quit dallying with those divine plums. Maybe she’s the smarter rabbit of the two, or perhaps, like most women, she’s just keener on the sweet things in life.