Farmlife is not for sissies

Living on a farm gives a lot of freedom, one of the reasons we moved from The Netherlands to South Africa as we wanted to raise free-range children, so to speak. It also brings the freedom of space - space to run around, space to get into nature, space for pets…

Let me start with the last one: pets. We have managed to end up with things in “three’s”: Three children, three dogs, three cats, three bunnies and even three fish - which were caught in a river on a holiday and since have been living in a fish tank in our living room. We used to have 6 love birds - that was the only plural of three - but they flew away after a small visitor left the cage door open, so those are no longer.

Since the birds flew away, the aviary had been an empty place until we were gifted three bunnies. Three females (which was confirmed by experiment as after 3 months we still had only these three bunnies 😂). The girls treated the bunnies as if they were their cats: sat with them on the couch while watching a movie or parked them on their desk while doing homework. But they would sleep in the aviary - I insisted on that.

So, every day after school, Quinn or Jill would check up on the bunnies to say hello and give cuddles. The aviary is next to our braai area on our front stoep, but you can only get in from the other side. This particular sad Monday, I was making after-school snacks in the kitchen when I heard a scream that shot chills down my spine. It was Quinn! I dropped everything and ran to see where it came from.

Where was she, what happened?

“Snake!” she screamed next.

My heart stopped. Please, God, let the snake not have bitten my child!

Her scream came from the front of the house, so I quickly ran outside.

“Where did it bite?” was the first thing I shouted when I saw her running towards me.

“Donut!” she cried.

I let out a big sigh - that was her bunny. At least not my child.

I told her to call Scott from inside the house while I ran towards the aviary. There, I got the chills as I saw how this thick puff adder (one of the most dangerous snakes in South Africa) was sliding around in the cage. It's fresh kill. Quinn’s favourite bunny, Donut, was lying on its side and gave one last shudder before it was dead. Meanwhile, Jill’s bunny “Willow”, was just sitting there, staring at her dead sister, while the snake was circling around, getting ready for another possible kill.

I am on the braai side of the aviary and I can’t get quickly in to rescue this bunny. I highly doubt that I would have taken the risk - but all I could think was, “Get away Willow!” So I start shouting this, trying to get the attention of the bunny, grabbing a piece of grass to push that through the fine maze of the aviary and not taking my eyes off the movements of this snake. Why is it taking so long before Scott is coming?

Meanwhile, Quinn is back, panicking behind me, together with a hysterical Jill who sees the threat of her bunny getting bitten. Scott comes finally running out with his pallet gun - it turns out he just had gone to the bathroom for “a number two” as he wants to explain to me as only boys can without shame or withholding information that you don’t want to know.

The snake is still sliding around, probably disturbed in its natural behaviour and not sure what it should do now after the kill.

“Where is Beans?” shout the girls, panic in their voices.

I already checked and the snake seems too thin to have swallowed something recently but I fear for the worst.

How long has this snake been here?

Did the girls check on the bunnies yesterday?

When last did they see Beans, which is the smallest bunny?

Is Beans maybe down that hole in the corner, hiding away and still safe?

While this is all going through my mind, Scott has run around and through a broken window pane, he aims and shoots at the snake in the hope of rescuing Willow. But the girls are screaming that he must be careful not to hit Willow, as the snake is right next to the bunny, and Scott misses.

The shot is, however, enough for the snake to flee.

But it flees down the only place it can go, and that is the hole the bunnies have dug inside the aviary.

Quickly, I phoned Lloyd as the situation was now out of my control. Where did this snake go? It was way too close to the living room doors! This is that part of living on a farm where you not only have the freedom to go into nature… Nature also has the freedom to come into your home!

“Emergency, snake!” I shouted through the phone.

First of all, it was luck that he had reception and answered the phone so quickly.

Secondly, it was luck that he was so close by that within 5 minutes he was here!

After the snake fleed down the rabbit hole, Scott had been so brave to quickly snatch the living bunny from the aviary and by the time Lloyd arrived, Willow was almost soaked by the tears of Quinn. I managed to manoeuvre the girls inside the house as I had a premonition that the other bunny might get found dead any moment as well.

Willow had a shy nature but combined with the recent happenings, it was freaked out and just wanted to jump out of the arms of Quinn. I decided that for now, it was best for the girls to retreat with the bunny in the bathroom, where I quickly put some pillows on the floor for comfort.

Running back to the front stoep, I see, to my horror, Lloyd and Scott inside the aviary. They are armed with spades and a pickaxe and are determined to find this peace-wrecker. Puff adders are not very fast-moving snakes, but still, who knows… It is still one of the most dangerous snakes!

Scott and Lloyd are starting to dig open the rabbit hole. The ground is dry and hard. It is a hot day and they are going slow. After watching them for a few minutes, I decided there was nothing I could do and rather give the girls some water to drink to calm them down.

Quinn is on a video chat with her best friend and this seems to help a lot.

Jill is still very worried about the little bunny Beans and comes to check out the digging.

I continue to make some snacks in the kitchen because that is the only productive thing I can think of at that moment.

After a while, I hear a big crack. And another one. And before I am on the front stoep, I hear another one!

What on earth?!

It turns out that the bunnies managed to dig underneath the wall that leads to the braai area and that the snake must have escaped in that direction! The barrow is now in the open, and there is no snake neither Beans to be seen…

Lloyd is so determined to find this snake. It is an intruder and it did hurt his girls. He must and will find it and kill it.

“If it went underneath the braai area, I will find it there”, he must have thought because one plank after the other was broken out of this wooden deck.

The search was fruitful.

Well kind-of…

He found Beans…probably bitten the day before.

The snake? It found another way back to nature, where it belongs.

Scott was such a kind brother to find 2 boxes for the bunnies and he led the funeral.

It was held in the forest next to the garden, close to the “Dragon Tree”.

I wasn’t invited, neither was Willow.

And I would love to say that this was the end of this episode, however, a few days later I had Quinn all in tears again.

She had gone to “say hello” to Donut and visit the grave.

But all she found was white fluff everywhere and an empty hole.

According to her, it must have been the dogs who ate her beloved bunny.

"Mama, I know it is nature, but really...did they have to do THAT?!"

And with that, I can conclude: farm life is not for sissies!

(what is left is a broken wooden deck, an inaccessible braai area and a bunny that lives now in the bathroom 😳)