Remember my pet crab?

My pet had almost everything a crab would dream for, or perhaps what I think they would :

Adequate, nutritious and yummy food, a rather nice tank with fresh water (changed daily!), suitable temperature, free from predators and competition to survive, and me playing with ‘em everyday!

To thank me for salvaging it from the terribly boring and crowded display tank at the pet shop, my crab constantly gave me attention by knocking on the glass with its sharp pincers and moving the marble pebbles around the tank all night, disturbing my sleep, study and everything else.

Sadly, despite our ‘loving’ relationship, I could tell that it was not happy.

Over the days two weeks ago, I had noticed that my crab was decreasing in activity and natural response. It no longer ran around when I let it out; it no longer made the annoying but cute bubble popping sound with its mouth; and somehow, I noticed that the bright colors on its body, blue and orange, had started fading…

Besides, I could see the desperation in its eyes – my crab wanted something more, something more than just good food and security – it wanted freedom.

During my week in Ipoh, I pondered over this.

This pet of mine has given me lots of funny and laughing times, I can still recall how it climbed out of the container that held it when I was changing the tank’s water for the first time, and all hell broke lose – no one dared to recapture it.

Indeed, I can still remember how my friends jokingly asked me to fry and eat my crab when it was making such a racket with the marble pebbles in the tank, and we talked over the ways to cook it – steam it, roast it or fry it…

And, I won’t forget how we were so worried that it would cut its own eyes out with its scary pincers when it started clamping on them when I first got it back from Midvalley.

But as I considered, funny or stupid as those memories were, I realized that they were nothing more than my pleasures, my pet itself was never happy – well, who would? My crab was after all a prisoner, a captive, an object of my entertainment.

After a long period of consideration, I made up my mind. However unwillingly, I decided to do what’s best for it. I decided to release my crab back to nature, where it first came from.

This decision meant that the ‘crab cuisine’, the tank, the anti-chlorine and the strenuous effort used to transport my crab back to my house in Cyberjaya then to Ipoh – would be for nothing.

I was very heavy-hearted and unwilling to part with my crab. (Don’t laugh!) I had not kept it for a long period, but I happened to like it quite much. Although I always complained that it gave me a great deal of extra daily work and was a distraction, I never came to hate it.

However, who am I to restrain it from finding its own future, to deprive it of the freedom it deserved – just because I enjoyed it being around? I finally decided that if I could not make it happy, I would return its liberty to find happiness by itself.

On the day I traveled back to Cyberjaya from Ipoh, I released it on a river bank in Ipoh – a place that I’ve spotted for quite some time since I started considering its release. The long, soft stretch of mud along the river bank, flowing fresh water, and the abundance of hiding places provides the best imitation to its natural habitat available around.

My friend sent me there. I hesitated before stepping out of the car by the river, but I knew it had to be done.

My crab stood motionless when I released it from the tank onto the soft river bank soil. I took a couple of pictures, said goodbye, and left – I didn’t want to keep my friend waiting. It still hadn’t moved an inch when I looked back at it for the last time from across the river.

I’m now in Cyberjaya. I don’t know how my crab is doing now, or even if it is, you know – still alive. I’ll miss it and do hope that it will live a good life.

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On a happier note, Jon’s five baby rabbits are growing like dinosaurs!

I dunno if Jon’s giving them Steroids or growth hormones or something… But when I came back from my one-week vacation, I was totally shocked.

This is how they looked like before I went back to Ipoh:

Their eyes were still closed and their legs couldn’t even support their body weights properly yet.

And when I came back a week later, like, ONLY ONE WEEK ladies and gentlemen… They transformed into these giants:

Really huge difference you know! … But still so damn cute – big or small!

Apparently, I was wrong about the Jon’s-rabbit-naming-convention thingy… I expected Jon to name the baby rabbits the way he did to their parents, which is always a repeat of a single Chinese word, such as mummy rabbit’s name – Kei Kei.

But guess what? He named the rabbit I am holding above – ‘Maya‘. I have no idea where he got the idea for that name, but I think it’s quite a nice name though.

They can now eat solid food and drink water from the water dispenser by themselves. Although Kei Kei doesn’t always give her kids priority when it comes to food and water, and usually keeps food to herself when food is in shortage; but the baby rabbits are still growing up quite healthily.

They don’t sleep day and night like they used to anymore too! They are now very active and always running around while Kei Kei assumes a motherly pose lying at the side watching her kids play around the cage.

However, if we take the baby rabbits out of the cage, Kei Kei doesn’t give so much as a second glance. Hmm… Not too protective of her kids, eh? We could easily barbeque her kids one by one for dinner without her even noticing! Hehe!

But anyway, I think Jon will roast us alive before we can ever succeed in lighting up the BBQ stove. So don’t worry, even if mummy rabbit Kei Kei is not protective enough, ‘daddy’ Jon sure as hell is. Like, ‘daddy’ Jon doesn’t even allow us to play loud music in the living room, saying that it could damage the baby rabbits’ ears… Sigh…

There you are, the five siblings! So insanely cute! Don’t you think?

Sadly, Maya is the only baby rabbit that Jon plans to keep. Its siblings will have to say goodbye and be adopted when they grow up. Yes, it’s a pity, but I don’t think Jon’s cage can accommodate seven grown-up rabbits either.

Can you spot which one is Maya?

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