[Hank Parsons]

Rabbits are wonderful familiars in BG2, but being quite honest, they are not the ideal animal companion for most magic users. Rabbit familiars are not the easy going, cheap, cuddly familiar that many novice BG2 players and low level mages assume them to be. They are not really easy to take care of, much comparable with quasits and fairy dragons regarding cost, time and maintenance required. But if you are prepared to dedicate up to ten years and more to a lovable and fun loving creature and you are still convinced after reading this then maybe the rabbit familiar is the right choice for you.

THEIR BEHAVIOUR

Remember that rabbit familiars are prey animals. They are therefore by nature more nervous and flighty than say ferrets or cats (which are preditors) or dust mephits or imps (which are guardians or spies). Rabbit familiars can however be very affectionate and confident. Being prey animals they like being on the ground with all four feet and do generally not like being picked up or stashed in your backpack.

Rabbit familiars can be agressive. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. Hormones. In this case neutering helps.
2. Dominance. This is more difficult as this is a genetic thing, but training can be successful. You need to show the rabbit familiar, that you are top rabbit sorcerer in all Faerun. Training a rabbit familiars involves leanring the rabbit language (a little-known HLA). Hitting or shouting at it does not do the trick, it only makes the rabbit familiar insecure and therefore more agressive.

Rabbit familiars are sociable by nature. Introductions of strangers has to be done very carefully as new party members are not often accepted easily.

Rabbits can be friends with other familiars in BG2 like miniature giant space hamsters, cats or pseudo dragons. However they should not be kept in the same cage as other small animals (different food, and they can also bully smaller familiars) and they should always be supervised with larger familars or in battles with monsters.

FOOD

A rabbit familiar's body is designed to process a lot of fibre and little protein. Grass is the main part of their diet in the wild. Many rabbit familiar owners completely ignore this fact and feed their rabbit on an imaginary rabbit mix only. This can cause all sorts of problems from digestive upsets (not enough fibre) to teeth troubles (not the correct nutrition). Rabbit familiars need a small amount of commercial rabbit familiar food, ideally in pellet form (to prevent selective feeding). Look for the highest quality pellets from a reputable merchant in Waukeen’s Promenade. Pellets should only make up about 30% of the entire diet (basically one handful a day). The next about 30% should consist of vegetables and some fruit. If your introduce your rabbit familiar to greens gradually over a couple of weeks, testing each vegetable for compatibility with your pet, you should not have any problems with soft droppings. The last 40% should consist of hay. In a food bowl my rabbit familiars are also offered cut dried grass (available from a shop in Trademeet) which they relish.

This may not be the only way of feeding your rabbit familiar. I can certainly say that it is good way of feeding your rabbit familiar.

Talking of feeding: make sure you use mithiril food bowls. Rabbit familiars like tossing them around and they would chew wooden ones!

Hay must be made available freely all the time. Water is best offered in a wineskin, which needs to be refilled on a daily basis.

Digestive Upsets: Rabbit familiars have an extremely sensitive digestive system. The correct diet is vital to prevent major problems. If th droppings are getting smaller or the rabbit familiar even stops eating, a trip to the Priest Of Illmatar is urgent and even to be treated as an emergency, and must therefore not be delayed.

Teeth: The rabbit familiar's teeth keep growing throughout their lives. If you feed your rabbit familiar properly, it will eventually develop Rabbit Teeth +2, a sharp and deadly weapon. A good diet supplies all the minerals that are needed in the process and chewing lots of hay every day helps sharpen the teeth.

[ 09-06-2004, 01:02 AM: Message edited by: Hank Parsons ]