Life

This Adorable Baby Pet Fox Wins Instagram

Weirdest pet you've ever had? Go! Mine: A cat that used to jump up and down from our two-story balcony. Yeah, that really happened. (My family wasn't the kind that got a cat and became cat lovers for life. We got a cat and then realized we are not cat people. But we loved him anyway.) Whether you had rampant goldfish, or grew up in a house with 4 dogs, these pet owners are officially more out there than you. Because they have a baby pet fox. Repeat: THEY HAVE A PET FOX. On the plus side, it's the most adorable freaking thing you'll ever see. The down side: one day it's going to grow up AND THEN WHAT?

That's not a rhetorical question. What's the end game here? I really want to know. The only time I've ever seen a fox was driving through suburban Massachusetts and let me tell you, they did NOT look pleasant. They looked sly, like every literary analogy that's ever been made about foxes. Except worse because those teeth IRL are even worse than you'd expect.

Rylai, the white marble red fox who is winning Instagram, doesn't seem to be petrifying her owners. On the contrary, she seems to enjoy napping and isn't at all menacing. Yet.

You be the judge:

She's painfully cute. It still doesn't rationalize domesticating a fox, in my books, but I guess I'm reaping the social media benefits, so that argument doesn't really have a leg to stand on.

I'm not quite understanding how he's a white marble red fox. Sounds a little oxymoronic color wise. Like, is it albino? According my living with foxes research, it's a type of mutation. So, a fox mutt. (And yes, there is in fact a Living with Foxes website, and I spent about 10 minutes on it.)

SO fancy. You already know.

She's already on her way to becoming a YouTube sensation.

#CurrentMood

So, that's Rylai. You should definitely be following her. And just to make sure you're satisfying your feed's cute quota, here are a few other obscure (sorry, misunderstood) animals you should be following:

1. ErizaTheHedgehog

Pet hedge hogs are rapidly becoming a thing. It's a revolution.

COME ON. It's adorable. And somehow I have fewer qualms about domesticating hedge hogs.

I mean... he's festive and goes with any occasion.

2. Beeryme

This girl is importing and exporting pets worldwide. Yeah, that's happening in the world.

Here's her Meerkat:

The meerkat's about to break out into a spirited rendition of "Hakuna Matata", I can feel it.

Aaaand an African Lynx:

She looks fairly tame. Do you want to adopt her? There's a 'gram account for that.

3. Reptiles galore at Mads_Reptile_Madness

Your one stop Insta-shop for creepy, crawly reptiles. It's all the reptilian presence your feed needs. You need to have a high tolerance for all things slimy, though. Here's Nagini IRL, basically:

Plus, Gollum:

This gram is literary fusion, as well as reptile haven.

Here's to living vicariously through the Instagram photos of pet owners bolder and perhaps crazier than we are.

Image: RylaiFox/Instagram