Baby rabbits in backyard...need advice

[jenna]

sigh.

There's this rabbit that's always loved hanging out in our backyard and I saw her again earlier today and was just watching her for a long time.


Well, I took my dog out t othe bathroom maybe 30 minutes ago and I happened to look over and saw her sitting there cleaning herself. I was surprised that she hadn't bolted already because she ALWAYS does. Bear and I kept walking around and I'm glad he didn't spot her that time and not once did she ever move so I was thinking there was something wrong with her. I took Bear back inside and went back out to check on her. I walked around her once in a wide circle just trying to look over the istuation and see if I could see something wrong with her. Got a little closer, then I was 2 ft. away from her before she bolted (but she didn't go far) and .....babies!

It's really a bizarre thing because the grass in that area is not high at all and there's no kind of cover or anything; the area is pretty flat. She burrowed slightly but no one would really be able to tell and they'd just walk over it, stepping on the babies. So, ofcourse, my instinct-to-take-care-of-and-watch-over-animals has kicked in.

As far as predators, I live right across the street from the woods and there have been foxes around there and they've crossed the street before. Also, there are a couple of cats that hang out behind the neighbors house but I've not seen them venture into our yard.

I took some pictures of the area and wanted to post here for any advice that you guys may have. I obviously don't want to disturb the nest but this is troubling for me because of where the nest is located.

Thank you! :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6204.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6205.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6206.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6207.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6208.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6209.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6210.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/zennedout/DSCN6211.jpg

[Amy SF]

bunny-wunnies. :smitten:

Perhaps you should call Animal Control and see what they say.

[rabid_child]

i'd personally just leave the bunnies where they are and leash walk your dog (away from the burrow) until the bunnies up and leave. which really shouldn't be too long...

[oriole]

I have to agree with Rabid_Child here. Best to just try not to disturb the nest and let mom do her thing. Your backyard is probably about as safe a place as anywhere, and if I recall correctly, young rabbits grow up pretty quickly and will be on their own before too long.

I'd be excited if I were you since you'll have a great opportunity to watch wild animals growing up. It's not something most people get to see.

[borealis]

Do you have lawn furniture or something you can place in the yard, and rope the area off so people don't walk there? I don't know what to tell you about the foxes and cats.

She is probably a young, inexperienced mother; I think they're usually much more cautious where they make their nests. Good for you, watching out for them. :smitten:

[Thalia]

From what I've read, baby bunnies leave the nest very, very soon. So if you can keep people away for a little while hopefully all will be good in a short time.

I actually found here: http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html
That rabbits actually tend to make nests out in the open like that. Weird.

[borealis]

Wow, I didn't know that. Thank you for posting the link.

[jenna]

Yeah, I'm not going to be disturbing the nest or the area around it at all. It finally occurred to me that in those pictures where you can see some fur is actually the momma. lol I was confused because I had just seen her hop off right before that but she went back to it when I went to get my camera. The babies were only born today or yesterday, somewhere abouts.

My two bedroom windows have a pretty good view of the nest so I've been looking out there all day today whenever I had a chance! I'm definitely going to have to watch out for snakes because I won't be able to mow the grass.

I'm pretty excited, actually - maybe I'll be able to catch glimpses of the babies as they grow and I can get pictures of them. I am gonna get some limbs from across the street and kinda mark off the area, though, so everyone here will know where not to go walking.

Thanks for all the responses! I'm going to read over that site some more, Thalia - thanks!

[oriole]

Do post some pix when you get them. Young cottontails (like when they're maybe 3" long) are without a doubt the cutest things in the universe.

[citronella49]

A word of caution, I had the same situation in my backyard a few years ago. I have a cocker spaniel and there is a cat next door. I watched the nest and saw that the mother had stopped returning. I can only assume she was frightened away by my dog or the cat. The babies were about 7-10 days old when I first saw them, which was only when I realised the mother hadnt been back in 2 days. Since I know someone who takes care of abandoned baby wildlife I called her and she confirmed that the mother was most likely gone... she told me to take th bunnies and bring them to someone to care for them. We have a place that does this around here, so I brought them here. We had 5-6 bunnies and none of them survived. Rabbits are very high stress creatures, and the bunnies almost never survive in captivity. So, I would suggest making it as low stress an environment as possible so that the mother keeps returning... Perhaps you can take your dog outside in the front instead ofthe back and ask your neighbors with cats to only take their cats outside with supervision for a bit. THey will grow up fast, but they are very fragile now, I just dont want the mother to abandon them and fall to the same fate the ones in my yard did... anyway, best of luck... sorry for being a downer..,

[anthony11]

cintronella49's right about the kits not having a high survival rate in captivity - best to give them as much privacy as possible until they hop out on their own. I'm a bit surprised that mom nested out in the open like that - I've usually seen rabbits favor high grass or a brushy area.

[jenna]

Ok, I'm updating this a little bit. I got some more pictures today as the babies were spending some time outside of their nest. I'm keeping a really close eye on them especially now because a) they're spending a bit of time out of the nest and b) I haven't seen the mom and there was a dead rabbit in the road a day or so ago :( It's really crazy, I have the old webcam set up in my window along with an older computer so I can watch and make sure that the mom is coming around. I want to be 120% sure she is coming back. One of the babies seems a little thin. There's also a squirrel that comes around and sits close to the babies while it's eating grass. The first time that squirrel noticed there was a nest, it sat up on its hind legs, sniffed and kinda leaned over to look. lol And now he/she spends time over there - doesn't bother the nest or the babies but likes to hang around there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/squirrellookingatnest.jpg (squirrel picture taken about a week ago)

The rest of the pictures were taken a little while ago:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6236.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6237.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6238.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6239.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6240.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6241.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6242.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/cloudgardens/DSCN6243.jpg

The baby that posed so nicely decided it liked me and tried coming over to me. I was trying to take a picture of another one and didn't notice that it came right up to me. I snapped two quick pictures and I backed away from it. It's been so hot here, I'm glad the nest is in the shade of the "building" and a couple of trees, but the humidity is really horrible.

[Amy SF]

Oh, they're adorable! :smitten:

I really hope nothing bad happens to them. :(

[MollyGoat]

Those. Are. The cutest. Things. I've. Ever. Seen. In. My. LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad you're watching out for them!

[Cinnamon toast]

Sweet babies! I hope they'll be okay.

[anthony11]

Adorable tykes! Thanks for the photos and :wayne: for looking out for them.

[borealis]

Oh my goodness! They are so little and sweet! :smitten:

[Acadia]

:spew: Ew, how ugly! Baby bunnies... yuck.









Just kidding, of course! They are so so tiny and sweet and utterly adorable. Good job looking out for them like you are. I'll keep my fingers crossed that mom comes back and they all grow up happy and healthy. :)

[Amy SF]

:spew: Ew, how ugly! Baby bunnies... yuck.









Just kidding, of course! They are so so tiny and sweet and utterly adorable. Good job looking out for them like you are. I'll keep my fingers crossed that mom comes back and they all grow up happy and healthy. :)

:stinkeye:

You really scared me there for a second...

[Acadia]

:D

Keep us updated, jenna!

[Brandon]

:smitten: Awww....baby bunyips! Cute to the Nth degree. Glad to read that you are trying to help them out, jenna. And may I also say that the pics are very good as well!

[catgirl67]

How adorable! :smitten:

[bstutzma]

oh... my... god.... the cute!!! It hurts!! :-) Great pics!!!

[jenna]

Well....some partially bad news. :(

When I woke up earlier today my father had said that he didn't see any bunnies when he took Bear out to the bathroom. So, I slipped on shoes and went out there and looked around. I didn't see any. I looked in the nest and saw one but it wasn't moving and when I opened up the nest more....it was dead. :cry: I got a bit frantic and started looking all over for the two others. I found the second one on the other side of the yard in direct sunlight - dead. Neither of them had been dead very long and I was crying so hard and trying to look through the tears to make sure they really weren't breathing (I knew they weren't but damn it, I had to check). I put that one next to the other one and went on looking for the third. I was combing the whole yard and it was really hard because they blend in so well. Finally, I found the third one - in the nextdoor neighbor's yard by their back fence in the shade. It was sitting up out i nthe open so I decided to go and take that one and try to save it.

I dn't know what happened - they all seemed fine yesterday when I was looking at them from a ways away and Iwas making sure that nothing was bothering them - taking the dog to the bathroom on the other side of the house and in the front; I even talked to the neighbor about not mowing anywhere close to there so it wouldn't disturb them. I had seen the mom twice in the last few days and it was never near the nest. I don't know if she just wasn't feeding them or it was too damn hot and humid (spiked at about 103 yesterday and it's 99-100 today).

I got a 10 gallon tank out of the shed and got it set up. He/she has had some of the formula - it seemed to start taking to the syringe after a couple tries. Feed it again tonight - gets fed twice a day. It's resting right now part way under the towel. I have to find something to put the other two in and bury them. :(

I feel so bad. I know I shouldn't do a whole bunch of "what if"'s, but I can't help it. I should've taken them a day or so ago when I was questioning the whole situation. But I had seen the mom and I didn't want to **** anything up. At the same time, though, I don't think they would've come near me so eagerly if there wasn't something wrong. Blah. Anyways.

[anthony11]

:( that two are gone but :) that one's hanging in there.
<--- fingers crossed for the survivor