Lucky little guys in my yard...

[elrohwen]

Baby bunnehs!!! I can't believe I missed this thread! They're so darling. In no time at all you guys will see them hopping all over the yard.

And it is a myth that the moms will abandon them if you touch them. In general, momma bunnies leave their babies alone and only nurse once a day (usually early in the morning), so that they don't attract predators, so it's typical for them to not spend much time at all around the nest and some people take that to mean that it's been abandoned.

eta: Tammy, thought I should add that female bunnies will hump, so your little bun isn't necessarily a boy! I have a male/female pair (both fixed) and the female has always humped the male to show that she's in charge. Your bun is just telling the cat who's boss.

 

[dragonfly411]

Elro - I have a question related if you don't mind. When I was younger, there was a pair of rabbits that had several litters near our house. They would bring the babies to feed in our back yard. Or perhaps they were nesting there? We're talking teensy, but I feel like they wouldn't have been nesting there because we had three dogs back there. Which brings me to the conclusion, the dogs ended up cornering two little babies on our porch. We adopted both and raised them and released them to the wild, but I'm just confused as to how they got in the yard. Both times my parents saw the adults running out of the yard, so we know the babies were with them?

 

[elrohwen]

DF, once wild baby buns are out of the nest and on the move, they are on their own. Cottontails are generally solitary and don't live in warrens (unlike European rabbits), but the babies will sometimes stick with the mom or live in small groups. However, once they're hopping around they're eating adult food and don't actually need the mom anymore and aren't living in a nest or burrow of any kind. So it's anybody's guess about where their original nest was, but they were probably just using your yard to eat when they were cornered by the dogs. The best bet would've been to release them immediately - even though they look small, they're actually weaned at that age. But I'm glad to know you were successful in taking them in and re-releasing them! It's next to impossible to take in unweaned wild buns and hand raise them (or domestic ones, for that matter), so it's generally best to leave them for mom to find. At the age you found them, they were probably past the weaning "danger" point where so many wild buns are lost in wildlife rescues.

Sorry if that was way more info than you were looking for! Haha

 

[dragonfly411]

Elro - definitely not more, that was perfect! Fortunately we are close to the UF vet hospital and they have people on call to help with wildlife if you need. We called in to get advice on how to care for them. Our biggest fear was releasing them only for the dogs to really try to... I dunno. I really think they thought they were fast toys? They didn't harm them. Anyways. Sorry to threadjack.

 

[elrohwen]

Baby bunnies are so tough - it's almost impossible to bottle raise even a domestic bun and wilds are even harder. I think the success rate even for experienced rescuers is abysmal. I'm glad the little guys you found were old enough to be safe and eating adult foods and you could keep them away from the dogs.

 

[Anonymous]

eta: Tammy, thought I should add that female bunnies will hump, so your little bun isn't necessarily a boy! I have a male/female pair (both fixed) and the female has always humped the male to show that she's in charge. Your bun is just telling the cat who's boss.

I thought the same thing, but he's definitely a boy. He's our first bunny, and I felt like an idiot telling my FI in a panicked voice "I think she has a growth!" only for him to laugh at me and tell me that HE was fine. I definitely want to get him fixed soon, he's becoming aggressive but not mean. I'd hate to lose his sweet disposition.

 

[luv2sparkle]

so cute!!! I love bunnies!

 

[yssie]

Awwwwww

What heartmelting pics

 

[stci]

I love love fur babies! Soooo cute!

 

[Autumnovember]

This makes me wanna go upstairs where my bunny is right now, and squeeze his cheeks. Too cute!!!!!!

 

[Autumnovember]

Baby bunnehs!!! I can't believe I missed this thread! They're so darling. In no time at all you guys will see them hopping all over the yard.

And it is a myth that the moms will abandon them if you touch them. In general, momma bunnies leave their babies alone and only nurse once a day (usually early in the morning), so that they don't attract predators, so it's typical for them to not spend much time at all around the nest and some people take that to mean that it's been abandoned.

eta: Tammy, thought I should add that female bunnies will hump, so your little bun isn't necessarily a boy! I have a male/female pair (both fixed) and the female has always humped the male to show that she's in charge. Your bun is just telling the cat who's boss.

My bunny has humped my head.... I have it on video...

 

[oddoneout]

Very cute.

 

[elrohwen]

eta: Tammy, thought I should add that female bunnies will hump, so your little bun isn't necessarily a boy! I have a male/female pair (both fixed) and the female has always humped the male to show that she's in charge. Your bun is just telling the cat who's boss.

I thought the same thing, but he's definitely a boy. He's our first bunny, and I felt like an idiot telling my FI in a panicked voice "I think she has a growth!" only for him to laugh at me and tell me that HE was fine. I definitely want to get him fixed soon, he's becoming aggressive but not mean. I'd hate to lose his sweet disposition.

Bwahahahaha. That just made my day. The boy bits definitely do look a bit ... funny ... don't they? I hope he gets through his neuter ok! I'm sure he'll be your sweet boy again in no time. I don't think I could live with a non-speutered bunny - so stinky!

 

[Miss Sparkly]

SO DANG CUTE! My dad has a small brown bunny that lives in his yard. The bunny and his cat, lloyd, will sit on either side of the sliding glass door and stare at each other. So cute

 

[Lynnie]

Good news/bad news update...

Yesterday they started venturing out of the nest... I didn't even know, I was watering the plants and a bunny scurried out! So cute.

Today I went to run an errand, and checked the nest... empty but for one poor dead bunny

I took him out, and bagged him up... I'm not quite sure if I should have just left him there and given him a proper burial. I thought that maybe they still might come back to the nest at night, so I took him out. Poor guy.

I don't think I'll tell DH, either

Anyone know how long they use the nest for?

 

[elrohwen]

Lynnie, read some of my posts above for more info. In general, once their eyes are open and they leave the nest, they are on their own and eating adult food. Baby wild bunnies do not stay in the nest for long the way that domestic baby bunnies do. The one that died probably passed away during weaning if he didn't have any signs of being killed by a wild animal - the weaning process for wild buns is very violent and difficult, which is why so many die in wildlife rescue. It's just a part of life They take about 3-4 weeks from birth through weaning. It's also possible that they aren't young enough to be on their own, but are close, and will still come back to the nest at night for nursing.

 

[Lynnie]

Thanks so much, Elrohwen. The one that scurried away from the water sure looked quick and healthy (eyes are definitely wide open too). Maybe I'll check tonight or tomorrow morning to see if any of them are still hanging out in the nest. I'll have to fill the hole sooner than later - I don't want anyone to trip on it.

 

[elrohwen]

Definitely keep an eye out - they might come back tonight to nurse from mom. I would leave the nest there for another week or two, but then I think you're safe to fill it in. I hope you see many baby bunnies scurrying around your yard soon!