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jessedee [2010-01-02 11:01:46 +0000 UTC]

such a cutie

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pynipple [2008-08-05 00:19:58 +0000 UTC]

you are absolutely right about the mom not minding them having 'Human scent' on them ... this looks like an Eastern Cottontail that's about 4-5 weeks old ... the human handling story is one of the oldest urban myths about rabbits that I know of ... this myth IS true about several types of birds, and I don't know about other animals, but it's definitely not an issue with rabbits - wild or house rabbits

I've rescued several baby wild bunnies and unfortunately they don't have much of a chance at all without their mother, even with professional help, training and equipment, so the very best thing you can do is to put it back into the nest and maybe put a couple large rocks 1-2 feet away from it so a lawnmower will not just plow it down

the mother rabbit will only visit the nest for 5-10 minutes twice a day, once in the middle of the night and sometimes once in the early morning when it's still dark ... it doesn't seem like a safe thing to do, but there's a logic to it if you read up on rabbit behavior ... and the bunnies get plenty to eat even though they don't spend much time with the mother

a big reason they stay away during the daytime is because that's when she is most vulnerable and she doesn't want to lead any predators to her nest, in fact if she is chased at night she will spend a lot of time leading the predator away from the nest in the opposite direction - sometimes for hours ... this still seems dangerous to leave them alone all day, but when you see how many rabbits there are in the wild, apparently it works out good for them

even after they are weened from mom's milk at about 7-9 weeks they will still hang out around the nest for a while sometimes - and the mother will still bring them nice soft hair that she will pull off herself so they stay warm and will still bring the bunnies plenty of grass and plants for them to eat after they are weened

I've witnessed some very cool stuff about rabbit mothers, especially the wild ones ... they will pick up and save about 3 blades of grass to every one that the mom will eat herself ... and if she finds a yummy plant, she will save the best parts of it for the babies

if it happens to rain and flood the nest, or you see a cat or anything messing around with that nest, you can always carefully take the bunnies in until the cat is gone (call animal protection to remove the cat if it still comes back - they will remove it using a cat-trap that doesn't hurt the cat in any way), or if it's flooded, you can even relocate the nest (but not more than a couple feet away from the original one) and the mother rabbit will still return to care for them

you can arrange some small twigs in a checkerboard pattern around the nest if you suspect that the mother isn't returning at night, but as long as the nest and the babies are warm and their bellies aren't sunken in, she IS caring for them ... she's just a lot faster and more sneaky than you can account for

of course the best thing to do is what you have done so far, watch them grow up and leave them alone as much as possible ... it won't bother them if you take some photos of them in the nest, but try not to lure them out of the nest or handle them more than you have to - and you also have to be careful that YOU aren't leading a predator to their nest either

the one you have there looks really healthy and happy, I hope to see more photos of this little guy and his brothers and sisters in your gallery as they grow up, thanks for sharing them with us on dA

Chris

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LadyAragorn91 [2008-08-04 23:42:08 +0000 UTC]

This is a wild bunny right?!
If he'she is thanks of you this bunny will die because it have your scent on its fur and mother of this bunny will not feed him/her and this animal'll die!

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