Found bunny nest

Maxy24

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#1
My dad was raking out the garden (not a metal rake, just a plastic one) yesterday and as he was raking he raked up some fur up and thought maybe it was some dead animal, so he kept raking on it, pulling up fur. Then he saw the babies, a little nest of bunnies in our garden. He didn't actually rake any out thank goodness, but he was very upset all the same. We covered them back up as best we could without touching them. One was very unhappy and popped up and down for a few seconds after we covered them.

We love bunnies, we get a litter or two running around the yard every year, but we've never found a nest. So now we're all concerned about them. From what I've read mom only comes by for a few minutes at a time, to feed and leave, to avoid attracting predators. We are worried though, because there was a dead rabbit in the road one house down. My aunt said it's been in the road for a couple of days, it's gone now. So now we're worried that the mother is dead. Is there any way we can be sure mom is coming to take care of the babies? Should we just leave them be and hope for the best? It's just sad because the nest is right in our garden, right outside our kitchen window. So if we leave them we'll end up finding a bunch of dead bunnies and know that we might have been able to do something.

We didn't get a super good look at them because we didn't know if they would get scared to death or something, but they had smooth/flat fur, we think their eyes might have still been closed (not certain though), their ears were held back against their heads. But one was popping up and down.
 

Maxy24

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#3
That would be awesome, thanks! I've read something about putting an X of string over the nest and seeing if it's disturbed in the morning. I could try that but the nest is under some thyme so the X wouldn't be terrible neat to begin with. Then I've read things about getting more invasive....checking for full bellied and pinching to check hydration.
 

milos_mommy

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#4
The string idea is a good one...or try putting a circle of flour/corn starch around the nest/thyme and see if mom's footprints end up in it?
 

Shai

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#6
How old are the babies? If they are very young and are still alive, they probably haven't been orphaned for a couple days already. They wouldn't last that long.
 

JessLough

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#7
If the babies have round bellies, they are still being fed. If they have become thin, no round bellies and have wrinkly skin, then they have not fed in a while. Please do not move them until you are sure that the mother is not coming back and please contact a local wildlife refuge for advice and help before moving them.

Try placing a few small twigs or grass in an X over the babies nest. If you come back later and the X is gone or disturbed, you know she has been. However, please remember that a mother cottontail will only visit the nest twice a day to feed her young and if you are hanging around too much she may be waiting until she knows you are gone before coming.



That is the reply I got from the rescue folks :)
 

Maxy24

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#8
Shortly after posting this I had to head back to school so I didn't know what happened. But my parents saw mommy rabbit at the nest a few times, and then today I saw a baby bunny in the garden so at least one guy is alive, yay!
 

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