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Baby rabbits with no mother. What to do?

Mexbearpig

Mexbearpig

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 26, 2008
1,138
1
Here
Okay so my chiahuahua was digging in my mothers garden and dug up 2 baby rabbits. I mean small, theyre eyes arent even open. So while he was sniffing and being cute, then my bigger dog noticed them. Being a medium sized dog he picked one up in his mouth. Though before he could hurt him I yanked his collar and held him back. So I got the dogs in the house. So now we have two baby rabbits, with no mom, in a hole in our backyard. So we put them in a cardboard box with dirt, on the side of our house. Is there anything else we can do?
 
dukebound85 said:
why do you not think the mom is around again??

id put them back in the nest

the mom is around, trust me. they dont stay with their young all the time. the nest is hidden where the babies hide till they come back

read this

http://www.animalconnectiontx.org/wildrabbits.htm
Click to expand...

We dont know that the mother isnt around. But my dog is aggresive. And the nest is in plain sight so we had to move them. Unless we can somehow shield them somehow.
 
Mexbearpig said:
We dont know that the mother isnt around. But my dog is aggresive. And the nest is in plain sight so we had to move them. Unless we can somehow shield them somehow.
Click to expand...

well, id put them back and rebuild the nest somewhat

you dont want the mother to abandon them as a result of them not being there

can you keep an eye on the dog in the mean time?
 
just teach your dogs not to mess with the rabbits. We have a ton of wild rabbits around my house and i trained my dog (who is very territorial, he barks at animals several houses down) not to bother the rabbits. It took a while, but now when he sees a rabbit he doesnt even tense up, he just watches it until it hides somewhere.
 
Mexbearpig said:
Okay so my chiahuahua was digging in my mothers garden and dug up 2 baby rabbits. I mean small, theyre eyes arent even open. So while he was sniffing and being cute, then my bigger dog noticed them. Being a medium sized dog he picked one up in his mouth. Though before he could hurt him I yanked his collar and held him back. So I got the dogs in the house. So now we have two baby rabbits, with no mom, in a hole in our backyard. So we put them in a cardboard box with dirt, on the side of our house. Is there anything else we can do?
Click to expand...

Callous as this may sound, if you keep them inside away from their mother (which was somewhere outside and knows where the nest is/was), the problem is likely to resolve itself soon enough.
 
Speaking from someone that just lost 3 baby rabbits, the one that was picked up is a goner (as sad as it is). once another scent on them, the mother will not care for them.

We have a small mound in the backyard where we buried the 3, 3 days consecutively. :(
 
NT1440 said:
Speaking from someone that just lost 3 baby rabbits, the one that was picked up is a goner (as sad as it is). once another scent on them, the mother will not care for them.

We have a small mound in the backyard where we buried the 3, 3 days consecutively. :(
Click to expand...

That's sad - were they pets, or wild? Or both?
 
NT1440 said:
Speaking from someone that just lost 3 baby rabbits, the one that was picked up is a goner (as sad as it is). once another scent on them, the mother will not care for them.

We have a small mound in the backyard where we buried the 3, 3 days consecutively. :(
Click to expand...

thats not what the link i posted said in regards to scents
 
NT1440 said:
Speaking from someone that just lost 3 baby rabbits, the one that was picked up is a goner (as sad as it is). once another scent on them, the mother will not care for them.

We have a small mound in the backyard where we buried the 3, 3 days consecutively. :(
Click to expand...

Well we never fully held them in our hands. My sister petted one for a second. Then we used a garden shovel and slipped them on a piece of cardboard. then put them in a dirt filled cardboard box. And as the person above me said, the link says they wont leave them. So....
 
Oh, tough decision. I'm not a vet or have much knowledge of bunnies, but I know that mom is not always around. I'd rebuild the nest and put them back, as like dukebound85 said. You can check on them daily. Only take them to a vet as a last resort. Reading this was interesting.

Good luck to you and the bunnies. :)
 
Tomorrow said:
Callous as this may sound, if you keep them inside away from their mother (which was somewhere outside and knows where the nest is/was), the problem is likely to resolve itself soon enough.
Click to expand...

Not callous, but humane. Best thing at this point would be to euthanize them. Unlikely mom will have anything to do with them if the nest is in that bad of shape.

spencers said:
Rabbit jerkey :confused:
Click to expand...

Wouldn't be worth risking tularemia.
 
For now we have the in the box right on the destroyed nest. We might take it out to let our dogs run around a bit. But we will leave it out at night and in the morning.
 
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