Help Needed! I just disturbed a wild rabbit nest with my lawnmower!

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sunny & the 5 egg layers

sunny & the 5 egg layers

Crowing
8 Years
Mar 29, 2011
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I was just mowing a portion of my property that I havent mowed in a while. The weeds were about 2 feet high. All of a sudden little baby bunnies started running out of the grass.
I have determined these bunnies are about 2 weeks old. I searched around my property and I gathered up 5 of them. One of them I knicked with the lawnmower and it is bleeding from its foot.

How do I go about releasing these guys back into the wild? Should I recreate the nest with weeds in the same spot I found them? Also will the mother reject the bunny with the sore foot? I'm going to put peroxide on his foot to clean it out.

Thank you!
 
Peroxide should not usually be used on deep wounds but it's better then nothing, antibacterial ointment might be better.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html


Quote:

Sources: Caring for Cricket - What Not To Do When You Find a Wild Baby Bunny by Julie Smith and Handout by Midwest Exotic Animal Hospital, and additional wild bunny info by M. Wilson (HRS educator and rehabber).
 
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Thank you for the information!

I cleaned the cut with peroxide, it wasn't too deep so I think he will be just fine. I made a new nest for all 5 kits and I just put them inside it. It is only feet away from the old one so mom should be able to find them.
smile.png


Here are some pictures!

Dipping the foot in peroxide:











Thanks again for your help.
 
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This morning I went to check on them and the nest doesn't look disturbed at all, and I found a baby a couple feet away from the nest. I don't think the mom ever came back to feed her babies last night. Does it sound that way to you too?
 
The mother feeds the bunnies only for 3-4 weeks. These could be weaned because they have their fur coat and seem pretty alert. Also, I read mothers only feed their young at midnight and can do so without disturbing the nest.
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html
How Do I Know If the Baby Bunnies Need Help?​

Very young wild baby bunnies with eyes closed and ears back rarely survive in captivity, even given the most expert human care; and so it is very important to determine whether they really need help. Try to assess whether the infants seem warm and healthy or cold, thin, and dehydrated. One test for dehydration is to gently pinch the loose skin at the back of the neck. If it stays in a "tent," or does not spring back in one second, the bunny is SEVERELY dehydrated and needs rehabilitation IMMEDIATELY by a professional rabbit vet or rehabber. Another test is to stroke the genital area to stimulate elimination. If the pee is brown and gritty, the mother rabbit has not been there to help the bunnies urinate. The brown, gritty urine is toxic, and the infant bunny must be cared for by a professional. Please contact a Wildlife Rehabilitator or rabbit vet immediately.

Older baby bunnies who are found outside of the nest may not be orphaned or in need of assistance. Baby cottontails are born without fur but develop a full coat in a week. Their eyes open in 10 days, and in three to four weeks they are weaned. At this age, they may explore the world outside of the nest but return there to sleep. They are not ignored by the mother but stay with the family group until four or five weeks of age. To determine whether a bunny of this age needs assistance, perform the dehydration test. Also look for bleeding, convulsing, fly larvae, broken limbs; if any, get to a rabbit vet or emergency vet immediately. If he is just out and about, leave him be. He is discovering his world, waiting for mom to return at night when we humans are asleep.
 

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