Aww poor baby sounds a little lost! Do you see a nest around somewhere? Normally I think you’re supposed to leave wild bunnies alone because their mother comes back periodically to check on them. But I say if it is all alone and hasn’t eaten in days and no other bunnies in sight… I’d take them in because I wouldn’t want it to starve and be all alone!

Here is an FAQ about orphaned rabbits from HRS’ website: http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html

Maybe it can help you a little? And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try to leave it some water. I don’t know how long it takes for dehydration to happen. Someone else here might know more .  Can you tell if it maybe leaves at night and comes back during the day?

Ooh poor thing ♥
I guess you could always leave a shallow bowl of ice cubes + water out?
The most important thing is that the lil guy stays hydrated.. I think :b
looking forward to the updates (:

Do you have any wildlife rescues or shleters in your area??? If the bunny is that small, could it still be nursing?? In which case, a bowl of water may not help because it won’t know what to do with it!! I had a similar situation a couple of springs ago and was able to bottle feed the baby KMR (recommended by the wildlife rescue) for a couple days until the rescue could take it (they are inundated with baby bunnies in the spring). But they gave me all kinds of help as to figuring out if it was abdoned!! Other than feeding it, the told me to keep it in a large box with shredded paper and small towels or blankets and to keep the top of the box covered with a sheet. Good luck!!!!!!!!

I also know that in the wild, momma bun usually only deals with the babies at night – very cautious as to not alert predators to the nest.

You may also try a wildlife rehab or zoo (even the small local ones are good with this!!).

As for KMR (my bad) – it’s kitten milk replacement, what you would bottle feed orpahned kittens. You can usually find it, as well a nursing bottles, at most pet stores. It comes in liquid or powder that you have to mix (similar to human baby formula).

I wish you were closer, we have a wonderful wildlife rehab about 10 mins from my house. It comes in quite handy!!!!!

I just did a search of “wildlife rescues in Ohio” and got back several listings!! Not sure what part of Ohio you are in, but you might want to give it a try!!!!
Also thinking that in the wild, lots of momma’s will push babies out if the are sick or not ‘normal’. They can sense these things and do not want to put energy into a baby that is not healthy. I know this sounds cruel, but you have to remember, it’s about survival in the wild.

You are definately not weird – I was out in the middle of the night sitting hidden behind a bush, watching the nest for momma to come!!!!!
That’s beyond weird!!!!!!! Definately is cute!!! Bigger than the one I dealt with – it still had the slicked back hair look, not fluffy yet! I’m going to check to see if my wildlife place has a website that could be beneficial. If not, would you want their phone number?? They at least may be able to offer you some temporary help and/or someplace closer that could help?!?!?!?!?!

I’m glad you found momma!! Now I don’t have to worry about you stalking the neighborhood tonight either!!!!! Yea, you definately know when you find a nest – looks like a big bird’s nest all nicely lined with momma’s hair to keep the little ones cozy!! I tried getting on my wildlife place’s website, but keep getting an error message!! Don’t know hwat that’s about!! But if you want to give them a call, it’s Willowbrook Wildlife Center. Their number in 630-942-6200. I think, but don’t quote me, that they only answer during weekdays, like 8-5!!!!!

Yay! I’m glad you found the mother! Baby probably just likes to wander off to your bush .

Glad you found Mom too. There’s also advice in FAQ section at this site on wild rabbits. HOWEVER, I’m not convinced that it is a wild rabbit…
I emailed KatnipCrzy who has some experience with cotton tails. She may be able to assist.

To me it has that agouti colouring which the wild rabbits have – that domestic rabbits can have too. Do you see what looks like a tiny white blaze on the forhead? I think it’s a domestic feral…it’s hard to tell with the babies though.

Oh right! I didn’t know the wild ones had that blaze…obviously it disappears as they grow.  It was one of the reasons I though it wasn’t wild. Oops!  Geesh – when it rains, it pours bunnies round your place!
I hit the alert on this thread as they’re as some CL’s online now.

Wild Cottontails are like domesticated rabbits in the fact that they only feed there babies a few times per day- so it often seems as though a baby cottontail is abandoned when in fact they are not.  If they are scurrying out of the nest- they are old enough to be on their own.  If they can forage on their own- they are OK without Momma bunny.  If that was a pic of the baby- then it is old enough to be alone (and big enough).  Cottontails are typically a more petite build than our house bunnies and are quite thin.

As I am sure most of you know- Cottontails are different animals than our domesticated rabbits- and can not breed to each other- but they do have similarities in the sensitivity of their gut- and they are hard to raise from babies as one day they will be fine and they next will be dead.  I had about 50-75% mortality when raising them- which is heartbreaking.  That is one of the reasons I won’t rehab them anymore- I get heartbroken, it is a lot of work, and I would hate to bring in soem type of lice, mite or fleas that could affect my bunnies.

Everyone always loves the second pic of the baby Cottontails with the colored blazes- I used a paint pen to color their white blaze in- so that I could tell how well each bunny was eating.  Most Cottontails lose the white blaze completely as they grow older.  And that is a real piece of fur that they are snuggling on.  HSUS (Humane Society of the US) takes in old fur coats as donations and then sends them to wildlife rehabbers to be used with raising orphaned babies.  So that is a piece of rabbit fur from a old coat.  But as sad as that is- many of the coats are very old and people will donate them and get a tax write off- so at least these coats go to a better cause in the end- cut up and used for orphaned animals.  It is funny when we get a box in to see how “outdated” to coats are- and half of them look like old ladies weighing about 80lbs wore them- because the coats are so small.

Oh that’s interesting about the blaze!!

I’ve *never* seen baby wild rabbits, but I can totally understand thinking they must be abandoned and need rescuing-I was talking with the wildlife group here in Edmonton and they get hundreds of phone calls about orphaned baby jackrabbits-who in fact are not orphaned I am sure I’d have to fight the strong urge to ‘rescue’ them and take them home

Well now that it appears this wild one is actually ok…I can now say how teeny tiny cute it is!   I mean don’t you just want to ‘rescue’ it so that you can keep it?!! 

Katnip – amazing photos!  I learnt something new today.  Cottontails have a white blaze on their forehead when they’re born.   And they come in fluoro colours – j/k. Wish my agouti had a fluoro blaze!

OOO Can you take some pics of mummy bunny too???? How lovely to be able to watch this so close to home xx On utube a bloke rescued a bunny and then let it go into the wild and it kept coming back to where he was when it was grown up. They might stay around you so you could watch the baby grow up xx

Thanks for the great info Katnip!!!! The little guy I rescued couldn’t have been much older than the ones you pictured – maybe slightly bigger and eyes were open! We live in a very wooded and secluded type area, so we tend to have lots of wildlife scurrying around!!! Thinking more about it, the nest was stumbled upon (literally) by some young kids and the parents were concerned momma would not come back, hence the covert spying!!!! The wildlife rescue had me checking them in the twide a day to see if the seemed dehydrated (looking for tenting of the skin). First 2 days seemed good, on the 3rd am, only 1 baby left in the nest and bits and pieces of baby and momma scattered nearby !! That’s obviously when we pulled the little stinker!! Always felt really bad that maybe my scent had attracted the predator!!!

On a happy note, I do wish you would send that color coding gene down to our Illinois cottontails!! We would have such a beautiful neighborhood!!! HeeHeeHee!!!!!!!!!!!

Arrr yes that would be lovely, maybe if you had time and wanted to we could have a picture diary of baby growing up and mummy etc xxx