Possibly Abandoned Wild Rabbits

[Texan]

Hi, I realize this is a forum for house rabbits, however any help I could get would be appreciated…

1-2 weeks ago I saw a rabbit making a nest in my backyard. We have seen this particular rabbit for 1-2 years, as it is easy to identify her because she is missing half of her right ear. We have a large backyard, and a wooded area behind our yard. She has been staying in and around our yard every day ever since she built the nest. However, about 2 days ago, we have not seen her at all. Last evening I went to check on the nest and found about half of the nest uncovered, with two baby bunnies visible inside. Now this morning I went out and checked it again, and the whole nest has been basically uncovered, and I can see 5 baby rabbits inside.

Now, I am not sure if they uncovered the nest themselves, or if the mother hopefully did it. I did a pinch test to see if they seemed dehydrated and one of the bunnies appears to be, but one other bunny doesn’t seem quite as bad.

Video of pinching them: Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dHxQ9nCy7Q&feature=youtu.be

There are wildlife rehabilitators around my area, but I don’t want to remove them from the nest if there’s still a good chance the mother may be alive and caring for them. Any thoughts?

[LongEaredLions]

Mother rabbits are very cautious of their babies, and only return once or twice a day for short times to feed them. She tries to minimize the time spent there, as if a predator sees her they could discover the babies. Mom bunnies will also not return if there are predators around. I would leave them unless they look severely underfed/watered, but call the rehabber though and see what they recommend.
They are very cute. Good Luck!

[Texan]

Thanks for your reply! We called a rehabber who agreed it’s suspicious that the mother suddenly seemed to dissapear. She recommended we leave them be for the night and put twigs over the nest and see if they have been disturbed in the morning.

I went out to put the twigs over the nest and there were at least 6 baby bunnies half out of the nest, however they kinda scurried back in when I started putting the twigs over it. Hopefully they will stay in there!

If the nest seems undisturbed in the morning we will go ahead and get them to a rehabber ASAP.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I was just going to chime in and say they are almost never abandoned-mom just is almost never there. Literally thousands of baby bunnies are brought into vets and rehab places every year by well meaning people but they are in all likelihood fine. You can likely tell if their tummies are round and they look healthy. It would be very apparent if they were abandoned. I would keep an eye (not too close! Mom needs to feel safe to return) and let them be.

The same happens with fawns; people see an abandoned baby deer, but mom has left the baby to do -I dunno mom things! The mom comes back, and the fawn will wait for her.

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/wbb.shtml

http://rabbit.org/faq-orphaned-baby-bunnies/

[Texan]

Well, I decided to just leave them be, and I am extremely thankful I did! Went out about 10 minutes ago and the mother rabbit is back and all six babies are out of the nest huddled together in the flower bed.

Thanks for the advice.

[LongEaredLions]

Yay!

[CheriB603]

Same thing happens with “abandoned” kittens. Hubby is a vet and lots of well meaning people will find very young kittens all alone under a porch or bush and think they are abandoned when in reality Mom probably just went to hunt some dinner.

[Katscarpena]

So glad the mother’s around! We raised 4 cottontails last year after a kind of mini “flash flood” in our yard destroyed the nest. They were literally freezing- shivering and soaking wet, all muddy. Then we heard a neighbor had hit and killed one – pretty sure it was mom. We did have success – they were right about weened, but it was crazy! They were so tiny, and honestly we all cried releasing them 6 weeks later.

[Author]

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