pileoftrashley
New Member
Apologies in advance--this is going to be a long post. There's a lot of information that I'm not sure is necessary or not, but I'm including anyway. I'm not even sure if this is the right place to ask this. I'm a little desperate.
Alright, so here's the story. My neighbor's cat found what we think is a rabbit nest in some shrubs in our backyard. She's grabbed the smaller of the two baby rabbits twice today and brings it to the neighbors, who then bring it to us (they also think the nest is in our backyard). The little guy doesn't appear to be injured (no blood, weirdly angled limbs, etc.). From what I've researched so far from different sources, the best thing to do seems to be to reconstruct the nest and put the bunny back, which I did (at least tried to). I also did what another source recommended and put a wheelbarrow over where I think the nest is with room for the mom to go in. The mom apparently feeds them twice a day--once in the morning and once in the evening. It's 2pm where I live right now, so we're watching to see if the mom shows up. Everything I've read so far has said not to do anything else with the rabbits, just to put them back in their nest, but I'm just afraid the cat will come back and get under the wheelbarrow. I'm also afraid I already messed up, because I handled one of the babies. I'm hoping my scent doesn't scare the mom away, because from what I've read, these babies cannot be separated from her. They can't survive without her feeding them.
Sorry this is so long, I just don't know what else to do? We're kind of just keeping an eye on the nest area for now. Again, we're not even sure that's where the nest is. I only guessed it was because the second baby rabbit's been there the whole time. However, we don't know if that's just where the cat chased them and now their too scared to go back to their actual nest.
The plan right now is to watch and see if the mom comes back. If she hasn't come back by tomorrow, I'm not sure what to do next. I don't know how long we should wait before we take the babies to a wildlife care center. One source I read said to wait a day and check if the babies are getting fed by checking the pinkness of their bellies, but I don't want to handle the bunnies any more than I already have.
Both bunnies have to be at least 10 days old, because their eyes are open and their coats are grown in. They're just small. One can fit in the palm of your hand. I'm guessing they haven't been weaned off their mom yet, but that's just another thing I'm not sure about. I live in an urban area of Washington State, so the two possible species are either Eastern Cottontail rabbit or Snowshoe hare.
Sorry, I don't have any pictures. Everything happened pretty fast and I wanted to do the least amount of handling possible. I guess my main goal of making this post was to get any other tips y'all might have on the situation. Like how long should I wait before I take the babies to a wildlife care center? I really don't want to separate them from their mom, but it might come down to it.
Thanks in advance.
Alright, so here's the story. My neighbor's cat found what we think is a rabbit nest in some shrubs in our backyard. She's grabbed the smaller of the two baby rabbits twice today and brings it to the neighbors, who then bring it to us (they also think the nest is in our backyard). The little guy doesn't appear to be injured (no blood, weirdly angled limbs, etc.). From what I've researched so far from different sources, the best thing to do seems to be to reconstruct the nest and put the bunny back, which I did (at least tried to). I also did what another source recommended and put a wheelbarrow over where I think the nest is with room for the mom to go in. The mom apparently feeds them twice a day--once in the morning and once in the evening. It's 2pm where I live right now, so we're watching to see if the mom shows up. Everything I've read so far has said not to do anything else with the rabbits, just to put them back in their nest, but I'm just afraid the cat will come back and get under the wheelbarrow. I'm also afraid I already messed up, because I handled one of the babies. I'm hoping my scent doesn't scare the mom away, because from what I've read, these babies cannot be separated from her. They can't survive without her feeding them.
Sorry this is so long, I just don't know what else to do? We're kind of just keeping an eye on the nest area for now. Again, we're not even sure that's where the nest is. I only guessed it was because the second baby rabbit's been there the whole time. However, we don't know if that's just where the cat chased them and now their too scared to go back to their actual nest.
The plan right now is to watch and see if the mom comes back. If she hasn't come back by tomorrow, I'm not sure what to do next. I don't know how long we should wait before we take the babies to a wildlife care center. One source I read said to wait a day and check if the babies are getting fed by checking the pinkness of their bellies, but I don't want to handle the bunnies any more than I already have.
Both bunnies have to be at least 10 days old, because their eyes are open and their coats are grown in. They're just small. One can fit in the palm of your hand. I'm guessing they haven't been weaned off their mom yet, but that's just another thing I'm not sure about. I live in an urban area of Washington State, so the two possible species are either Eastern Cottontail rabbit or Snowshoe hare.
Sorry, I don't have any pictures. Everything happened pretty fast and I wanted to do the least amount of handling possible. I guess my main goal of making this post was to get any other tips y'all might have on the situation. Like how long should I wait before I take the babies to a wildlife care center? I really don't want to separate them from their mom, but it might come down to it.
Thanks in advance.
