This week while moving mulch to my flower bed I discoved we had dug up a rabbit's nest in my very large mulch pile. It seems the mother rabbit dug pretty deep down into the mulch to make a nice nest for the babies. We sheered off the front half of the mulch pile shoveling it away and made her nest exposed and hard for her to care for the babies properly. When she would feed the babies they would fall out and couldn't find their way back into the nest. It's hard to see in this picture but the hole is right in the middle.
Each morning when I go out to open the barns up I walk past this mulch pile. On this morning I noticed something squirming around on the ground, my first thought was yuck rats! With further examination I see that it is 3 baby rabbits. I had always heard not to touch them or the mother wouldn't take them back. I have no idea if this is true, but in any case I didn't touch them with my hands. Even though I would have loved to!
They couldn't have been more than a couple of days old, their eyes are still closed and they can't move around much. I knew they needed to get back into the nest since our nights are still getting pretty cold and our dog would love to find them.
So I got my garden spade and scooped them up. I held them up to the rabbit hole, they sniffed around at the hair in the nest and climb right in. This is what I've been doing for 3 mornings now. The mommy feeds them, they fall out, I put them back.
Today was a little different, they now have their eyes open and have grown so fast! Today they were scared of me, but I still managed to get them back in the nest. I bet this will be the last time I get to help them. I count it a blessing being able to do this simple little act of kindness even for only a few days. It's never a dull moment around here. Now stay out of my garden little bunnies.
The Life of every living thing is in his hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:10
Awww, how cute! Don't worry, it's a myth that a mother animal will reject her babies if humans handle them.
ReplyDeleteOh there lovely .. What a grt job you are doing helping Mommy take care of them!
ReplyDeleteThat whole thing about not touching wild babies is a myth, whether birds or rabbits. It's just meant to keep little kids away from them.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/babybird.asp
LOVE!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! What a sweet thing to do.
ReplyDeleteWe found one lone baby in some straw in the barnyard last year. It was no bigger than one of my chickens' eggs! We never saw the mom, but that tiny thing grew up so fast! He/she moved under the goat shed at some point and, as rabbits do, now has babies. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, what a sweet story! I know rabbits can be pesky in the garden, but they are also very cute! Hopefully after everything you've done for them they won't eat your lettuce!
ReplyDelete