Rabbit's nest

[rach]

Hey everyone. I could use some reassurance regarding a rabbit's nest my dog discovered this afternoon! He didn't hurt any of them, and didn't take them out of their nest, but when I got him away from the nest, I noticed that the nest was completely uncovered. There was no fur, leaves or anything on top of the babies. I did a quick check around the nest to see if my dog had gotten the top of the nest off of them, but didn't see anything. Long story short, it's now pouring outside and I'm worried that the babies are freezing and wet, and that I should have looked a little harder for the top of the nest. Do nests always have coverings over the babies, or is that sometimes missing when the nest is under lots of shrubs and low-lying plants?

A few weeks ago my dog found another nest and so I spent 4 weeks having to leash 3 dogs every time they went out to the yard for a pee, not looking forward to that again but I guess it's that or dead babies!

I put some strings on top of the nest to see if the mom would come back but I'm still worried about them getting cold.

[Chris_W]

Hi Rach,

I saw your question last night and I'm sorry but I have no idea if the baby bunnies need to be covered or not. Whenever I've seen nests like that the mother rabbit was usually covering the babies, even when it was raining, but maybe she would cover them herself when she was gone.

Wish I could help more.

Chris

[nanny_56]

The ones I have seen were not covered...but not really sure either.

[govgirl75]

We have had both covered and uncovered. We have had several that were made in little dips in the lawn. There was no structure at all. Others were closer to the retaining wall or house foundation. Those were dug out only a little bit and the depression lined with fur and a little grass. For us, the big thing was to look carefully while mowing so we didn't accidentally run over the nest.
I think your bunnies will be fine as long as you keep the dog and any kitties away. Once they find the nest, they seem to remember where it is and revisit it.
Good luck with the bunnies.
Glo

[lazygardner]

Whatever happens, remember you are not to blame for what happens to those bunnies. I know you care about them and want them to live, but if ALL the baby bunnies in the world survived.... we would all be butt deep in bunny wabbits. If the babies don't make it, hopefully the mama bun will put her next nest in a more secluded spot away from the reach of curious puppies. And there WILL be another nest. Just know that you can only do the best you can.

[Annie]

Actually they are covered. Rabbits use hair and weeds to cover them. But it isn't anything that would stop rain from getting into the nest. I have no idea how those lil sapsucker survive out there but as you see they can LOL.

How big were the babies? They might be ready to leave the nest anyway. They are petty little when they leave too!
I have a baby that lives right up against my house LOL. He is tiny! But as far as being out of the nest he/she is well on it's way living all alone

[rach]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The babies were bald at the time I started this thread, so they were pretty young. Some animal messed with the nest 2 days ago and got to one of the bunnies and left him there to die. Not sure what kind of an animal does that, and then leaves the dying baby by the nest rather than taking it with them. I re-covered the others and am hoping the mom is still coming for them (put strings over the nest to check, but if some other animal is messing up the nest I guess I won't know if mom is the one coming to feed them). They now have fur but are still pretty small so I'm guessing another 2-3 weeks before they leave. I'll have to come up with some kind of bunny deterrent to keep moms from making their nests here so that my dogs and I can actually enjoy the yard this summer.

[Spider]

Either a raccon or a skunk (or a weasle - ok, can't remember, lol) will tear an animal apart and leave the corpse to rot. Something was hopping the fence and killing my ducklings, I think it was a fox because it only left a few pieces.