So I wake up this morning, take the dog out, and do my daily check-up of the rabbits. Mother rabbit? Check. Baby rabbits... hmm. Their nest is still full of fur so it's hard to tell. I don't see any moving inside, so I keep watching for a few seconds. Oh no, I hope they didn't die! Maybe they're still sleeping?
Then I look over to my left a bit and a bundle of pink catches my eye. It's four baby bunnies on the ground about six feet away from their cage!!
I run over, start counting and sure enough, there are only four. Just last night I counted six, so I know two are still missing. Luckily, they're not far away, but since my yard is on a hill, it appears they fell out of the wire cage and rolled a bit. Those poor things!
I ran inside to grab a plastic bag (so I didn't get my scent on them) and used it as a glove to gently pick them all back up, one by one, and place them back into their mother's care.
The mother seemed to take them back OK, and the babies scooted themselves back over to her to feed. Phew!
I'm still wondering how they got out. Their nest box wasn't turned over. The holes on the bottom of their cage are way too small for them to fit through. They had to have either climbed over to the sides and through the larger holes, or -- God forbid -- been pushed out by the mother. Either way is scary.
So I'm going to try to keep an eye on them as much as I can today while I work (I work from home). I guess one good thing about living in the 'burbs is the limit on predators. I've seen racoons in the yard before, but luckily, nothing ate those babies.
I'm going to read up on how common this is, and what to do about abandonment, if that's the issue. Has anyone else had this happen to them?
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