I always thought that if my no inhibitions, crazy, 20-something alter ego ever took over she might just go to the bunny ranch…this however is not the bunny ranch I had in mind…
STUPID CUTE!
My mosquito planter had some casualties from the heat wave last week & as I was pruning up the dead pieces & digging around, getting ready to plant some new citronella plants, I heard a loud “SQUEAK!”. WTF?! I threw down the Dora shovel & jumped back. I honestly thought Lucy had buried a squeaker toy in my pot. On closer inspection however I noticed a little twitching nose…and then two noses! At this point I hurried Sophie inside & ran to get P. He gave me the look of “What now, I’m kind of in the middle of working…” to which I said “Oh trust me buddy, you’re gonna want to see this!”
Here’s what happened next…
Of course being the intelligent adults we are we knew where to turn for answers…twitter. And yes, you guys confirmed P’s hunch, they were absolutely, positively baby bunnies. About a week old we’re guessing. Google told us to cover the nest back up & lay some strings in a pattern on top, this way if the mother comes back to nurse them (she only nurses once every 24hrs) we’ll know by the strings being moved. No moved strings & you’ve got yourself some orphans. Is it terrible that part of me was wishing, “Please be orphans, please be orphans, I want to buy a tiny baby bottle, please, please please!”
The string test just didn’t seem full proof enough so we also decided to set up our motion sensor nanny cam & at around 1:44 am it captured this video. Sorry, it’s really grainy like a crappy convenient store surveillance video because, well, it is a crappy surveillance video.
That beady eyed blur in the top right is big mama bunny. She popped in, nursed the young-ins & was on her way 5 minutes later. What a life huh? Maybe someone should write a new baby book, “Bunny Mom: In & Out Parenting”
Of course I just can’t stay away from the nest, it’s right by my back door for Pete’s sake, it’s like cute little animal torture. I poked around in it once earlier today & quickly got a phone call from P,
“Stay away from the bunnies.”
Me: “Whaaaaa? What are you talking about??”
P: “The nanny cam emailed me that there was motion.”
Me: “Oh. But they neeeeed me!”
P: “Nope, they don’t.”
Me: “Hmph.”
Once they get a little older we do have the predicament of how will they get in & out of a flower pot that’s 2 feet off the ground? We read that they start exploring around the nest in the next week or two. Last thing I want is to have to fashion a tiny little bunny cast on a teeny tiny hind leg.
Ok, that’s a lie.
I would love make a teeny bunny cast & nurture it back to health. We’ll have an unspoken bond & every Spring she’ll come back to see me & give birth to future little grandchildren bunnies. Sigh.
All that to say Bunny Watch 2012 has officially begun! If you know anything about finding bunny nests please leave a comment below and let me know what to do!!
Adorable!! i just found a birds nest while trimming one of our trees but your bunny nest definitely trumps that … I would be tempted also to be “bunny-momma” 🙂 and the nanny cam …. hilarious!
Those are cotton tail bunnies , we have lots around here. They are very cute indeed. In fact last week my daughters friend caught one , tiny one, we made her bring it back. They are left to fend for themselves a lot and tend to be solitary animals a lot of the time.
Perhaps you could dig a hole to place the pot into so that when they do start to explore they don’t take a fall. It is very strange that the bunny gave birth in your pot , normally it is ground level. We had a nest under our bunkie last summer. The momma should still be able to find them.
Have fun with that.
That’s a good idea…except to get to ground level I’d have to take the pot off the deck and then would she have trouble finding it??
Just move the pot about an inch or two a day to the location off the deck. It isn’t drastic and the momma bunny can still find the pot if you move slowly.
Aren’t they super cute?! My husband found a nest in our front yard while he was cutting the grass(!!) and thankfully didnt run them over. They were actually gone pretty quickly, maybe 5 days or so? Not really sure if that’s how it works or we neglected them too much or what 🙁 I like to think they hopped their little selves to the more beautiful yard across the street.
Oh MaH Gerd! I am soooo jealous! LOL. I had a full grown bunny hanging around outside my window this spring. Through much googling (2 hours googling bunnies? why not?) I found out that the mother will hang nearby during the day. She does only pop in once a night to feed them but she keeps and eye out during the day.
I could see her out my window for about 3-4 days but i never did see the nest.
Have fun with them! And I think a tiny bunny cast would be the ultimate diy!
Ohmygosh, we could mod podge the little cast!
We found a similar bunny nest in our flower bed (we live in Maryland). It was our dog that actually found them. There was a hole in the ground that had at least 5 bunnies in it. At first the bunnys’ eyes weren’t even open and they didn’t defend themselves at all. One night I sat on the couch and I heard super loud squeaking. I thought my husband was stepping on my dog’s squeaker toy. I finally went outside to find my dog holding a bunny in his mouth, shaking his head violently back and forth. After a couple of days, we would see the bunnies wandering around a little and now finally, they have moved into our neighbor’s yard – probably to protect themselves from our dog. They grow fast and are super cute.
Aww, was the bunny your dog got ok??
I hope it survived without too much brain damage! I don’t know for sure.
Dont touch them with your hands! Mamma rabbit will smell your scent and kill them. We raise bunnies and this happens all the time if we touch them.
I do not have any bunny anecdotes of my own to contribute BUT I had to let you know that I was seriously laughing out loud at your getting busted by the nanny cam! I was laughing to the point of tears picturing your (obviously neon) bunny cast that will spark your lifelong relationship with your little princess bunny. Sounds like the basis of a children’s book!!
I loooveeee bunnies!!!!! This was the best post ever!
I had heard about the scent thing forever too but recently learned that it’s an old wives tale and not true.
Ok when I was in high school we had two pet rabbits and u know the expression multiplying like rabbits.. It’s for real! So the first set of babies came then a few weeks later two babies and the original mom had babies the same exact day, that was a problem. A mom will abandon babies if she can’t tell which ones are hers and they all had them so close. So they were all abandoned 🙁 we eye droppered them milk… So stinking cute! We had 26!!! It was crazy! Since they were pets we found them all homes, but seriously they r the cutest! I will say they look at least a week or maybe even 2 cause when ours were brand new they were soooo pink and runty, and we’re much smaller
I can’t wait to see all of your updates!
JEALOUS!
This super cute. Hope to see more pictures! Lucky you!
Hi Natasha….I was going to post the same thing that Taylor posted….bunnies (or rabbits) multiply SO fast, so you may start to see more and more around your yard. 🙂 I have some friends who raise them here and that have documented how fast those animals can breed. Good luck! They are super cute!
Hi Natasha!
A few years ago I had to nurse baby bunnies. My father ran over the nest with the lawn mower and Momma wouldn’t come back. I did my research and fed them goat milk out of a dropper. They were so cute and thrived. When it came to introducing them to grass, we did it slowly. However, when it was time for them to be released, only one survived. (and he actually broke his leg so I had to make a cast and bring him back in until he was better; so funny you mentioned that!). The rest didn’t survive because we had chemically treated grass and didn’t realize that the young rabbits couldn’t handle it, especially since they didn’t have their mothers milk to build their immune system. So, if you have chemically treated grass be careful! You might want to stop treating it and water it to try and dilute the chemicals before they start exploring. Good luck with the little ones and enjoy watching them!
Oh my gosh! You’re so lucky!! I just love that you have a bunny cam! Best wishes with your new deck guests 🙂
how random to be in a pot and not in the ground! and weird. yet cute. I’m interested to see how this unfolds.
and your nanny cam?! haha. I guess I don’t have to worry about that with grandmas coming to watch my daughter 🙂
Hey Natasha! I’ve followed your blog for so long, but I think this is the first time I’ve commented. Hmmm… I love your blog though!!!
Anyways, I’m always finding nests of these babies in my yard in the summertime. Unfortunately, I have a dog that doesn’t like to leave them alone! I also grew up in the country (GA to be exact) where we would find tons of nests of cottontail bunnies in our yard every summer, and my mother is actually a wildlife rehabilitator. And from experience, let me tell you that these bunnies are extremely hard to take care of. Very few make it in the wild, and when you try to care for them on your own, their chance of survival drops tremendously. So they are super cute to look at, but don’t go much beyond that! You can however, move them 10 ft from their original spot and the mother will find them. Just make sure you use some of their original nest when you make the new one. And the scent thing, is an old wives tale.
Hope you have better luck with these bunnies than I ever did!
Ahhh, I love when you lurkers pop out & say hi!
I’ve done a bunch of reading online since we found the nest and everyone seems to say the same thing you do. In fact they seem like they might the worse possible orphans to rehabilitate. We waited 36+hrs for the mom to return (we set up our motion activated nanny cam) & she never came back. ):
I’m not even naming them because I know they’ve got some crappy odds but since they seem to be about 2-3 weeks I’m hopeful with our help maybe a couple can make it. 3 of the 4 are taking the bottle well…the runt not so much. Say a little prayer! I’m putting up an update post now…
Thanks for the comment, and send along any advice from your mom!
It’s always unfortunate when Momma rabbit doesn’t return, and obviously you CAN’T let them remain orphans! 🙂 If they’re already moving about pretty good, and starting to explore, you can go ahead and start offering clover, some cut up apple, and even some dry oatmeal. Sometimes they do better on food than KMR, but definitely try to find a wildlife rehabilitator in your area. Good luck with them!
oh my gosh I couldnt stop laughing while i read this!!! I read it to my husband and he said”oh good grief, sounds just like you!!!”
Well, you sound like a very smart, caring, gentle yet firm, inciteful, beautiful young lady. (;
Yeah let’s just go with that 😉 Keep up the awesome posts, ive been following you (hate that phrase…sounds”stalker-ish lol) for a couple of years now, and Im always reading them to my husband and recommending you to friends and family. We have 2 girls also, almost 3 and just turned 1 so I can relate to alot! Anyway,thanks for your honesty and creativity!!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for being such a dedicated reader. ALthough I’ll take ‘stalker/follower’ too…those people are pretty darn committed. No pun intended. (;