Just want to mention something that happened today and a few things I learned from reading wild rabbit rescue sites on the Internet.

My mom was outside gardening when she heard splashing in the fish pool. It was a tiny wild rabbit that had fallen in and couldn't get out. She fished it out with a net, and the tiny rabbit, at first not breathing, did begin to breathe. It was soaked. I took it inside, dried it off, put it in a cardboard box and watched it as it (understandably) cowered in fear under a newspaper.

I went online to read about wild rabbit rescue, and the curious thing is this bunny should have been in a nest--but it wasn't. Maybe it's a vigorous bunny--or maybe it was time for it to go out on its own. Wild rabbits are weaned (according to what I read) at 3-4 weeks, domestic rabbits at about 6, and jackrabbits much later--9, I think.

Even more interesting, however, was the fact that wild rabbit mothers only feed their young in the nest at night--and only once a night for about five minutes. That's VERY rich milk!

Also, I liked reading that the term for when rabbits give birth is 'kindling'--I hadn't known that, for some odd reason. There was a phrase, "After kindling, the mother leaves the kits."

I'd really like to adopt this little bunny, but I suppose it should go free. It's been hiding under a butterfly bush for about two hours now, and, given the fact that the mother might still be feeding it, I guess I better leave it there overnight even though I'm very worried an owl or a black snake might get it.

In case I cannot bear the thought of that little brown rabbit with a small white blaze on its forehead staying out all night, I will in a few minutes drive up to the country store to buy some canned pumpkin, which, according to information on one web page, is something that wild rabbits might take a little nibble of--in the middle of the night.

If you're worried, you could always bring it in, and bring it to the SPCA tomorrow. They'll make sure it gets to somebody who raises wild animals and sets them free.

Yes, bel', I had thought to try to get in touch with an animal rescue team, but from what I read on the Internet, usually the best course is to return the rabbits to where their nests might be and the mother rabbit would most likely find them when she returned for the night feeding. Since this rabbit appeared to be healthy (other than its near-drowning episode), I returned it:

I took a couple of blurred shots of the little rabbit, and put him in the shrubbery by the pool, believe it or not, because I saw another one of the kits hop out from there yesterday evening. I figured the nest must be close by with two kits in the same area. Since wild rabbits apparently wean their young so early, perhaps these kits were ready to go out on their own. The little one I had would fit in my hand, but it was very fast in finding hiding places in my bedroom. This morning I checked around the pool and saw no sign of rabbits, so I do hope they are as safe as young rabbits in the wild can be.

I also liked reading yesterday that wild rabbits are crepuscular. You don't get to use that word often.

I got the picture, WW, and I'll try to get it posted soon. either tonight or certainly tomorrow. cute bunny!

Oh, thanks, et'! I'm sorry the photos I took were so blurred. Drat.

here he is!

http://www.rogergrow.com/image/ThomasDaleandtheRabbit.jpg

Well, the wild bunny (it takes one to know one) seems bright-eyed (at least on his port side) if somewhat distracted, but Thomas Dale ( who perhaps resented being used for scale) seems withdrawn.

That said, ( I hate it when people say "that said") whatever happened to the wild bunny?

And, given the unreliablilty of the turtle as an indication of scale, where is the meter stick?

How cute.

Is that a live turtle beside the bunny?

Faldage, I don't have a meter stick. The tortoise shell is just a tortoise shell of fairly typical size (I'm in trouble now!)...in that, when you're driving around the countryside and you see a tortoise crossing the road, it's usually about the size of maybe two tennis balls. This shell is a little smaller than two tennis balls lengthwise, and it's the shell, bel', of a tortoise now long gone.

Saturday night: While sitting in outside at dusk and stroking the little bunny, I spotted a sister or brother bunny hop out from the pool of water. I took the little bunny upstairs, shot a few pictures of it, and then released it outside by the pool where its brother or sister was waiting in the brush.

Didn't I write all that already above?

Anyway, I haven't seen the little ones since Saturday night, but we have seen a large brown rabbit feeding in clover all about the pool. I wish I could adopt all of the rabbits around here in order to keep them away from the owls and blacksnakes.