Baby Rabbit

CurlyVonda

My husband was mowing the lawn and ran across a mother rabbit's hole with 4 babies.....she is long gone. Does anyone know of any kind of animal society that will come to pick them up? I live in Henderson, NC. I can't seem to find anything online and the animal shelter is closed. I did manage to catch one that was trying to get in my dryer shoot in the back of my house.

Nomomush

We had the same thing happen. We couldn't find any place that would take them.

So we tried to nurse them back ourselves but only one lived.

PoshTaush

Hey Ms. Vonda...

I just saw your post and after doing some quick research for you, found the number to "Henderson Sherriff's office Animal Enforcement". I'm not sure if they will come and pick up the bunnies, but they may be able to put you in contact with someone who could??

The number is 697-4911


Also, if that doesn't work, try the animal shelter.... 697-4723 (They definitely don't do pickups, but may be able to refer you to someone as well..)

Last case scenario I can think of is trying to call some local Vet's offices. They more than likely won't be able to take them in either, but I used to be a receptionist at a vet and we had all kinds of contact numbers for things like this.

Hope this helps... poor baby bunnies!

Sincerely,

Tausha

abra526

Rabbits are very finicky and hard to keep alive, especially babies. You might contact your local humane society. I know here we have a wild animal rehabilitation organization. If there is a similar one in your area, the humane society could probably tell you. Good luck!

PoshTaush

Oh wait,,... EVEN BETTER.....


The Hendersonville Humane Society number is : 828-685-7107

hroush

How do you know she is gone? If he's out there mowing, of course she isn't going to be around. Did you touch any of the babies or the nest? If you didn't she will probably come back and take care of them herself. Also, how big were they? If they were longer than 5 inches sitting, they are probably old enough to take care of themselves.

I raised domestic rabbits all my life, but we were only ever to successfully raise 1 wild rabbit.

CurlyVonda

I couldn't get any answers anywhere and I did touch the one that was trying to get into my dryer exhaust in the back of my house. The others just ran or hopped off in different directions.....LOL! They are really small, and their eyes are barely open. I don't know why she made her whole so shallow....three of them didn't make it when my hubby went over them with the mower....so sad :sad: We did bury them. I hope the mother finds the two that are left.

CurlyVonda

Posh.....I live in Henderson, NC.....not Hendersonville. I did use your information though.

hroush

Wild rabbits' eyes are open at birth. If they were old enough to run away from you, then they are probably old enough to fend for themselves. My guess is that the mower spooked the three and they tried to run. If your soil is packed or has a lot of clay it may have also been difficult for her to dig. With domestic rabbits, you could wean them at about a month if you wanted to, but we usually leave them with the mom for about 6 weeks.

rileysowner

My husband was mowing the lawn and ran across a mother rabbit's hole with 4 babies.....she is long gone. Does anyone know of any kind of animal society that will come to pick them up? I live in Henderson, NC. I can't seem to find anything online and the animal shelter is closed. I did manage to catch one that was trying to get in my dryer shoot in the back of my house.

Wild rabbits leave their young completely alone for the majority of the day only returning to feed them. If you could have left them in the nest the mother would probably return at night to feed them. We raise rabbits and hand feeding them is very difficult we had a doe die and had to do so once. They cannot tolerate cow milk, so you need to use goat milk or the like and since it is such a struggle to feed them you need to do it several times a day since they don't consume enough. Basically if you find a nest seemingly abandoned leave it alone as that is how cotton tail rabbits raise their young.

CurlyVonda

No, I did let it go after my husband had finished cutting the grass. Hopefully it is back with it's mother. The nest is empty.

hroush

My husband was mowing the lawn and ran across a mother rabbit's hole with 4 babies.....she is long gone. Does anyone know of any kind of animal society that will come to pick them up? I live in Henderson, NC. I can't seem to find anything online and the animal shelter is closed. I did manage to catch one that was trying to get in my dryer shoot in the back of my house.

Wild rabbits leave their young completely alone for the majority of the day only returning to feed them. If you could have left them in the nest the mother would probably return at night to feed them. We raise rabbits and hand feeding them is very difficult we had a doe die and had to do so once. They cannot tolerate cow milk, so you need to use goat milk or the like and since it is such a struggle to feed them you need to do it several times a day since they don't consume enough. Basically if you find a nest seemingly abandoned leave it alone as that is how cotton tail rabbits raise their young.

What we'll do if one of our does dies is adopt her babies onto another mother with about the same age young. What you do is put baby powder on all of the babies and on the mother. We have never had problems with this. If there aren't any of equivalent age, you can take a mother that has older young and put her on the babies that lost their mom. What we would do is keep the babies in a small gerbil carrier, put them in a box just bigger that the new mom, and then put the doe on top. We just feed them once a night without issues. We usually didn't have any problems with the does either as the babies will quickly begin to smell like her, but we would sit there with the box on our lap just in case.

rileysowner

My husband was mowing the lawn and ran across a mother rabbit's hole with 4 babies.....she is long gone. Does anyone know of any kind of animal society that will come to pick them up? I live in Henderson, NC. I can't seem to find anything online and the animal shelter is closed. I did manage to catch one that was trying to get in my dryer shoot in the back of my house.

Wild rabbits leave their young completely alone for the majority of the day only returning to feed them. If you could have left them in the nest the mother would probably return at night to feed them. We raise rabbits and hand feeding them is very difficult we had a doe die and had to do so once. They cannot tolerate cow milk, so you need to use goat milk or the like and since it is such a struggle to feed them you need to do it several times a day since they don't consume enough. Basically if you find a nest seemingly abandoned leave it alone as that is how cotton tail rabbits raise their young.

What we'll do if one of our does dies is adopt her babies onto another mother with about the same age young. What you do is put baby powder on all of the babies and on the mother. We have never had problems with this. If there aren't any of equivalent age, you can take a mother that has older young and put her on the babies that lost their mom. What we would do is keep the babies in a small gerbil carrier, put them in a box just bigger that the new mom, and then put the doe on top. We just feed them once a night without issues. We usually didn't have any problems with the does either as the babies will quickly begin to smell like her, but we would sit there with the box on our lap just in case.

We do the same thing, and have fostered baby cotton tails to some does in our rabbitry as well. We do that with kits from does that have large littlers sometimes as well. The only reason we had to bottle feed was because we rescued a doe (two actually) and one was pregnant. When she had the babies she started declining and eventually died a little after they opened their eyes. They still needed to be fed, so since we didn't have other does with young, we got to do the bottle thing. The ones who survived were the friendliest bunnies we have ever had who all went to homes where their new owners are very happy with them.