birdlover
Well-Known Member
What is that expression: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?
I don't expect sympathy, believe me. I have been keeping an unneutered male in a small upstairs bathroom off my bedroom. I never intended to keep him at all but he was residing under our balcony and when the huge blizzard arrived just before Christmas, I brought him in. (It's a whole other long story). So my four pet buns live in my laundry room - a neutered male, his girl friend and two daughters (not by him - she arrived preggy and I didn't know it - that's the fool me once part). Well, I let them out to hop around the house every day and they've gotten really good about going back in the laundry room to do their business! (sorry - off topic) I started letting the upstairs bun out into my bedroom for exercise and, one time, ONE TIME, I forgot to shut the door when I was in the bedroom and one of the daughters (now 6 months old) snuck in unbeknownst to me. I left the bedroom and shut the door, locking the two of them together. You know where I'm going with this, don't you??!!
Okay, she had 5 babies yesterday in a corner of the laundry room. It wasn't a surprise really. She'd been making her nest for several days and, yesterday, she tore a bunch of her fur out. Sure enough, the next time I looked, the fur was wiggling and there they were. Go on! Kick me! Kick me hard!!!
One of the babies was not doing well at all. It was wrinkly, cold and the fur had stuck to him. I cleaned him off best I could and snuggled him between the other four. I haven't seen him today. WILL THE MOTHER RABBIT EAT ONE THAT'S DEAD because I can't find it anywhere amongst the nest material.
I know it's a no no but I am letting nature take it's course. I have not isolated mother and babies and the main reason is we have 3 feet of snow on the ground and I can't get under my balcony to get the dog crate. I have a folding dog fence just outside our sliding glass doors but it is frozen solid in ice. I can't budge it. I have no where else to move her or the other three but I have been keeping a solid watch on what's going on and they all seem to be adjusting fine. The other two girls (grandmother and sister) go over and snif the nest periodically as well as the mom and she goes over the most to check on them. Here is the interesting thing. I was probing around in the nest material trying to find the baby I think is dead and GRANDmother ran over and attacked my hand! The first time I thought I was imagining it but she did it again when I ignored her. I thought that was really interesting that the grandmother protected the nest and not the mother. Does anybody know if this is typical behavior?
The four bunnies are all different colors: 1 black, 1 chocolate, 1 blue and 1 light reddish brown. I'll try to get pictures when they're just a little older. Thank you for letting me share my tale of woe with you. I have no idea what I am going to do now. Sorry this is so long.
Ellen (aka birdlover)
I don't expect sympathy, believe me. I have been keeping an unneutered male in a small upstairs bathroom off my bedroom. I never intended to keep him at all but he was residing under our balcony and when the huge blizzard arrived just before Christmas, I brought him in. (It's a whole other long story). So my four pet buns live in my laundry room - a neutered male, his girl friend and two daughters (not by him - she arrived preggy and I didn't know it - that's the fool me once part). Well, I let them out to hop around the house every day and they've gotten really good about going back in the laundry room to do their business! (sorry - off topic) I started letting the upstairs bun out into my bedroom for exercise and, one time, ONE TIME, I forgot to shut the door when I was in the bedroom and one of the daughters (now 6 months old) snuck in unbeknownst to me. I left the bedroom and shut the door, locking the two of them together. You know where I'm going with this, don't you??!!
Okay, she had 5 babies yesterday in a corner of the laundry room. It wasn't a surprise really. She'd been making her nest for several days and, yesterday, she tore a bunch of her fur out. Sure enough, the next time I looked, the fur was wiggling and there they were. Go on! Kick me! Kick me hard!!!
One of the babies was not doing well at all. It was wrinkly, cold and the fur had stuck to him. I cleaned him off best I could and snuggled him between the other four. I haven't seen him today. WILL THE MOTHER RABBIT EAT ONE THAT'S DEAD because I can't find it anywhere amongst the nest material.
I know it's a no no but I am letting nature take it's course. I have not isolated mother and babies and the main reason is we have 3 feet of snow on the ground and I can't get under my balcony to get the dog crate. I have a folding dog fence just outside our sliding glass doors but it is frozen solid in ice. I can't budge it. I have no where else to move her or the other three but I have been keeping a solid watch on what's going on and they all seem to be adjusting fine. The other two girls (grandmother and sister) go over and snif the nest periodically as well as the mom and she goes over the most to check on them. Here is the interesting thing. I was probing around in the nest material trying to find the baby I think is dead and GRANDmother ran over and attacked my hand! The first time I thought I was imagining it but she did it again when I ignored her. I thought that was really interesting that the grandmother protected the nest and not the mother. Does anybody know if this is typical behavior?
The four bunnies are all different colors: 1 black, 1 chocolate, 1 blue and 1 light reddish brown. I'll try to get pictures when they're just a little older. Thank you for letting me share my tale of woe with you. I have no idea what I am going to do now. Sorry this is so long.
Ellen (aka birdlover)
