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dmshoes3033

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Location
, Illinois, USA
The other day my dog found a baby bunny. I took it from her and looked around for the nest. I couldn't find it. The bunny was in shock and scared silly. I brought it in and have been trying to keep him warm in a pet taxi I have for my cat. He seems to be doing good. I can't tell how old he is or what kind of care I need to give him at the moment. He is not wild at all. He likes to cuddle under my chin and lay on my chest. Is this normal for a wild rabbit? What do I need to get to make sure this rabbit stays alive? Should I keep it or take it somewhere to help it out? I am planning on letting it go once it seems better. I need some advice and help please.
 
I haven't rehabbed rabbits before, so I will be limited help, but I'll try anyway. Once, my grandma's dog got into a whole nest of cottontails and we had no idea where the mum was. Being that the nest was completely destroyed, we took the bunnies in and kept them in a cardboard box until we knew what we were going to do with them. The babies were not very wild and would even cuddle in our hands. I think they were too little at that point to be afraid.

What color is your little bun? The normal "wild" bunny colors? Brown/gray with white flicky tail? It is possible that the baby is a wild one, just too little or scared to be afraid.

I would look up local wildlife rescues or humane societies. If they are not able to take the bunny in, they can at least point you in the right direction.

I hope some of this information is helpful! :)

Welcome, by the way!
 
kherrmann3 wrote:
I haven't rehabbed rabbits before, so I will be limited help, but I'll try anyway. Once, my grandma's dog got into a whole nest of cottontails and we had no idea where the mum was. Being that the nest was completely destroyed, we took the bunnies in and kept them in a cardboard box until we knew what we were going to do with them. The babies were not very wild and would even cuddle in our hands. I think they were too little at that point to be afraid.

What color is your little bun? The normal "wild" bunny colors? Brown/gray with white flicky tail? It is possible that the baby is a wild one, just too little or scared to be afraid.

I would look up local wildlife rescues or humane societies. If they are not able to take the bunny in, they can at least point you in the right direction.

I hope some of this information is helpful! :)

Welcome, by the way!
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I think it is a he, and he is brown/black with a white underside. I'm sure he is wild, I just wasn't sure what I needed to do to help him get on the right path. He loves to cuddle which I found very odd. Maybe it was because I was his rescuer or something. I will look up numbers and call around today for some places for him to go. One thing I noticed last night was he finally ate something. I gave him some of a carrot and a piece of apple and they have been eaten off of which is great because I was really afraid he wasn't eating.

Thanks for the advice. :)
 
I'm moving this to the RO forum for better help.
Also, I have a cottontail I raised from a very young age. I personally handled it a different way than some of the rehabbers.....
 
OK..... I've moved it and added to the title. Get rid of the apple and carrot. They need hay. Water and hay.... if you can get some pellets that's good too.
 
Bo B Bunny wrote:
OK..... I've moved it and added to the title. Get rid of the apple and carrot. They need hay. Water and hay.... if you can get some pellets that's good too.
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Thank you. Should I give him a chance to let him grow with me or should I find him a place that will take care of his needs? I don't have a problem giving him everything he needs, I just don't know if, when he gets older, if I will beable to keep him because he was wild or how that works.

I will be getting him hay and pellets tomorrow. I have been making sure he was eating lettuce too. I get paid tomorrow so I am going to definately get everything I will need for him. I do have a wired cage but he is so small he could fit through the bars at this point. I know there are different types of hay, which is the best for them? Will he be okay in the pet taxi at this time? I have so many questions. lol If any one can just spout out stuff that I will need to get for him tomorrow that would be great. I have pics of that I could put up if you need to guestimate how old he is.

Thanks for any advice given in advance. :)
 
Actually, I don't think pellets is a good idea, since it's a wild baby bun. Hay, water and some grass and dandelions would be better.

Keep him warm (it's mom would have covered it with fur in the nest),covered, and in a quiet place. I would also check it over for wounds.

There are some sites that give advice on how to deal with wild baby bunnies, and what to do for them. Most advice to bring them to a wildlife rehab though.
If you are planning to release it when it's well, you shouldn't handle it much at all. Mainly just let it calm down, keep it warm and fed, and release it close to where it was found when it's calmed down.

Pictures would be great of course, we all love baby bunnies :)

Many people say wild rabbits don't make good pets, because they never quite loose their "wild streak".
I guess my Hazel never read the wild bunny handbook :). She is a "wild" Western Cottontail, but like Bo's, we kept her because she was too injured to be released. I'm sure that made a difference, we treated her as a pet right from the start. She was also very young, just barely weaned.
Not all will do so well.

 
Ok. So hay, water, grass and dandelions when they bloom.

At this point he is in a pet taxi with a towel to cuddle in and covered with blankets to keep the cold air out. He is in my room which is in the basement so he has lots of quiet down here. I checked him over when I took him from the dog. He had no scratches or broken bones that I could feel or see. He seems to be hopping around okay and eating so those areas are good.

One thing I don't think I made clear before was my dog has a soft mouth. If she did any kind of damage it was digging at him. She gently picked him up and carried him across the yard. I didn't know what she was doing but when she got closer I seen his little legs flopping around. So I ran outside and she had dropped him on the ground and was bathing him. I'm sure the next thing would have been a bite, eventually.

Once I figure out how to put pics in the posts I will post them. He fits in the palm of my hand.

I've been waiting for him to start getting wild again. He is getting a bit fast. lol But he still likes to cuddle under my chin and all curled up in my hair.

Can someone tell me if he still needs milk? I am going to post a pic in a minute.
 
If you post the img it will show the picture.

She/he is so cute Thats all but if it where me i would keep it.
 
Mrs. PBJ wrote:
If you post the img it will show the picture.

She/he is so cute Thats all but if it where me i would keep it. 
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That can be against the law in some places. In most cases it wouldn't be fair to keep it. Sometimes it can't be released but if it can it should.
 
He looks slightly bigger than Hazel was, so I don't think he still needs milk. I gues he's about 4 weeks or so, and already was weaned. Most likely just left the nest, maybe a few days ago (cottontails are weaned very fast!)

If there are no dandelions yet, any greens, like clover or whatever else is green outside, will do. He probably has been eating them already.

You'll have to check your state's laws about keeping him. We kept Hazel because she wouldn't have survived out in the wild. So it can be done, but if you are a first time bunny owner, I would not recommend it.

If you do keep him, you'll have to be prepared to look after him, even if he does turn half-wild at some point. He would not be releasable after living as a pet for some time.

If it is not legal to keep him, you may have trouble finding a vet to treat him, too. It may also be difficult to get him neutered, so you'd have to be prepared to deal with that, too.
 
Yeah, I was winging it when I raised Clover and I made pellet/water/babyfood/replacer milk concoctions that kept her alive but I don't know that it would work for everyone.

My mom raised a litter of 6 or 7 a couple of years before and she raised a chipmunk the same way..... we just do what we think will work...... it's not a good idea to raise them tho.... they need to go out. Clover is still somewhat wild, but she's got a bad leg and was just too imprinted to even think of releasing her.


 
Hazel-Mom wrote:
He looks slightly bigger than Hazel was, so I don't think he still needs milk. I gues he's about 4 weeks or so, and already was weaned. Most likely just left the nest, maybe a few days ago (cottontails are weaned very fast!)

If there are no dandelions yet, any greens, like clover or whatever else is green outside, will do. He probably has been eating them already.

You'll have to check your state's laws about keeping him. We kept Hazel because she wouldn't have survived out in the wild. So it can be done, but if you are a first time bunny owner, I would not recommend it.

If you do keep him, you'll have to be prepared to look after him, even if he does turn half-wild at some point. He would not be releasable after living as a pet for some time.

If it is not legal to keep him, you may have trouble finding a vet to treat him, too. It may also be difficult to get him neutered, so you'd have to be prepared to deal with that, too.
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Poor thing! That's gotta suck just leaving the warm cozy hole in the ground that has kept you safe only to get drooled on and licked by a gianormous dog. I went and got him some hay today. He is starting to become spunky. Which is good. I was really worried he was actually hurt. He has been eating the hay ever since I got it for him. I'm still not sure what I am going to do. I am looking into the state laws to see what I can or can't do. Do they actually turn if they have been fed and cared for by humans?

I have decided that if he is still spunky and raring to go in a few days, I will let him go in a field we have a few blocks away.

Thank you for all your help. :)

 
I'm a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

Please, don't keep this little one. It is a wild bunny and deserves his freedom. There are certainly enough domestic buns (even baby ones) that need home; don't keep the ones that deserve their freedom.

Can you get a weight on him? At 4 weeks old, (anything over 100grams), they are totally self sufficient, so he will be fine on his own.

Please, please..don't try to keep him. There is no reason to.

 
Thank you everyone for the advice. As of this afternoon I let bunny back outside to live his life freely. He had started acting lively and wanting to run free whenever I'd check in on him. Although something odd happened when I came home from work.

I drove up the driveway and parked the car. When I started walking up the sidewalk a rabbit hopped out in front of me. It stood there staring at me. I stopped cuz I didn't want to scare it off. It just stood there looking at me. So I asked it if it wanted its baby back. The rabbit didn't run from me like I thought it would. Every time I stepped it would hop the distance that it was originally away from me. It went around to the front of the house. At that point I decided it was probably bunny's mom and she wanted him back. So I got him out of the cage and took him outside to be with his mother.

Sounds strange yes. But I believe that was his mom and she was asking for her son back. I'm just happy he didn't get too hurt and was back to himself when he was released.

Again. Thanks to everyone that gave advice. :)
 
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