We have chipmunk babies, Phoebe babies, robin babies, ..and ... Dirk, our Schnoodle, discovered we also have rabbit babies. He discovered the litter of bunnies and killed one of them before I could get to him. Thank goodness for good old Google... I read online what to do in case a dog or cat discovers a nest of bunnies.
1. Cover the babies back up with leaves so no other predators discover them. 2. Make an x shape with pine straw to make sure the mother rabbit comes back to nurse the babies. 3. Try to keep the dog or cat from repeating the attack. We have an E collar... which is a corrective collar for Dirk to wear... it gives him a little shock or gives off a horrible noise the dog hates.....only when or if.. you press a button. Thankfully it has a remote that works from 25 feet away.
The mother bunny only comes for three different 5 minute periods a day... to nurse the babies. She sits on top of the nest..and they nurse. That is all they need. Five quick minutes... Just three times a day... Amazing, isn't it? She does this super fast nursing session with amazingly fattening milk so predators aren't attracted to her babies. Cool design, huh?
Here she is grooming herself..and her babies as they nurse.
Here is Dirk (on the bridge) with his E-collar on. For the next few weeks, he only goes out..if he is wearing the collar. You can see from the expression on his face that his chasing days are over for awhile..and he isn't too happy about that.
I had to remove the bunny that Dirk killed. I had hoped he made it, but the unfortunate smell told me he didn't. I was afraid that the smell would attract another predator (raccoon, rat, opposum)..so I removed the baby that passed away. ..and quickly took a photo of the other babies. This will be the only photo from the nest..as I don't want to accidently attract a predator. I covered them back up with leaves..and took these photos so you could see where they are in my backyard.
They are right behind the solar light..right off the lawn. See if you can find the nest in all of the photos.
Tomorrow? Oh, I will be putting up bunny-fencing around my vegetable garden... The proud parents have made my veggies to resemble mostly sticks in the ground... I can't have that.. They can eat my flowers, but they must leave my veggies alone... But I do love seeing these little fuzzy bottoms hopping around my backyard!
Psalm 104:24- 25
24 How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.
I am so bummed, for some reason the pictures are not coming up for me on this specific post and they sound like they are really cute ones! I will continue to try.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask you if you have a garden, because you, like me, feed the birds as well. I've found that the bird seed that spills from my feeders (from Birds and squirrels) attracts chipmunks as well and the chipmunks and probably rabbits are eating some of my early shoots in the garden. Because I haven't fenced in my garden yet, I feel like I may have to choose between feeding the birds and having a garden. Do you have any helpful suggestions? I've heard of placing hair clippings around the garden and fake snakes... I may try that again. But the garden has a chipmunk home right next to it. :(
BTW... We rescued a large snapping turtle laying upside down just off the curb of a road today. I tried to text you to see if you knew of a place we could let it go, but I think I have your home # as your cell, so it failed. I'll get your cell number soon. I placed it in some nearby woods and put some strawberries in front of it to much on. The poor thing was in shock, and never left the inside of the shell. It was alive though.
Chipmunks as well as squirrels, and rabbits, I mean. :)
ReplyDeleteThe chipmunks eat seeds, but not my garden. They will eat from my bird feeders but they haven't messed with my garden a bit. Private email me.. RNRPATE@bellsouth.net and I will give you my new cell phone number. I would have lvoed to see the snapping turtle. I am so glad you found him. I can tell you how to tell if it was a boy or a girl..when we talk. I re-loaded the photos.. let me know if you can see them now. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! I see them. How precious!!! I just love the beauty God's reveals in springtime.
ReplyDelete