Baby Rabbit

kiphorn · Apr 17, 2004

I was out spraying liquid sevin around the perimeter of my house to control the critters. I was spraying the ground when suddenly the ground moved.

Lo and behold I just debugged a baby rabbit. I figured if I didn't clean it off, it would probably die from the pesticide. But then I was worried after I cleaned it, if it would survive and if the mother would take it back. My well water is extremely cold so I dried him off after I rinsed him off.

So I cleaned him off and now I'm wondering what to do with the little guy.

Do you think I should hold on to him and feed him for a couple of days until I'm sure he's OK? What should I feed him. He's about 4-6 inches long. He wasn't in a nest so he's old enough to be out and about.

My wife and 5 year old son will be devistated if I killed this little bunny.

Kip

GerardC · Apr 17, 2004

Call animal control. They'll tell you what to do.

RichZ · Apr 17, 2004

Kip, rabbits are on their own when they are still quite small. A rabbit the size you describe was probably already living on his own. If he didn't absorb the pesticide into his system, he'll be ok. Let's hope you got it off of him before his skin absorbed it.

Just release him near where you found him, if the area doesn't have too much pesticde in it. If not, release him somehwere that's clean.

Junkman · Apr 17, 2004

Take him for a ride to some place where he will find food that is not contaminated and hope for the best. If you want to keep it as a pet, get a good quality rabbit pellet and give it water in a dish. I don't recommend keeping wild animals, but I have known people that have domesticated wild rabbits and kept them as pets. They are cute, but they also can do a job on your flowers and garden later in life. I suggest the ride as the best and humane situation.

kiphorn · Apr 18, 2004

Well, we cleaned him up and dried him off as quick as possible. My son, Kyle, named him Fluffy and thought we should keep him. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

After several tries, I was able to speak to the Local Emergency Vet Clinic and a local person that takes in displaced wild animals.

Both thought that the little guy was old enough to be on his own and that after cleaning him up that he should be OK. It was reccommended that we release him as soon as possible to keep the stress level as low as possoble on the him.

After a few minutes of crying /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Kyle and I walked Fluffy out into the woods and set him down. After about an hour he was gone. So I guess he I didn't kill him.

Later that night my wife made me go out with a flash light to make sure he was gone. No Fluffy. That's a good thing because if he was still there I would have had to get up at sunrise to check again and then if Fluffy had passed away, get him out of there before the wife and Kyle saw him.

Thanks for the comments.

Kip

DocHeb · Apr 18, 2004

Boy, you were lucky - usually the naming means you have a new pet.

riptides · Apr 18, 2004

You did the right thing by letting it go.

Rabbits live a darn LONG time, and somehow, well.... in my household, the parents are the care givers.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Mike Z.

chucko · Apr 19, 2004

plant a graden for him

RHughes · Apr 20, 2004

You're lucky!
A couple of years ago my wife found a nest in one of her flower beds. The bunnies didn't get sprayed, but after a day and a half, the doe had not returned. We tried in vain to raise them but they only survived a three or four days. These didn't have their eyes open and were only about 2-3" long.
From everything we were able to gather, baby rabbits are extremely fragile.

Bird · Apr 20, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( From everything we were able to gather, baby rabbits are extremely fragile. )</font>

That's a fact for both domestic and wild rabbits. The author of one book I bought when I started raising rabbits said they're born "looking for a way to die." /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif He said commercial rabbit raisers expect about a 25% mortality rate among the babies. And of course mother rabbits are just about the worst animal there is when it comes to caring for the babies. If a baby rabbit gets out of the nest, the mother will not put it back; they never pick up a baby like a lot of other animals do. And they do get out of the nest, sometimes under their own power and sometimes when nursing, the mother decides to leave the nest, hops out with one still attached to a teat, so she jerks it right out of the nest, and it's doomed unless you find it and put it back.