Our upstairs neighbors mowed our lawn today, and I noticed there was grey fur and hair all over the place, so I went and looked to see if they had run over something. They had actually mowed right over (over, not on!) a little hole with baby bunnies inside! I guess that explains why there are bunnies next to my car every day when I get up.
The babies are OK, but we’ve mowed over some of the fur and stuff that was protecting them - should I do anything, or leave them alone? (I did gently replace the grass I moved when I discovered them and was careful not to touch).
Is it ok to feed the adults? They’re eating weeds and stuff that are out there, but is it all right to leave them offerings of spinach or carrots? Any thing to be wary of?
I’m somewhat of an animal lover, so I’d like to make sure that our transgression doesn’t hurt the group. Besides which, they’re very nice animals. They let me get quite close (the adults, that is - the babies don’t move around too much in their den!) and I don’t have any garden plants to worry about.
Your friend got off lucky; often this ends in a gruesome way when the rabbits decide it’s time to leave the nest when the mower is right above. Just leave what’s left of the nest alone, and stay away from it. The danger is not that “your scent gets on the babies and the parents reject them”, it’s a matter of “you being around the nest scares the piss out of the mom and she bails permanently”. So just leave it alone. You might even stop mowing around it for a couple feet until they’re gone, just let the weeds grow right there.
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You can feed them if you really want to, cabbage or carrots works fine, but honestly: you don’t need to feed rabbits, there is no shortage of them. They are doing just fine as is.
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Ames? Seriously? And you are concerned about helping the rabbits?
Jeez man! We’ve got rabbits coming out of our ears! Everyone has a rabbit den in the backyard. There are more rabbits than people in Ames!
Of course I’ll agree that they are very cute. But I can’t put out food for rabbits. It would be too much like baiting a trap to lure little cute bunnies into our cat’s range.
We had a mamma bunny that my parents took to calling DumbBunny because she always had her babies in the same place which was well known to the neighborhood cats and god knows which other predators. Many mornings we woke up to find a darling little bunny head, with the remainder neatly munched off, awaiting us on the porch.
I wouldn’t worry overmuch about the nest. They’ll probably be back to raise those bunnies, probably to some other gruesome end. Given their breeding habits, I think that losses are just part of the checks and balances that keep your neighborhood bunny population from becoming alarming.
Watch your dogs, too, if you have any. One of my dogs discovered a rabbit den in my parents’ yard a couple of weeks ago, and a mommy rabbit and her babies scattered in all directions. All except one baby, who Guinness gently placed in his mouth, and carried into the house.
Sure, I remember that. That referred, I think, to a large burrow, though. Little handful-o-babies dens were called “scrapes,” if I recall. Frith in a barn, that was a long time ago.
I know. It’s one thing to generalize, though, and another to look at tiny baby rabbits staring helplessly up at you when you discover them. Besides which, I like that the rabbits are always in my yard each morning and they’re very sociable. They don’t seem to run away from me much anymore.
