Look closely at what I found while weeding last Sunday -- bunny babies in their nest, crammed into a hole under my balloon flowers. I try to avoid having bunny holes in my garden, but apparently I missed this one! I'll try to rehab my balloon flower after the babies move out. In reality, I'm just waiting until the bunnies are old enough to eat my plants, but awwww...they're so cute right now. Although they hardly move, their tiny noses wiggle non-stop.
Here's what I learned: Eastern cottontails are preyed on by more species than almost any other animal. Their prolific fertility ensures their survival as a species. The mom digs a nest three or four inches deep and about eight inches across in the dirt. It is lined with mouthfuls of soft, dead grass mixed with hair from the mother's breast. A covering of grass and hair is used to hide the nest and keep the young warm and dry. Gestation is 28 to 30 days, with 4-6 young born per litter. Rabbits often have three litters per year.
The young are born blind and without fur, but within a week their eyes are open and by the second week their fur has grown in. If you find a rabbit nest do not disturb the young or the nest. The female only visits the nest early in the morning and then again in the evening, which gives the impression that the babies have been abandoned. Rabbit mothers nurse their babies for approximately 5 minutes a day. Young rabbits develop rapidly and leave the nest when they are about three weeks old.
To encourage rabbits to leave your yard you can use habitat modification - remove brush piles, weed patches, stone piles, and other debris and keep the grass cut short. (Note to self)
Eastern cottontail info is from the WI DNR website and the Illinois DNR website
Update: Sometime in the last few days the babies left their nest. I'll no doubt see them around.
Here's what I learned: Eastern cottontails are preyed on by more species than almost any other animal. Their prolific fertility ensures their survival as a species. The mom digs a nest three or four inches deep and about eight inches across in the dirt. It is lined with mouthfuls of soft, dead grass mixed with hair from the mother's breast. A covering of grass and hair is used to hide the nest and keep the young warm and dry. Gestation is 28 to 30 days, with 4-6 young born per litter. Rabbits often have three litters per year.
The young are born blind and without fur, but within a week their eyes are open and by the second week their fur has grown in. If you find a rabbit nest do not disturb the young or the nest. The female only visits the nest early in the morning and then again in the evening, which gives the impression that the babies have been abandoned. Rabbit mothers nurse their babies for approximately 5 minutes a day. Young rabbits develop rapidly and leave the nest when they are about three weeks old.
To encourage rabbits to leave your yard you can use habitat modification - remove brush piles, weed patches, stone piles, and other debris and keep the grass cut short. (Note to self)
Eastern cottontail info is from the WI DNR website and the Illinois DNR website
Update: Sometime in the last few days the babies left their nest. I'll no doubt see them around.
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