Talos wouldn't come inside this morning, which is odd, because breakfast is served after the first pee break of the day. I called and called – nothing. I poked my head around the corner and I see Talos rearing up like a horse, then down on the ground in a play bow. This goes on for a couple seconds and I realize he's got some sort of wildlife trapped out there and he's playing with it.
I'm thinking "snake," which just makes my skin crawl, but I throw some shoes on anyway, thinking that I've got to get Talos out of there before the snake latches onto Talos' lip and won't let go. When I get there, I don't see anything. Nothing.
Then I see a big, fat frog in a hole. Except the frog has itty bitty ears. And fur. And is the cutest thing ever. I realize that frogs don't have ears, nor are they cute, and then it dawns on me: this is a baby bunny!
Thank god he's still alive (I don't know how Talos' big paws managed to avoid his little fragile body). I took Talos inside and came back out to figure out what to do with the little one. He's cuter than cute and more than once I thought about just bringing him in and clicker training him.
Knowing the little guy couldn't stay in our backyard, I relocated him to the shed where I figured he'd come from anyway. Then it was back in the house to get ready for the day.
I let the dogs out about an hour later and notice Talos back down by the same spot. When I went to check, there's another bunny, just as little, just as cute. I relocated him under the shed as well. The dogs are still awfully curious at the original bunny-spot so I lean in for a closer look. Oh good lord, there's another bunny. It's an entire nest of bunnies! There were four total.
Mama bunny had dug a grapefruit-sized hole and all four of those little bunnies fit in there as if they were puzzle pieces. I took all the nesting material I could carry, the other two bunnies, and relocated the entire lot under the shed.
Please don't write and tell me I killed all the bunnies by moving them. They would have been inside a dog's stomach if I didn't move them. I'm hopeful they'll survive, as I moved the entire nest with them and it's only about eight feet from their original nesting spot. Apparently Mama bunny will come back a dusk for a feeding – she should be able to catch the scent of their new nest.
What a sweet story!! I love the photos! 🙂
Glad you relocated them! Let us know how Mama Bunny does with the new location, and how the lil bunnies are later on too.
You did exactly the right thing!
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html
Sorry if that link doesn’t work.. just type in moving a rabbit nest into yahoo search and it should be the first article that pops up (from the house rabbit society)…says to do exactly what you did! Hope that makes you feel better about it.
Emily – thank you!!The link works just fine if you leave off that last slash. It’s a great article, thanks for posting it here. I will take a peek at the entry hole under the shed to see if Mama has moved all the nesting material to somewhere a little farther under the shed. They are the cutest things EVER!
Oh my gosh, bravo for you not to take one to clicker train it. I’m not sure I could have resisted. SO cute! But I’m sure happier where they are.
They were super cute. They weren’t big enough to either be afraid or maybe they just weren’t old enough to move quickly. But it was REALLY hard putting them under the shed and not in a shoebox in my house!! 🙂