Baby rabbits in our backyard

[Joyius]

So a mother rabbit decided that our fenced in backyard is the perfect place to put her baby rabbits.

Baby rabbits

I had gone out this morning and saw Hemi chase momma away from her nest, so I went to go look to make sure the babies were alright, I had known they were there two days before, on thursday, cause Hemi had chased momma away and I had gone to see what she had been sniffing and looking at when she had, and saw a pink little thing wriggling its way back in!!! Anyways, this morning the nest was uncovered, and the babies had wiggle back in, except one of them promptly jumped out, so I had to pick it up and place it carefully back in, making sure to rub my hand over the other babies. The little thing fell asleep in my hand, I thought I would die from the cuteness. I packed the drygrass and fur mixture momma had placed over the den enterance. Step-dad placed a plastic, propped up grate over the den earlier today to keep Hemi from bothering the babies. I also put a grass x marker on the den, make sure mom hasn't abandoned them. Anything more I can do?

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

well, I'm not expert or anything, but the best I can suggest is that whenever you let your dog out to do whatever, SUPERVISE! don't let the dog go out on his/her own..Sadly, I've had my own experience with that, I had a little pet rabbit named Gizmo & for the first almost year of her life she was kept inside (we had gotten her around July 4th '12). Eventually, we moved her into an enclosure that we had built outside ourselves, well, one night sometime around June, I had gone outside to feed her & one of our neighbor's dogs had managed to jump into the pen & had killed her.

Now, I realize that these are not pet rabbits, but still the warning is the same, don't assume that your dog will not hurt either mamma or one of the babies (I don't mean to imply you would mind you

[strawbabies]

I'd take the dog outside on a leash to make sure he can't hurt them. My dogs are generally very loving, but I've seen them chase cats out of the yard and once kill a mole. I wouldn't trust them with rabbits.

[Seanette]

Can't blame the dog for wanting to hunt, since they're predators by nature, and nature is nowhere near the pretty happy Disney fantasy a lot of people seem to think it is.

I'd still keep the dog leashed while the baby bunnies who can't escape from a predator are there, though.

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

well no, I was really implying that it would be the dog's fault, you're right dogs are hunters by nature. We have 2 Min-Pins (who by the way, are rat dogs by nature, that's what they are bred for same as a pomeranian is) ,1 is a full blood, the other is a mix. We also have a pet piggy, so whenever I have Piggy out of her cage we don't leave the dogs alone with her & if I'm holding her & the dogs get too aggressive towards her, it's back in the cage she goes

Supervision is the key element here

[Joyius]

I found one of the baby rabbits outside the nest this morning, it was cold but still alive, I put it back in with it siblings, what else can I do?

I found out why that one had been left in the cold: Mom rabbit mistook it for the dead one

[Sapphire Silk]

Generally speaking you should not touch baby rabbits (wild ones anyway) because the stress can literally kill them. You don't need to spread your scent over all them to make mom accept them. Mama Rabbit will take care of her babies no matter what if still alive.

You just need to make sure whatever you have to keep the dog out doesn't keep HER out.

And I would not let the dog roam unsupervised until the babies grow up.

Copper (Evil Empryss's dog) killed at least one baby bunny a few weeks ago. I wrote about it back in May.

[MoonCat]

Here is a quote from the humane society website:

"Baby rabbits leave the nest when they're 3 weeks old and about the size of a chipmunk. If you find a chipmunk-sized but fully-furred rabbit with eyes open, ears erect, and the ability to hop, she is meant to be on her own. As small and helpless as she may look, she's not an orphan and doesn't need your help."

Just FYI. Pretty soon they should be moving on.