Bunnies
 Ask yourself a few questions before deciding if you should step in.
1) Are any of them injured? Blood, cuts, missing patches of fur?
2) Does it run from you when you try to contain it?
3) Is it about the size of a baseball with upright ears?
4) Has it been caught by a pet and in their mouth?

ANSWERS
1) If there are visible injuries you should ALWAYS call us.
2) If a cottontail bunny is able to run from you then it is likely able to care for itself and does not need any assistance. Keep your pets inside and give it time to move on or hide.
3) Baby bunnies become independent at a surprisingly young age. At about 4 to 5 weeks of age they no longer need assistance from mom. Any baby that is still in the nest, eyes closed and laid back ears will still need mothers assistance.
4) Any baby bunny that has been inside a pets mouth-dog or cat-should come in for treatment. Bunnies have delicate skin that tears easily and can go unnoticed under their fur. Cats have a large amount of bacteria in their saliva that can quickly prove fatal to a bunny. 
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If it seems like you’re seeing rabbits everywhere these days, you’re not imagining it! Rabbit mating season usually runs from March through September and these are the times when people stumble upon nests of baby bunnies. Here are some cottontail facts you may not know:
  • Bunnies are considered crepuscular, this means that they are most active during dusk and dawn. 
  • Mother cottontails do not stay with their babies like most mammals, they only visit 2 times a day when predators are least active. It is a rare occurrence to catch a bunny near her nest or feeding her young.
  • Bunnies make their nest where you would least expect it, usually in an open field, in a flower bed or in tall grasses.
  • Their nests are simple, shallow depressions with fur and dried grasses covering them. 
  • Baby cottontails are born without a scent and often go unnoticed by pets and predators!
  • Cottontails have babies every 28 days. This means that their litters grow extremely fast before they go off to make a new nest and have more babies.  Sometimes older babies will continue to use the nest long after mommy has moved on with a new litter.
What do you do if you find a nest? Do the babies need assistance from a human? Keep reading to find out!
Q: What can I do if I don't think mom is coming back? 
A: You can perform an X-Test over the entrance or on the actual nest. This is basically an "x" or tic-tac-toe pattern made with string or sticks to allow you to visually see if mom has visited. In dry conditions, a ring of baking flour can be poured in a circle around the nest. If it has not been disturbed after 14 hours, call us!
Q: I read that I can just move the nest outside the yard and mom will find them.
A: This CANNOT be done! Bunnies are born scentless so predators don't find them. This means that mom also will not be able to find them if moved, even if it is close. They remember their location of the nest by a type of GPS system. Consider if your family was to move (even if it was a few houses over) while you were at work. You would come home to an empty house and not even consider that they moved a few houses down. 

Q: My dog dug up the nest, now mom will not come back because there is dog smell around the nest and human smell on the baby because I picked it up. Can you come and get them?
A: As long as the babies are not injured then mom should come back to care for her babies. Mom may have specifically chosen your "dog-smelling" yard for her nest because your dogs keep other predators at bay! A few ways to protect the nest from your dog include:
  • Put a fence around the nest to keep the dogs out but allows mom to get in to feed.
  • Walk your dog on leash until the babies are weaned and out of the nest (5 weeks max).
  • Put something like a milk crate over the nest while your dogs are out and uncover once they go back in.
  • Put lawn equipment over the nest, like a lawn mower or upside down wheel barrow.
Get creative! Send us a picture so we can share the amazing ways #NatureHeros keep babies with mommy.
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