What to do with 5 baby bunny's? Help quick please!?

I was working in my flower garden yesterday and found 5 baby bunnies. It doesn%26#039;t look like the momma came back last night or this morning. Their little eyes aren%26#039;t even open yet. What should I do?

What to do with 5 baby bunny%26#039;s? Help quick please!?
Put them back where you found them!





According to the House Rabbit Society:





%26quot;Many people mean well when they contact HRS after discovering an %26quot;abandoned%26quot; nest of wild rabbits. Often they wish to %26quot;rehabilitate%26quot; them with some advice from others. The reality is fewer than 10% of orphaned rabbits survive a week, and the care that people attempt to provide can be illegal, unnecessary, and potentially harmful. The best thing you can do is put the bunny right back where you found him, in the general area, as the Mom will only come back at night to call and find him. Leave the area. If injured, please contact a Wildlife Rehabilitator or rabbit vet immediately.





Rabbit mothers nurse their babies for approximately 5 minutes a day. They will be in the nest early in the morning and then again in the evening. The milk is very rich and the babies %26quot;fill up%26quot; to capacity within minutes. Mother rabbits do not %26quot;sit%26quot; on the babies to keep them warm as do some mammals and birds. They build a nest with fur and grasses which helps to keep the babies warm in between feedings...If you come across a nest of bunnies in the wild and the mother is no where to be seen, please DO NOT disturb them...this is normal. By removing them from the nest you are greatly reducing their chances of survival.





If your dog disturbs a nest or you find a wild bunny with its eyes open, please put him back if not injured. Mom will be coming back at night to call and feed him only once in the middle of the night. Do not take the bunny inside or feed him. That is the mom%26#039;s job. IT IS A MATTER OF HIS/HER SURVIVAL AND UP TO US AS HUMANS TO LEAVE NATURE BE AND LET THE MOM CARE FOR HER YOUNG. We often hear of mothers moving their babies and their nests, and have seen moms come back every night for up to a week to look for her missing baby. Do not take the baby from the mom or she will be frantic.





Mother rabbits return to the nest to nurse only at night, staying away as much as possible so as not to attract predators. To determine if the mother is returning, create a tic-tac-toe pattern over the nest with straw, grasses or tiny twigs. Wait 24 hours to see if the twigs have been disturbed. She may be able to feed them without moving the twigs much, so double check--If the babies look healthy, are warm, then the mother is coming back. If they are cold, dehydrated, get them to a professional; do not care for them yourself. Please contact a Wildlife Rehabilitator or rabbit vet immediately.%26quot;


http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orpha...





If the bunnies are orphaned or injured, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. You can find one here: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.... or here: http://www.wildliferehabber.org/





Licensed wildlife rehabilitators have the specialized training to care for sick, injured and orphaned wild animals, and they have the required state and federal licenses that allow them to keep the wild animals until they are healthy enough to be released.





Do not take the animals to a vet - vets are for pets, and most vets do not have the expertise to care for wild animals; nor do most vets have the proper licenses that would allow them to keep a recuperating wild animal.





Do not attempt to care for these animals yourself. In almost every state, it is illegal to keep wild animals as pets, and if it is your intention to just care for it until it can be released, most states require people who rehabilitate wildlife for release to be licensed.





“Wildlife rehabilitation licenses or permits are required to work with most native species, since wildlife is a natural resource and considered the property of the collective people of a state. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requires federal rehabilitation permits to work with migratory bird species, marine mammals, and species listed under the Endangered Species Act. With very few exceptions, wildlife agencies require wildlife rehabilitation permits or licenses to rehabilitate wildlife.%26quot; http://www.ewildagain.org/pdf/RecBooklet...
Reply:Awh! I love baby bunnies. I found an abandoned baby last summer, nursed it back to health and released it over the winter. The only reason the mother wouldn%26#039;t come back is if she was hit by a car, etc. If the mother truely is gone, they need to be taken care of. If their eyes are still shut they probably need to be taken to a shelter, especially if there are 5 of them. It%26#039;s fun to take care of them though! I fed mine pedialite through an eye dropper for the first month or so. It was, the cutest thing.


Good luck!





btw- When people say that if you get your scent on them the mother will never come back. TOTALLY untrue. The mother thinks of her babies first. She will always come back if she can.
Reply:Hmmmm.... if the mom came back and they are breathing alright etc. I would just leave them alone. But if you think there is a problem see if you can catch the mom and the babies safely and possibly take them to a vet or a shelter... But make sure that if u catch them u catch ALL of them with the mom k?


:) They are adorable when they are little huh? they are adorable anyway :)
Reply:What ever you do don%26#039;t touch them. I would call your local animal shelter and have them deal with it. On average less then 10% of adopted new born rabbits survive. An animal shelter will have what they need to take care of them. I would leave the area alone and don%26#039;t hang around because the mother might be afraid to come get them.
Reply:my sisters rabbit had babies two summers ago. she had 7 i think. when i went to check them 5 were dead. she was a first time mother. one died in my hands. the one that lived i kept alive for a week. my dad and i went to the pet store and got canned kittens milk and a small pet bottle. i put a heating pad under a towel in a small bowel in a box and kept it next to me. feeding it every two hours even during the night. one morning i just woke up and it was gone. i cried yes but thats the fact of life. plus i was only 14. good luck. i hope this helps!!
Reply:give them to a local the vet and see what you can do with them and if you dont feel you can care for them when they are old enough to hold their own give them to a local pet store to sell
Reply:I would bring them to a animal rescue centre aspeshally if there eyes are not even open but be sure that the mother is defenatly gone
Reply:Call a vet or an animal shelter. don%26#039;t pick them up. you can try to feed them some lettuce and water from a clean eye dropper.
Reply:Call a vet or an animal shelter. don%26#039;t pick them up. you can try to feed them some lettuce and water from a clean eye dropper
Reply:Let their mother take care of them!!!! Them buy a cage and give them hay and vegies and water and dry rabit food.
Reply:Just leave them alone. Rabbits are pretty cautious animals and just because you don%26#039;t think the mom hasn%26#039;t come back doesn%26#039;t mean it%26#039;s true.
Reply:bring them to an animal shelter or get a baby batle and hand feed them with milk
Reply:Make rabbit stew.



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