How I Cared for Baby Cottontails
2,468,536
Published 2016-07-21
There have been some negative comments on this video, so my responses to those will be below.
Frequently Made Comments:
1) You shouldn't have moved the nest.
I mentioned multiple times in the video that this was a mistake and encouraged the viewer to not do the same. When I had moved it, we had a vegetable garden that was 2 weeks old, and my dog had just killed one of the babies (that baby died in my hands as I tried to clean the blood from it in the sink). It was traumatic. My first instinct was to protect the rest by putting them in a safer enclosure (basically, a similar container but with a lid) and to hopefully encourage the mother to take her young to where she was living, which I think was under the concrete patio. From my time-lapse footage, I saw that she only tried searching for them after about a minute and didn't make any attempts to look for them after that. I had to step in when I found them dehydrated. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have moved the nest.
2) You should've put the babies back when you saw the mother wasn't coming back.
They were dehydrated (hip bones sticking out) and I knew if I put them back, they could die waiting to be nursed. It was stressful, because I was very worried that they would die very soon without any liquids. So that morning, I quickly did research (looked for wildlife rehabers which were too far away and learned about how to care for them). I wanted them to survive, so me feeding them was the best option. I dropped all my plans and tried to get them liquids as fast as I can (which included running around the pet store for everything I needed).
3) Your scent drove the mother away.
From my research, that doesn't matter much; moving the nest matters though. Our human scents and the dog's scent was actually all over that vegetable garden and that patio, but that rabbit still made her nest there.
4) You should've kept the rabbits. They don't know how to survive in the wild.
Rabbits are wild animals with instincts; they do not depend on the mother to teach them certain skills. From my research, it's perfectly acceptable to release them after they've been weaned off of formula and by a certain age. I made sure to monitor them for 3 days after weaning to see if they were able to feed on their own, in which they did and had been even when I was still feeding them formula. We actually moved that hutch several times so they could eat fresh grass.
5) You stole those babies from the mother just so you could make a video about it.
If you knew how time-consuming (6 hours total to feed each day) and expensive it is to take care of cottontails, then you would know that is simply untrue. I did what I did because I simply didn't want them to die. I made this video because there were no videos that really shows the process from beginning to end, what to expect, and I wanted to encourage others to not make my mistakes.
I am not an expert on rescuing cottontails. This video is my one-time experience with cottontail babies and is meant to be more of a supplement, rather than a definitive guide. Please refer to the website I provided for how to take care of orphan cottontails if you must do it and be sure to read it from beginning to end!
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Most of the materials (and images) are from Petco. I was able to buy Kitten Milk Replacement, VIta-drops, Bene-Bac, and the medicine dropper there.
The tip I used to modify the medicine dropper (Doctor Easy Ear Washer Disposable Tips) can be found here:
amzn.com/B005M3A76C
Webpage Screenshots
www.2ndchance.info/bunnies.htm
Cecotrope Image:
webprojects.oit.ncsu.edu/project/bio181de/Lab/nutr…
Videos at the End:
Killdeer Fakes Injury to Defend Nest
• Killdeer Defends Nest by Faking Injury
Lorikeet Lovemaking
• Lorikeet Lovemaking
DIY: Self-watering Container Garden
• DIY: Self-Watering Container Garden
Shasta Cabin 2011
• Shasta Cabin 2011 (Clay Launcher, Tou...
MUSIC:
"Bittersweet" by Silent Partner (downloaded from YouTube's Audio Library)
All Comments (21)
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I'm amazed. You made a mistake, but then you accepted all that responsibility far beyond what I think anyone else would have done.
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I owned a wild cottontail for three years. I saved her from a crow, so she was just old enough to eat. I had three wonderful years with her running free in my house. I had to bunny proof, had her fixed, and she toilet trained herself. Unfortunately, she passed to a stroke this past April. I was devastated. In July I acquired two sisters, almost two years old from the Humane Society. Sidey’s domestic cousins. I love my bunnies. Kudos to you for helping them.
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I am a wild life rehabilitator ....you did a fantastic job . Wild rabbits are very hard to save .
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Thank you for saving them. Our domestic Lionhead rabbit just passed after giving birth. We have 6 orphan kits. Wish us luck
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I kinda made the same mistake and i had 7 cotton tail bunnys and when i went to let them free one wouldnt get out of the box so we sat there for 25 mins and it wouldnt leave so we took it home and we also took it to the vet and it turned out it was sick so we kept taking care of her and he decided to keep her and we have had her for 2 years and she rules our back yard
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Thank you for for admitting your mistakes, but using them to help the rest of them!!! I am attempting to save a few when the nest was disturbed during construction. Right now I have five because one already died when we found it. I hope I can do well, and thank tour for the video!
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I admire you for putting your mistakes out there, because this no doubt has gotten a lot of people mad. You put these bunnies in a bad situation and you made it up to them and I find that to be quite sweet, and sometimes wildlife could use a little help. But, now I know to never disturb a bunny nest, no matter how cute they are.
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I’m currently helping a cottontail. It’s still alive. The nest was in a park near a church, the child care place it’s meant for is under construction. There were 5 bunnies in the nest. The next day...3 were dead, 1 was missing and 1 was alive further from the nest. We took the bunny and the bunny is actually getting stronger!
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You fed them well. They were so energetic! I'm sure difficult to release them but they deserve their home in the wild. Beautiful.
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I appreciate that she was not sure what to do originally, and made a mistake moving the nest, (which is normally what you should not do) but she addressed it so people wouldn’t follow her, and then took very good care of them, instead of leaving them to die, probs to you 🙌🏻Some mistakes were made but you did very well
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When you hold bunnies, it reduces their smell, making it harder for their mom to recognize them. But I am so so so happy you did this for these bunnies. They are incredibly lucky to have had you to take care of them. You are truly making the world a better place.
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There’s a special place in Heaven for people like you,good job.
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“Bye I’ll miss you” I STARTED CRYINGGG
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People make mistakes and you didnt make it with bad intentions you made a quick decision based on a baby being killed by your dog. Instead of saying oh well screw it and allowing the rest of the babies to die or dumping them somewhere and crossing your fingers mum would find them you took action! It is not easy to feed baby animal and it is exhausting to meet their needs. But you took responsibility for what happened and did your absolute best. Then you chose to share your mistakes so no one follow suit and gave info on what to do if you run across abandoned babies whos mum has not come for a full day or two and who are dehydrated.
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Thank you so much for this video!!! I just found a lone newborn rabbit by my job breathing heavily under the hot sun about to die. This helped until I was able to get him to a rehabilitation center.
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I think you did an excellent job. Bunnies are a lot of work, way more than people think. We rescued a bunny and bonded so we kept her. God bless you I think you did a great job. The naysayers are the ones who wouldn't have cared for those babies like you did so don't pay attention to them.
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Thank you for this video. My husband is a construction worker and they accidentally dug up a rabbit's nest. They had no idea it was there and the excavator killed all the rabbits except for one little baby. Now I am trying to help it live. I figure it's about 10 days old based on information I've read. I'm definitely stressed about the bacteria aspect. I've been mixing in probiotic powder from a capsule (the kind you keep in the fridge.) I am going to see if the pet store has the stuff you mention in this video, so thank you for that. You did a good job with those bunnies. I've only got the one and it's a lot of work...6 would be very hard. I hope I can be as successful as you.
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it's people like you who save humanity
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Thanks for sharing your experience. I found a baby bunny trapped in my window well. I was tipped off by the crow trying to attack it. I couldn't find the nest and didn't want to leave it. Your video was the most honest and helpful one. Thank you! Forget the haters.
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I had to care for three cottontails that were left at a park In a blanket and followed your instructions as well as doing some research. All the bunnies survived and I was able to return them back into the woods thank you!
