Our Backyard and Beyond: Rabbit Rescue

So a while back you might remember that I gave a sneak peak of the newest additions to our place. Furry little blobs hiding in a box… Well here they are, our rescued rabbits. This was definitely not a planned addition at this point in time, but how can you say no to such cute, tiny bunnies? Our neighbor discovered them out by his barn and caught 3 to “show” the boys. There are several domestic rabbits that roam our little neighborhood. Someone must have released them over the last couple of years, and now they are increasing in number. There were still more left over there too. Eight baby rabbits total! Well… I couldn’t just let them go again, so here we are. Thanks, Eddie!

Friends of ours took a couple too. Now we only have six! Yikes! Plans are to keep a couple of these, trade the rest to get another female or two, and raise some rabbits for meat. Of course the boys will have their pets that won’t go to the freezer!!!!! Riley and Braden have each made their choice of rabbits. Meet Twister (white with brown) and BooBoo(White with dark ears).

So tiny when we first got them, we figured that they were barely ready to be away from momma. We had to use jar lids to offer food and water because they could not reach into the bigger crock bowls that we had. They were not too excited about eating pellet food either. They perferred to have fresh grass and oats, and really liked their oats to be moistened. Spoiled rabbits! They have thrived and grown and won our hearts over!

The rabbits lived in a cage together in our screen room for the first weeks that we had them. What a mess such cute critters can make! The boys have loved having them right outside the window though. All three boys stand up on the toy trunk together and watch to see what the rabbits are up to. TanMan points and says “BooBoo, BooBoo, BooBoo!” Riley and Braden check to see if they need food, water, or are getting too hot. It has been a brutal summer here. Around 70 days with highs over 90 degrees! Stressful for little bunnies, so we take frozen bottles of water out for them to snuggle up against to get a little relief from the heat. On cooler mornings the boys get their rabbit out for a little holding time. They each pull up a chair, grab some fresh grass, and get ready to cuddle with a bunny. On rare occasions, TanMan even joins in and sits for a couple of short minutes.

The rabbits are growing, and growing, and growing, and growing!!!!! Yes, I know, that is what rabbits do! They have probably almost tripled in size now! When we first got them, all six didn’t even cover the bottom of a five-gallon bucket. They were tiny I’m tellin’ you. Now they fill up boy laps. They do not all fit in a bucket together. They have ravenous appetites. It was time for them to move! Out of the screen room that is.

Ross, the handy guy that he is, built some new rabbit cages. Our living room was a factory for a few evenings. He might have had a few helping hands with this project. Guess Ross has a few helping hands with all of his projects. I try to just lay low and help when asked, mostly I just grab the camera and document these moments of helpfulness. Phase two of the moving project was to build an outdoor hutch for the cages. A couple of trips to the barn, Lowes, the barn, Lowes again, and we had the materials that we needed to make a hutch. Voila, new bunny home. Yea! No more poop on the screen room, no more hay in Nova’s kennel, now the toys can take over again.

Last night was moving day for the rabbits. The boys were great helpers. The move went off without a hitch. Now we have the girls in one cage and the boys in another. Sooner than later we will have to separate them to individual cages, since bunnies tend to fight if left together. For now they are content, and we don’t have to worry about more little bunnies!