Green Treefrog - Murray County

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Orphaned Baby Rabbits


The more time you spend outdoors, the better the chance that you'll come across orphaned wild baby animals. One of the most common babies found by humans is the Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). The home range of this species often includes areas where humans have unknowingly created havens for this rabbit to brood a litter of bunnies. A female can have 1-7 litters per season of  1-12 young, called kits. Females reach reproductive maturity at 2-3 months, and 10-30% breed as juveniles. With these types of numbers being born annually, it has proven to be one of the wild animal orphans that most often ends up being discovered by humans. This baby in the photograph was found in a friend's yard after the mother was killed by a dog. Kits are one of the most difficult wild babies to foster successfully. The following article at petplace.com has some excellent pointers on what to do when you find an orphaned bunny.  Go to the following link to read the full article:

http://www.petplace.com/small-mammals/orphaned-wild-rabbits/page1.aspx




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