Is the baby bunny really an orphan

It’s spring and baby animals are everywhere. Many people contact me about orphaned baby cottontail rabbits, but many times, the baby is not an orphan. Unlike a cat, dog or many other creatures, the mother cottontail does not stay with her babies, even when they are new-born. A mother rabbit will nurse her young one to two times per day - usually at or before sunrise and at or after sunset. The rest of the time, she stays away from the nest, though be sure, she is not very far away.

The instinct of the mother rabbit is that, if she stays near her babies, she will draw predators to the nest. Therefore, she stays away from the nest, but close enough to keep an eye on it. If a predator should show up, she will attract the attention of the predator and try to draw it away from the vicinity of the babies.

Even before their eyes open, the baby rabbits - also known as kits - will explore when they are not sleeping. They are attracted to heat and will attempt to move themselves to the heat source. We had some baby domestic bunnies at the rescue that managed, at five days old, to move out of the nesting box, through the bars of the hutch and across 3 feet of room to get close to a floor heater. Wild rabbit babies have that same attraction. They will move themselves out of the nest toward the sunshine outside of the den. Be assured that mommy will not be far away and if the little one gets too far, she will return it to the nest.

If you see a baby wild rabbit by itself, do not move it or touch it. If there are predators around such as dogs or cats, scare away the predator and let mommy take care of the baby. Believe me, she will. One spring, my husband saw a cluster of very little baby cottontails in the middle of our yard, all curled up in a bunch. There was no sign of an adult rabbit, and no holes nearby that could be considered a nest. He went inside to get his camera, and when he returned, the female had returned and was nursing the young. He returned to the house to get me to witness this beautiful event. When we got back outside, the female and all the young were nowhere to be seen.