Experiments in Bunny Making

Peregrine Falcon

Well, I think I've worked almost 70 hours in the last week. It's been pretty crazy! I had the opportunity to take a work trip down to the Florida Keys to visit some sites that are important stop-over habitat for the Peregrine Falcon as part of a team writing a management plan that is part of the process of removing them from Florida's list of endangered species. I am completely thrilled to be a part of this process! We headed out to Grassy Key and stayed in this beautiful beach house with a hawk watching crew for two days. I saw more birds of prey in one place than I have ever seen before and got two new species (short-tailed hawk and broad-winged hawk)... amazing!

Sunset in Key West


Hazen stayed at home and diligently took care of the crop of rabbits, the dog, and the hawk. I got home late Sunday afternoon, exhausted, and dreading a long busy week of work culminating with a speech on Friday! Sigh.


I was pretty sure at least one of my rabbits was prego. I figured that since the were in the cage with the buck when I purchased them, that she had conceived that day. I had done the math so I could be prepared for the babies if they arrived when I thought she would be due. Last week I had planned on constructing a nursery cage and the nest box I needed for the babies. Rabbits are not like dogs and cats, they cannot pick up and move their young, so the babies need a "nest" where they can stay warm and dry until they are old enough to open their eyes and move around.

Tuesday night, Hazen and I worked diligently making a set of nursery cages to install this weekend for the girls. I was feeling particularly anxious about this because I was absolutely positive that one of them was pregnant. I felt her belly and definitely felt movement! I was pretty excited, but still thought I had at least a week before the babies would be born.

Wednesday morning, I go out and feed the rabbits. The suspect prego rabbit is frantically pulling fur out of her belly! All the books I read said that this is a sign that she is getting ready to have her babies, but you usually have three days from that point before she gives birth. I was planning on making the nest boxes that night, so I figured I had plenty of time to get things in order before she had the kits. However, she had become aggressive of her cage-mate, so I decided to go ahead and separate them. I had an animal crate that I filled with hay and put her in there since she was so frantic about building her nest. I put her inside in the spare bathroom, wanting to keep her cool and away from stray dogs. 20 minutes later, I went in the bathroom to wash my hands and I heard a squealing sound! She was giving birth! I was shocked and amazed and grateful that I had been home and paying attention! I would have been very sad if she had given birth to the litter in her cage and they had died from cold. She gave birth to 8 healthy rabbit babies from an unknown father. She had to have been pregnant before I bought her.


Hazen stopped by the Tractor Supply store and bought another waterer and feeder for the new rabbits. He definitely won points for doing this without being asked! That night, I made the nest box and put the nest mom had made and the new babies in it. All was right with the world.





The next morning, I checked on the bunnies and took the above video. I put the new waterer in the box and left to my meeting. When I got home, I found one baby bunny dead in the front of the cage. I figured he had wiggled out and gotten cold. That was not unexpected so I didn't worry about it too much. These rabbits are meant to be food, and I had seven others still in the back of the nest. That was when I noticed that something was horribly wrong. The water bottle had leaked! The cage floor was soaked! The babies were in the back of the nest box, but instead of being warm and dry, they were cold and wet! Half of them were dead, drowned. Four of them were still alive, but were very cold and thin. I did what I thought was best and tried to warm them. I realized my mistake too late when mom would not touch them because they had my scent all over them. The last few babies died later that night. I was horrified! It was a hard lesson to learn. Such a waste!

I was finally able to breed the other doe rabbit on Saturday, so with luck, there I’ll have a new litter by mid-November. It’s so long to wait, and a disappointing failure for my first litter, though I keep reminding myself that I was lucky to have even caught it in the first place. Even still, I’ll be ready for the next one.