Baby Rabbit update

I wanted to give you an update on the rabbits and show you what a transformation they have had since the little pink "rat" picture I posted a while back.  We moved their hutches out under our Bradford Pear trees for the summer months.  They will be much cooler in the shade all day, especially with the early 90 degree weather we have been having.  My husband has offered to build a rabbitry if I draw up the plans for it.  With 16 little rabbits that are growing quickly, we are going to need the room. They are eating and drinking pretty well now.  


Did you know that when a baby rabbit eats, they lay on their backs with their bellies up in the air, that rabbit milk is one of the richest forms of nutrition in the mammalian world, and that adults have a special "poo" that they produce at night that they eat to help them with digestion.  The reason it is so hard to hand raise a baby bunny is because we can't simulate this special "poo" that their mom produces to help their guts start to work right.  We tried to raise a baby bunny once and I swore I would never do it again.  He lived for a month or more.....long enough for us to get attached to him even though we knew the prognosis wasn't good.  We were just beginning to think we beat the odds when he passed away.  We named him Tink and fed him a goat milk mixture day and night with a dropper.  Like I said, never again.  We let nature take its course now.

The little guys are too cute and too funny to watch right now.  The one hutch has a larger plastic food dish in it and when you walk by they run in and pile into the dish as quickly as they can.  When you open the roof and look in least nine of them are crammed into the dish and piled on top of each other.  It is so funny I will try to get a picture and update this post.