• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

The bunny reason why I'm on sick leave

Rufus

Mama Doe
As posted before, Alexa gave birth to an unexpected litter on Sunday evening.
On Tuesday morning, I found one kit in the litter bin, ice cold but alive. I put it back with the others. That evening, it was OK, but there was one bunny missing.
Next day, another one was missing. I got suspicious, thinking she might have eaten her kits and decided to leave them be. However, next morning I found out there were only 3 left.
Yesterday, I got home from work and was sitting at my desk, my OH was standing next to me and he suddenly cried : "there's a baby in the garden" I ran outside and where my roses are, next to the run, was indeed a baby bunny. It was alive and I hurried it back to the nest.
The hutch was closed and locked, so how did baby bunny get into the garden?

Option 1 : on purpose or by accident thrown through the bars by mum
Option 2 : had been taken by a cat when mum was outside for a while.

Option 2 could solve the mystery of the missing bunnies, this one that we found in the garden had a guardian angel with him.

So I put mesh on the bars, moved the buck indoors and put a blanket on the hutch to make sure she had privacy.

This morning I had a quick look and saw things move. I did not open the nest.
Later I went to feed Alexa and looked again to find one kit was a bit removed from the nest. I put it back and counted 4 again.

So you see, I'm completely dazed and confused and could not bring myself to go to work.
 
Just found one of the missing kits :( The killer himself (99,9% sure who did it) showed me the way. He was messing with something underneath the hutch. A half eaten leg was all I needed to realize the horrible truth.
 
I must admit I'm a bit confused too :oops: I'm sure it all makes sense if you know the circumstances, but not if you don't!

I'm still not sure who had removed the baby bunnies (buck, mum, cat, something else) and indeed if not the mum, how they had got to them in the first place if they were in a hutch.

I'm also confused about the comment about moving buck indoors - if he had been able to get near the babies, does that mean that he is, or has been, still in contact with mum? Mum bunnies breed again and can get pregnant virtually straight away after giving birth, so if he is still unneutered/recently neutered, has been in contact with her, there is every chance you will have another litter in 4 weeks time.

Your oh did extremely well to stumble across the baby by the roses, at less than a week old it will still be tiny and not hopping about on its own so it really must have had a guardian angel to help him find it. Hope all the babies do well and are now safe if you have worked out 'whodunit' and how. X x
 
Well, the mystery has been solved. I found a dead kit, the cat lead me to it, it was lying under the hutch (that is on bricks) with a half eaten leg sticking out.

So it must have been the cat that got the kits while mum was having a stroll. Of course this cannot happen anymore as I keep the hutch closed when mum is out.
I false accused mum and the buck had absolutely nothing to do with it either. I removed him from the place as people suggested mum could be upset by his presence. After birth they were separated anyway, meaning they could see and smell each other but not get together.

The other missing kit, I might still find the body somewhere.

Yes, the surviving kit was very lucky, I will never know which one it was, since 3 are much alike. As I can see now, 3 are like the father, only one has white but time will tell.
 
Back
Top