Baby Rat-bits

Earlier this week we discovered a rabbit's nest with seven bunnies in it. It has been great fun for Kong and the girls to catch and "play" with the bunnies. I reminded Kong the last time he caught baby rabbits what happened to them.

For those who don't know the story, when we lived in IL, a rabbit made a nest right under the girls swing set. I came home late from work one day to find that Kong and the girls had caught the baby rabbits and brought them into the house. I pulled Kong aside to ask him his intentions and he said that they were just going to keep the rabbits for a few hours then put them back. I wasn't sure if my rabbit knowledge was correct but I thought that if the babies had human scent on them the mother would either kill or abandon them. Kong was very confident this was an old wives tale.

After discovering that the baby rabbits had fleas Kong and the girls reluctantly put them back. A few days later the girls were playing outside and Taylor discovered that the baby rabbits were all "asleep" under the big pine by our house. The truth was the babies had been killed by their mother but I didn't have the heart to tell them. They were all mangled and bitten. To this day they don't know the truth.

So anyway, this time they all did their best not to touch the babies so they used a fishing net and branches to corral the babies into a box. I know they are cute but I can't get over the fact that they are not all that different than rats. Yish! I guess I might have made mention of that one too many times (see video clip).

I was very adamant that they not touch the rabbits because 1) they are probably filthy and flea infested but more importantly, 2) since we do not have any shrubs or pines in our current yard I did not want to see baby rabbit parts spread throughout the yard. To prevent this scenario Kong and the girls came up with the brilliant idea of putting the fishing net over the nest so that the mommy rabbit could not come back to do harm to her babies. It worked. By the end of the week they all got bigger and ran away. There is only one left. Thank goodness!