Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Bunnies are Still Here

     Eight days ago I reported on the birth of four jack rabbits in my Yard. I further posted about one of the liverets (babies) I found in the yard. This little guy is still sitting in my tomatoes and my wife's afraid he's going to die. Don't worry his Mommy knows where he is and comes back every night to feed him. He has tripled his size so he's doing well.


    I had always thought and read that these little guys left the area of their birth. I thought they traveled more  so I'm very surprised to see this guy holding his spot in my tomato patch. I watered him a couple of times and then he found a secure spot. I checked on him several  times a day. I found he was terrified of the garden hose when I tried to fill the bird bath. I'm painting the fascia on the house. I put up a very noisy ladder. When I checked the little guy was gone so I was a little sad that he had disappeared on me. This morning I found him right back in his favorite spot.


    I have a large overgrown rhubarb patch and I started to clean it up this morning and suddenly there was a second bunny. I suspicioned that they would all be in the yard but I wasn't going to search for them. 


    Now Colin in Australia is going to be chortling with glee as he has been forecasting dire problems from these little guys. The jack rabbits that I'm observing are not rabbits but hares. These guys are born fully furred with their eyes open. Rabbits when born are not covered with fur and their eyes are closed. The jack rabbit is fairly large compared to rabbits. 


    So these little guys never cease to surprise me. At about age two weeks they start to move more. Nursing stops at about thirty days.