I disturbed a rabbit nest about an hour ago. Will the mom come back?

Oh no, I hope she comes back! We have a bunny family in our backyard, and a bird destroyed one of them recently :( fur was all over the yard. It was so sad.

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html

As long as you don’t stick around or touch anything, she will probably come back once she feels the cost is clear. But the longer you stay and watch the less the chances are that she will return.

This happened to us once as we were mowing. it took several hours, but when the mother couldn’t see us anymore, she came back to check on her babies. We went inside and watched through the windwo so she couldn’t see us.

That’s what I have been doing, peeking through the window.

Don’t give up hope just yet. She might wait until after dark to come back. It’s so tempting to go snuggle one of those babies, isn’t it? It was very hard for me to resist!!

Yes it is. They are too cute for their own good. I now have binoculors out trying to get a better look. I have too much time on my hands!

Rabbit moms typically visit the nest only a few times a day, to avoid leaving a trail for predators. Also, if baby bun is fully furred, it’s probably old enough to take care of itself. Let them be; it should be fine. You’ll do more harm by interfering.

@crisw I love that your avatar is a picture of a fox. Ha.

The mom’s back. I guess she was waiting for dusk.

Glad to hear everything is ok!!

Glad to hear she came back! :)

Everybunny’s happy now.

@Jeruba Much lurve.

She will surly come back don’t worry as long as you did not touch her babies. I have raised rabbits and they are big on smell so don’t touch her babies because she may abandon them. Besides that you are okay.

I would go out and whisper to that little bunny mr mcgregor lives here…if you ever come back and eat my garden I will steal your clothes..

Glad to hear that she’s back. I would recommend that you go and visit the nest to make sure everything is okay, and to patch your rocky relationship. If she doesn’t seem to want to talk, shout “I’M VERY SORRY” loudly until she comes out.

@richardhenry You are just wanting me to piss off this rabbit who will come back to eat my tomato plants.

What does a rabbit’s nest look like?

Actually, it was just an indentation in the ground. I didn’t know what else to call it in the question. “I disturbed a rabbit’s indentation…” See? It doesn’t sound right.

Do they just settle in a little grassy hollow, or do they dig or build something? Just curious about how you knew what you were seeing. In Watership Down they lived in rabbit holes and dug-out warrens.

They settle in a little grassy hollow, and it really is little. I was expecting a hole too, but this is the second one I have seen in my yard (my other dog got hold of the baby before I could stop her).

In our backyard, we have bunnies nest there almost every year, and they like to dig a hole in our backyard. There are so many memories of cute little baby bunnies in our backyard, one time we found one with a broken leg, one time my dad ran over one with the lawn mower, another time we petted the baby bunnies. The first and third times were when the mother had abandoned the nest for days for no reason.

Rabbits nest underground (in nest stops, actually—they dig into the nest every time they enter it, and block it up again when the leave, and they do this from an underground tunnel), whereas hares nest above-ground. I think maybe you’re seeing hares.

I don’t know why I’m making this distinction, it hardly makes any difference to your question!

Anyway, my answer is to leave them alone. Generally the mother will only abandon the nest if it’s been disturbed very early in the development of the kits, in which case it’s unlikely any intervention of yours would actually save them. So, either the mother will come back, or it won’t and the kits will die, but there’s not much you can do about it.

I see the mother has come back in this case, but my answer holds for future enquiries! :)

@nicobanks
She left again and they ended up dying. But thank you for your answer.