The rabbit that decided it was our pet continues to be a constant fixture in our yard and garden. It has been here for a year now. Recently I noticed that many of my potted cactus plants had been dug up. They are against the house on a bench we made to keep them drier than the other plants. I blamed the squirrels for the destruction because they are always digging holes to bury nuts, etc.
One afternoon last week though we saw our rabbit carrying twigs and grass to the cactus bench. She was making a nest in a hole that she had dug! Wow! I had no idea this is how rabbit birthing was done. It took her a few days to make the nest, and one morning when I thought she had abandoned the whole project I poked my finger into the pile of grass and heard a squeal. There were babies in the nest! I didn't pull it back further because I didn't want to lead predators to the spot. I haven't seen her much since then--perhaps she only visits them at night. I need to pull the grass back and see if they are still there.
update: I pulled some of the nest material away and looked in the hole that the mother rabbit dug---the babies are there and doing fine. I took a photo, but it is not very good because they would wiggle down deeper into the hole. Research shows that she only nurses them about twice a day.
a furry little head, I think that is a still closed eye on the right
