Can you help me identify this creature?
 

My daughter found this critter and I want to know what it is?

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/...is_critter.jpg
My DH said it's a field rat. But I don't think so. Help Please.

Star

Can you enlarge the picture? Its much too tiny to see.

Way too large for a closed- eyed newborn to be a rat. My guess is a rabbit but it is really small ppicture to be certain.

See Pic above :D

link is not working ...

don't know why link didn't work but pic is up at top now :p

Bunny :) if she knows where he came from, the mother may still accept him.

Looks like a rabbit ,To me about 2-3 days old at the most.

Oh NO, my daughter found 2 more in the high grass. No sign of any bunnys. Could the dog have chased off the momma and she left the 3 newborns?

What to do with them? Yikes. :eek:

Put them back where you found them and keep the dogs away. Mother rabbits don't stay with their young. They come back only once or twice to nurse in a 24 hour period. She may have not been scared by the dogs at all. Rabbits will leave their young in a small depression covered with fur and dried grass.

Its a baby rabbit.

Yelp thats a Baby rabbit.Put it back.But i would say now it is food. :( Just best not to bother any Wild Babies.

big rockpile

OK baby rabbits back in nest safe and sound. Doggy back in house.

So mommy rabbit will take them back even with my smell on them..right??? :confused:

All I can say is maybe? Just pray.

big rockpile

Yes, she should. To determine whether or not the babies are abandoned, take two pieces of grass and place them in an "X" shape over the top of the nest. Check the nest 12 hours later, or so. If the X is no longer there, Mom has been back and is taking care of the babies. If the X is still there, then there's a good chance they've been abandoned. Call a wildlife rehabber, the DNR, or a wildlife rehabilitation center, or even zoo. It is illegal for un-licensed individuals to rehabilitate wildlife.

Pamela
Wife to Kevin since June 07, 2004
Riverview-Ranch, the nearly critter-less ranch
http://www.geocities.com/pamelakris

"It is illegal for un-licensed individuals to rehabilitate wildlife."


And what abusdities and scoff-law progenitors such laws are.

Sooo,...it would be better to let the little bugger just die?

I believe the point trying to be made here, Thumper, is that it would be better for someone definitively knowledgable (i.e. wildlife rehabber) to properly care for the wild babies than an individual that may or may not be familiar with proper husbandry. If you, for example, weren't sure about how to care for an animal, wild or otherwise, would you want to attempt to do so and possibly risk it's health/life because of your limited knowledge/ability/resources or would you turn them over to an individual properly trained & licensed to do so?

My .02....

It doesn't make much sense to me when the law says they can be hunted & trapped, and in the case of rabbits, just killed for "fun"---but don't try to save one. What kind of stupid law is that. I think there are getting to be way too many laws.

Its not hard to raise baby rabbits, if the mom was killed or just dosnt come back. Get a small box and build a nest in it of grass and a little fur [ maybe dog can make amends by donating some]. Feed them kitten milk replacer about twice a day. Rub there hindys with a warm wet cloth to get them to pee. Cover them back up lightly after feeding. Good luck.

I would be thinking it's little life was already at risk, and any asistance or benefit it recived from anyone would be a good thing, a plus, a value to the human race and the world at large........ not a crime......or I would toss it to the dogs and not be bothered. Such laws are I think intended so that people don't keep such little ones as pets, but return them to the wild, so they can grow up and then get killed....

......how soon will they try to pass laws so the coyotes will have to get hunting permits?

Although I can’t see the picture, from what I have read through others posts it is a hare. Although similar to rabbits, hares have longer ears and legs. They are born above ground in small depressions in the ground and are not blind at birth. Rabbits use abandoned underground nests of other borrowing animals for nests and baby rabbits are born blind. Hares will also stay in their depressions when they feel threatened and will not move until the last moment. This often times makes them victims of lawn mowers in high grass fields (leaving orphaned kids if the orphans themselves are not mowed over).

You can feed it pet milk with an eyedropper...I have done it several times when my dog has disturbed a rabbits nest. They grow fine, then you let them go

I have an update on the bunnies.
I put the bunnies back in the nest and made it so no dog or kid would bother them. I looked with bionaclors(SP?) and seen 2 of the bunnies with fire ant all over them. I rushed to get the ants off them to no help the little bunnies have been killed. :waa:

So I took the last little bunny in the house and put it in a warm place that no one will bother it. I am feeding it with an eyedropper now and it will drink 2-3 drops at a time.

I also tryed the warm cloth thing and it works great.

I want to keep it a wild creature, I just hate seeing anything so tiny not get a fair shot at living.

Please tell me what is next thing I am to do with the hare.
Am I to try to get it to eat hay or as soon as its eyes open to send it straight outside.
:confused:

Star I think your DH was pulling your leg. I'd guess feed it till it's eyes open and then take it and let it loose in the same area you found it. Maybe it'll survive. Who knows maybe it'll hook up with some other targets hmmmm I mean bunnies :haha:

Sounds like your doing all you can.

Kenneth in NC