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Eastern cottontail kits

Sylvilagus floridanus

Photo by LuckyLogan
Published on Project Noah
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42.6167, -96.2963

Field Notes

Description:

A nest of baby cotton tailed rabbits (rabbit kits.) These adorable little guys are less than a week old and I can tell because there eyes are still closed. I have no idea how many there are here but my guess would be more than 8. At about 2 weeks old they will leave the nest for short periods of time. And by 4-5 weeks will be completely independent and will disperse at about 7 weeks.

Habitat:

The nest was located in my yard. The mother had made a few attempts at digging a nest in the same location twice this year. The average size of a nest is about 7 inchs (18cm) long, 5 inches (13cm) wide and 4.5 inches (11 cm) in depth. These nest are lined with vegetation and fur, like what you can see covering the hole.

Notes:

Their mother will return about twice a day to feed them. This is a great website that tells you what you should do if you find something like this ( http://goo.gl/mwsfOZ ). Most of the time you should leave it alone, like this instance. I may post further spottings as the kits mature.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

I checked on them yesterday and they were all alive and well and quite a bit larger. I went back today with a camera and they had left. Maybe I'll see one around.
Nice ... I look forward to seeing more of your photos as they grow up.

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