Seven? Seven? Baby Bunnies

It was an accident, I swear. We thought Peter was a boy, we thought they were all boys... were we wrong!

We found the litter under the rabbit hutch inside barn. We thought it was just one baby bunny, but when we moved the cage and started to round them up we found two and then two more and then two more. Seven. What kind of a rabbit has seven babies???

The babies are all different shades of brown with one brindle and one black. They are little and delightful and how will we keep them alive? There are so many predators in the barn and bringing them in the house with the dogs is not an option.

For two weeks we lock them in the hutch, but it's too small for so many bunnies and on May 19th we move them to live with their uncle Softy in the doll house. I fear that Softy may hurt the babies, because that's what adult males tend to do, but Softy's previous injuries make him more docile and he tolerates, even seeming to enjoy the babies. Phew...

I shore up all the cracks and holes and try to make sure the bunnies are safe. Should I lock them in the doll house over night when predators are hunting? Should I let them hide under the doll house? Should I let them decide? Having to work nights makes the decision easier.

I can't wait to go home and see how they bunnies are doing??

The bunnies found their own safe haven living under the doll house. They dart all over the small pen clearly delighted with the new outdoor smells and the freedom to run and jump and play. Softy has become a jungle gym of sorts, but they move so fast I'm not sure he knows how many there are in total.

I tried to loan the babies out to the local grade schools, but they no longer allow small animals in the class due to allergies. I remember growing up with tons of class pets. Guinea pigs, rabbits, snakes, gerbels etc... I can't image a classroom so sterile they won't allow the class pet or a peanut butter sandwich.

I bet they don't have metal monkey bars anymore either.

The bunnies are growing up fairly wild and loving it! I'm going to separate them into groups based on gender and all the boys will live together and all the girls will live together. I have a few more months to enjoy the little pile of soft fuzzy babies until they reach maturity.

We've named them after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but I don't think we got all the names rights.

Grumpy, Doc, Happy, Sleepy, Hoppy, Drunky and Dopey.... How far off are we anyway?