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Desert Cottontail

Sylvilagus audubonii

Description:

Tiny little baby, one of the cutest things I have ever seen! Check the notes section for the story behind this guy.

Habitat:

Found on a homeowner's lawn that is well manicured and watered constantly. Right outside of the fence to the yard is desert scrubland.

Notes:

I was called out to Laredo for my job to check out a rattlesnake problem that a lady had on her property. One of her dogs had gotten bit about 2 weeks prior to me coming out, and even though it was fine, she was worried it may happen again with a different outcome. I would walk the area right around the house (about 2 acres) several times each night, looking for any snakes. The yard was constantly watered and had a lot of bushes and great places to hide, and there were rabbits and rats everywhere, so definitely a great place for a large snake to be hanging out at! On my last walk of the night (around midnight), I was looking around and found this little baby bunny. Only the second I've ever seen, and the 5-year old in me came out and I went up to it and picked it up and started talking to it like it was a baby, because, well, look how adorable it is! I was too engulfed in the cuteness to be paying any attention to anything else. The person I was with grabbed my phone and got a few photos of it in my hands, then he just got this weird feeling, and just stopped. He looked up, then I got that feeling too and I looked up. About 5m in front of us was a very large rattlesnake just staring at us, probably wondering what we were doing holding her midnight snack! Since rattlesnakes were the reason we were there, I put down the bunny and we ran over to get the rattlesnake. Of course the snake saw us coming and tried to go the opposite way, but we were faster. We had all the appropriate tools to grab her and put her into a bucket safely, no one was in any danger. Once we got her contained, I remembered the baby bunny, and looked around for it to make sure it was okay. I saw it a few feet away, so went and picked it up again to make sure it was okay. This time though, it started making this awful screaming noise, and mom immediately came running towards me, and I put baby down very fast! Momma bunnies are scary haha. Watched for a bit, and the baby went off with mom, hopefully they stay away from snakes from now on! We relocated the large rattlesnake very far away from the house so everyone can continue to live happily :)

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5 Comments

maplemoth662
maplemoth662 6 years ago

A cute little bunny...

Nidhin Basheer
Nidhin Basheer 8 years ago

So cute :)

Archer 07
Archer 07 8 years ago

Fantastic story, I have seen a baby bunny only once on the coast of the pacific ocean near Crescent City, California. That was before digital cameras and cell phones. I have a film picture of it, but can't find it now.

Wow great moment,more cute is impossible,great story,congrats and thanks for sharing

SukanyaDatta
SukanyaDatta 8 years ago

:) Big smile.

AshleyT
Spotted by
AshleyT

Texas, USA

Spotted on Aug 24, 2015
Submitted on Oct 8, 2015

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