Thursday, April 13, 2006

Cottontails

I was finally able to get some pictures of the cottontails that are now appearing in our yard. There are five 'kittens' and we have seen two adults. The little ones are so darn cute but they leave an awful mess of rabbit droppings on the sidewalk.

Today for school we learned about rabbits. There is one piece of information that might be the death sentence for the adults. After breeding with a male the doe will bear a litter of 4 or 5 kittens only four weeks later. After another four weeks the bunnies are weaned and ready to care for themselves. The mother then leaves, mates again and the process begins anew with a doe having up to six litters a year. That's 24-30 rabbits. YIKES! Disasterous for my garden.

Joseph may be sighting in his .22 on two unsuspecting mama and papa rabbits. :-(

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We had a HUGE rabbit population in Naperville. Yes, your garden will be sad. They eat everything!! We found bloodmeal and lemon Joy dishwashing detergent to be helpful but not 100% foolproof solutions.
Our mayor there was (is) dearly beloved but it was joked that anyone who could guarantee control of the rabbit "situation" would easily unseat him. ;)
Becky:)

athena said...

you could always eat them.;) they do taste good.

Montserrat said...

I've told the girls we could invite them for Sunday dinner but they aren't keen on the idea. I personally like rabbit, but I don't think Joseph's ever had it before.