Not Traditional Pet

What we have learned is the Rabbit will burrow & that destroyes the landscape, hence the pest.
The Hare spends all its time above ground & will dig a shallow depression about 100mm deep to lay in & hide from predators generally in long grass.

The mortality rate of Leverets is about 90% when rescued & in general if they live past the first day they will lock their jaw shut until they feel safe in the new environment & one hopes that this happens before the 5th day after that mortality is 100%.
Our twins did not eat formula for 3 days & got down to 88g's, now they are powering & guts the formula down.

This is very tough on the emotions but very rewarding just the same.

Cheers
Dave

These Leverets are just so fragile.

Sunday was a day from hell, our smallest of the twins Wombat developed diarrhoea late Saturday arvo by the time we got the correct gear to treat him it was just to late. He passed away on my chest & i hope i never see that again in my life time, he struggled to live all the way.
We think the heat on Saturday induced stress which intern started the diarrhoea, just so fragile!

This has really hit me hard, they put there total trust to get them through.
We now have to put all our effort to getting Possum feeding on greens, grain & re-home can take place.
Our boy Jess has really taken Possum under his wing & looking after him.

Cheers
Dave

Sorry to hear that Dave, I know how it feels to feel you have let an animal down...you did your best.

Bugger.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gordie

I was told when a boy, by an English family friend, that over there, they would hang the(dead) hare until green, then cook it. Didn't sound very appetising to me....but I have never tried it.

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Isn't that called "Jugged Hare"

We have two resident hares here, both quite large. The photo shows the hares at the front, a wallaby at the rear. Sorry about the quality.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Witchdoctor

These Leverets are just so fragile.

Sunday was a day from hell, our smallest of the twins Wombat developed diarrhoea late Saturday arvo by the time we got the correct gear to treat him it was just to late. He passed away on my chest & i hope i never see that again in my life time, he struggled to live all the way.
We think the heat on Saturday induced stress which intern started the diarrhoea, just so fragile!

This has really hit me hard, they put there total trust to get them through.
We now have to put all our effort to getting Possum feeding on greens, grain & re-home can take place.
Our boy Jess has really taken Possum under his wing & looking after him.

Cheers
Dave

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Great work Dave, you are doing a great job, but it's not good when "you lose the battle" is it.
A few years ago we were driving in the Goldfields area & I thought I saw a Kookaburra standing only a foot or so off the road. We drove on for a K or so, but then thought something was up so we turned round & went back to it,...it was still standing in the same place. So We approached it, it just looked at us, so we placed it in a rug & took it to the vet in the next town. We called in on the way home to see how it was, & unfortunately the vet said that it was too traumatized, would not eat etc, so He had to put it to sleep. We were sad about that.
However, when we dropped "Kooka" off, we hadn't seen the vet, only the nurse, but when we came back to check, we met the vet who said He'd been wanting to speak to us, because He'd "heard" us leave when we dropped Kooka off. At that time we were driving our AMG C63 which are renowned for their beautiful exhaust note from their 6.3L AMG V8! Anyway He came out to look at our car & then said to us, "would you like to see my cars"?. Of course the answer was yes, so we walked across to his home where He showed us a rear engined LS1 powered sports car he'd built from a U.K. sourced kit,..I reckon the rear tyres were about 18" wide, and He had a couple of BMWs including a very nice early M3. Really nice guy.
But we would've been much happier about all this if Kooka had been OK.
Pickles.

As a kid in the sixties and early seventies I used to trap and shoot rabbits for pocket money and they weren't a bad source of income, as there were plenty of them around. When I got my licence in the early seventies there were still a couple of "Chillers" (rabbit buyers) operating locally and to supplement my meagre wage of $19 clear per week as an apprentice, I would go out shooting a couple of nights a week. Fuel was cheap, ammo was cheap, and rabbits were bringing about 80 cents a pair and by the late seventies they were up to $2.20 a pair. So thirty or forty pair and home by midnight was a good sideline. Hares were worth the same, but easier work as they didn't have to be gutted for the chillers. From memory the story was they ended up being sold to a select market for "jugged hare". There wasn't a lot about, but every so often they would appear in a stubble paddock. The things you do when young, the only thing I would shoot nowadays is a target.
Everything has a right to live.
In later years there would be a few around the area in our vineyard and they can be very destructive on young grapevines.

Cheers, Mick.

This week has been very tough for me after Wombat passed over the Rainbow Bridge.

But it has also been very good, our boy has taken to the remaining Leveret, Possum & they spend all day together in & around Jess's hutch. They can even be found together in the sleeping area. This is a great development for both.
When we get other little ones jess will make them feel more comfortable in their new surroundings.
Possum weighs just over 220g with the big boy 1.6kg. Possum has also started eating solids & grain mix & is now trained in the use of the litter tray, this is very important for when they are re homed.

Dave

Cute x1000.
Who you calling big ears ?

As a career, we have now taken in another little 103g Leveret ( Pebbles ) found by the public on a building site.
We received a call from Wildcare at 10.00pm Thursday night to pick up in Bethania, i think we got to bed at 1.30, worth it.

Over the Christmas break i built a run for our boy but i think as the Hares in our care get stronger they too will spend their days in the run until they get a permanent home.
The raw panels section will have a raised floor that will be the sleeping/safe area for the Hares.

Cheers
Dave