Iris and Her Bunnies
by Carrie Noring

Here is Iris "sneaking" a sip of milk replacer while it is being warmed up with hot water. This became a regular ritual at feeding time.

I adopted Iris from Naraah's Ark in 2000. She was described on her pedigree as a Snowshoe Siamese, however, I had always thought of her as a Himalayan. I have now come to understand that a Snowshoe Siamese is actually a Berkshire Siamese. A rat with Berkshire markings and Siamese coloring (the Berkshire markings had faded with her first molt). Iris passed away on April 15, 2003, at the nice old age of three. She was the most wonderful girl and I will always remember her fondly.

Iris had two litters for me, both of them large and both of them with a 100% survival rate. She was such an excellent mother that when my other females were due to give birth, I always put Iris in with them. She always helped care for the babies and never squabbled with the new mothers. It even seemed as if the younger females respected her.

Her wonderful maternal instincts coupled with her sweet and loving disposition are why this story came to be.

In the early summer of 2001, I was visiting with a friend. We were in the backyard watching Luther, his Springer Spaniel, play. All of a sudden Luther came running up and dropped a small furry object at our feet. He then proceeded to run off and return with another. I questioned my friend about what was going on and he told me that Luther had found a nest of Cottontail rabbits. Luther had been removing the babies from the nest for a couple of days and my friend had been replacing them. Unfortunately, because of all the disturbance, the mother rabbit never came back. I volunteered to take the babies and raise them. We went to the nest and rescued the baby bunnies. I brought home a total of seven babies that day.

On my way home, I stopped at the pet store and asked for advice. I was told to use Kitten Milk Replacer, so that is what I purchased. I also bought a puppy bottle and some extra nipples.

At home, I set up an aquarium with bedding and a heating pad underneath. I made a little nest for the bunnies with paper towels. Then I went to do some research on the Internet. I found out that mother rabbits only feed their young a maximum of three times a day, with two times a day being normal. After gathering as much information as I could, it was time to feed the bunnies. Feeding always went very well. The babies eagerly sucked the milk replacer from the puppy bottle. But, I noticed that the bunnies weren't staying very warm.

I came up with the idea of using Iris as a foster mother. I put her in with the babies and anxiously watched to see what would happen. After a little bit of sniffing, she settled right in and started cleaning the baby bunnies. After everyone was cleaned to her satisfaction, she rearranged the nest to her liking. Then it was nap time.

As you can see, Iris was very content to be a foster mom. I truly think that Iris's favorite part of life was taking care of babies, no matter who they belonged to.

Iris did an excellent job as foster mom. Without her, I don't think I would have been successful. I fed the babies and she kept them warm and clean. The babies were very happy to have a warm, caring, furry body to cuddle up to. They grew astonishingly quickly. Iris took her mom duties very seriously. Even when the babies had opened their eyes and were starting to eat solid foods, Iris always made sure they were meticulously clean. She also made sure they didn't stray too far from the nest. It was quite a sight seeing her drag a baby bunny, which was just as big as her, back to the nest for nap-time.

Iris and I were both sad to see them go. But all babies eventually grow up and have to make it on their own.

Iris always had to have a hand in everything when it came to her babies. She made sure to supervise every feeding and was always around to help out.