FOUND BABY RABBIT!!!!

TheSheepGirl

Loving the herd life
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
334
Reaction score
0
Points
154
Chances are that he will die eventually. Nutritional problems and starvation can take a long time to kill a rabbit, especially a wild rabbit. You may be killing him, but slowly and painfully, without even knowing it.

Despite your worries and your insistance that he is doing well, he will be much better off in the wild where he belongs. He will make a burrow and find food just fine. Even in the cold weather.

Sooner or later he will probably die just as they all do unless you return him to the wild.

There is no arguing this fact. The survival rate for wild rabbits is nearly zero. Rabbit pellets and hay just don't sit well with them. If experts with years of experience can't get them to live, then the chances are slim for you and your newly captured cottontail.
 

therealsilkiechick

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
179
Reaction score
0
Points
64
Location
Northwestern, pa
TheSheepGirl said:
Chances are that he will die eventually. Nutritional problems and starvation can take a long time to kill a rabbit, especially a wild rabbit. You may be killing him, but slowly and painfully, without even knowing it.

Despite your worries and your insistance that he is doing well, he will be much better off in the wild where he belongs. He will make a burrow and find food just fine. Even in the cold weather.

Sooner or later he will probably die just as they all do unless you return him to the wild.

There is no arguing this fact. The survival rate for wild rabbits is nearly zero. Rabbit pellets and hay just don't sit well with them. If experts with years of experience can't get them to live, then the chances are slim for you and your newly captured cottontail.
couldn't have said it any better myself u r 100% right on with everything u just said.:)

yes i know it happens i know people here that have domestics in there yards(some due to they excape and others because they purposely let them go on their land) but if they get caught it wouldn't be pretty. in my state both r very illegal with the worst being caught with a native species u took in. depending on the species here caught with some of them hold not only up to a $5,000 fine but also jail time of like 6mths to a year something like that for some of them.

i've found babies in my hostas every spring. one of the most beautiful things in the world is to see cottontails sitting in ur gardens enjoying and playing in them. that's where they should be free and enjoying ur land not put in a cage and have its habitat totally changed and diet totally changed and sever danger of dieing at the hands of a human, sorry but it's my honest opinion. a wild rabbit is not at all like a domesticated one is and i agree it will sooner or later die because of the stress, drastic change in not only diet but also habbitat change. sorry i'll get off my soapbox now.....:duc
 

Bunnylady

Herd Master
Joined
Nov 27, 2009
Messages
2,431
Reaction score
3,058
Points
353
Location
Wilmington, NC
therealsilkiechick said:
couldn't have said it any better myself u r 100% right on with everything u just said.:)
Well, actually, she's not.

He will make a burrow and find food just fine. Even in the cold weather.
This is incorrect. Cottontails don't make burrows; they live their entire lives above ground. Even when a doe has a litter, all she does is scratch a shallow depression in some sheltered spot; it's more like a bird's nest than a burrow.

Many years ago, I wound up taking in two different litters of Cottontails when their nests were destroyed. I knew at the time that it was illegal for me to have them, but I didn't know about wildlife rehabilitators at the time, so I felt like I was the only chance they had. I was careful to keep the wildlings well away from my domestics, and handled them as little as possible. I fed them with an eyedropper, and kept hay and pellets and oatmeal available to them all the time. As they grew older, I put the cage on the lawn so they could graze, and picked things like blackberry leaves (ouch!) for them to eat. After about a month, I released them in a nice brushy area. All of them survived from the time I took them in to the time I released them; I didn't realize at the time that I was bucking the odds! They may not have lived long after release, but that was the life (and death) that they were born to; I did my best to give them a shot at it.
 

terri9630

Overrun with beasties
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
472
Reaction score
1
Points
86
Location
Southern New Mexico
TheSheepGirl said:
terri9630 said:
therealsilkiechick said:
it is not only illegal to capture and keep a wild rabbit but also to release domestic ones to the wild. ;)
Yes, but it doesn't stop it from happening unfortunately. A few miles south of us there are a lot of white rabbits with black ears and black stripes/spots down their spine running around. Every now and again when I am out on my horse I will see domestic rabbits running wild in the desert.
There's a domestic rabbit running wild around my place as we speak. He just showed up about a year ago and I haven't been able to catch him. They live just fine in the wild most of the time. I have even found nests out in the field, even had a nest in the boat shed and under the nieghbor's garage. It's more than possible for it to be a domestic rabbit.

Sometimes they escape and aren't set free. Like digging out of people's yards.
Going by the picture in your avatar you have grass which would imply that there is water. We are in the middle of the desert. No grass and no water here, very little other than misquite and tumbleweeds. The wild rabbits have been taught to survive in this environment. Domestics tossed/freed/escaped into the wild may find some food but they need water which is only available a few days a year ass there are no rivers or ponds out here.
 

chinbunny1

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Messages
103
Reaction score
0
Points
69
terri9630 said:
TheSheepGirl said:
terri9630 said:
Yes, but it doesn't stop it from happening unfortunately. A few miles south of us there are a lot of white rabbits with black ears and black stripes/spots down their spine running around. Every now and again when I am out on my horse I will see domestic rabbits running wild in the desert.
There's a domestic rabbit running wild around my place as we speak. He just showed up about a year ago and I haven't been able to catch him. They live just fine in the wild most of the time. I have even found nests out in the field, even had a nest in the boat shed and under the nieghbor's garage. It's more than possible for it to be a domestic rabbit.

Sometimes they escape and aren't set free. Like digging out of people's yards.
Going by the picture in your avatar you have grass which would imply that there is water. We are in the middle of the desert. No grass and no water here, very little other than misquite and tumbleweeds. The wild rabbits have been taught to survive in this environment. Domestics tossed/freed/escaped into the wild may find some food but they need water which is only available a few days a year ass there are no rivers or ponds out here.
No matter where you live, wild rabbits get their water from the vegetation they eat.
 

FarmerBoy24

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Jan 31, 2011
Messages
155
Reaction score
1
Points
54
So far is's showing no aggression. Its eating good and drinking good. I think it doesn't need the milk still but im feeding it warm goat milk and rabbit food. I don't know if it's a cotton tail or not, it has a white tail. I personally don't think it'll dye.
 

TheSheepGirl

Loving the herd life
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
334
Reaction score
0
Points
154
FarmerBoy24 said:
So far is's showing no aggression. Its eating good and drinking good. I think it doesn't need the milk still but im feeding it warm goat milk and rabbit food. I don't know if it's a cotton tail or not, it has a white tail. I personally don't think it'll dye.
Post a picture and we will be able to tell wether he is a domestic rabbit or not.

If it is a wild rabbit just set it free and go down and buy a $5.00 rabbit from the feedstore if you want a pet so badly. Otherwise you are breaking the law. You can be arrested and face serious charges if you are caught with a wild animal in your posession. If you are a minor, then it is your parents who will face the charges for your law breaking.
 
Top