Will wild rabbit live ?

[Randy Dandy]

Our oldest son found a single stray baby rabbit. We cant find the nest to return it. My wife if feeding it milk from a syringe. I told them that I dont think it will live. Im not trying to be mean its just that Ive always heard that you cant raise a wild rabbit. Any help ?
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y267/Mudball/003.jpg

[Theront]

We have actually had success a couple of times. If you can get goats milk and feed it, it will do better. We had 4 of them at one time and turned 2 loose. 1 didn't make it very long and 1 got stepped on.

Good Luck
Theront

[DenverGirlie]

We had a female dog that would go out and raid nests every year and bring home the babies, often just days old. She would leave them all around the garage.

Anyways, we bottle fed with small animal bottles and with goats milk. Wipe their butts with a warm damped cotton ball if they are very young (just looked at your photo, do the cotton ball thing to help them go). Kept them in a shoe box in the bathroom where it was quite and warm with a fuzzy rag.

Now, most of them died anyways... but we did let several go over the years. They like clover to nibble on as well as other leafy greens when they get a bit bigger.

When we got them they would be about the size of a smallish baked potato, when they got to be the size of a large sweet potato or a bit bigger we would let them go.

good luck

[danoon]

We had a cat that used to bring them home.. the daughter fed and raised all of them.

[Janis Sauncy]

I've had mixed success. I've had better luck, though, with kitten milk replacer and a syringe. You can get the milk replacer at most feed stores.

The first one we succeeded with we tried to make a pet out of it. While it was tiny, it was fine. We set it up in a nice cage in the house and it got plenty of attention (always kind and gentle). As it got older, if anyone (except me, but I was the main bottle-feeder)got close to the cage, it would go nuts and start throwing itself around. Finally, we realized it was a wild animal and wasn't going to make a very good pet. The kids and I let it go in our front yard, hoping it would at least stay around. Not! It hit the ground running and we never saw it again.

So, good luck. Prepare your kids, though, for the possibility it won't make it.

(As far as that one bunny being too wild to keep as a pet, I hand raised a stellar jay and he grew to be a wonderful pet. Smart and interactive. And my brother has a pet squirrel he hand raised that is very tame.....with him, anyway.)

Janis

[Randy Dandy]

Thanks to all for the help in ideas, tips, etc. My wife will do the best she can and we have informed our two sons that the baby rabbit does stand a chance of not making it. I made sure to make that very clear.
Thanks again and maybe we will be lucky enough for this one to live and grow up.

[Nature_Lover]

Baby wild rabbits are hard to raise.
Help him defacate and urinate with warm, wet rag massages.
To increase his chances of survival, try to find someone with rabbits and collect some fresh rabbit manure.
When a baby rabbit starts to eat greens, it eats mom's poop and seeds it's stomach and intestines with bacteria that can break down cellulose from plant matter.
With no fresh rabbit poop to munch, babies take a lot longer to wean, and are less likely to thrive.
Wean onto dry alfalfa, timothy, or grass hay, or as a last resort use fresh dark green sprouts and locally native new growth, (instead of lettuce or spinach which can give him diarrhea by introducing the wrong bacterias). Diarrhea can be fatal.
Good luck!

[HillsideHouse]

I use Pet Gold Small Animal Vitamins (liquid) from Petco, works GREAT! Walmart should have similar.
Good Luck!
Hill

[Randy Dandy]

Sounds like more great advice. Thanks very much.

[Maura]

DDs found a baby rabbit one year. It wouldn't eat and was fearful. They stroked each ear to relieve the shock. With thumb and forefinger, starting at the base of the ear, gently pull upward to the tip. Do this a couple of times. There are trigger points in the ear that control shock. I am in agreement that the bunny is being fostered by you until it can return to the wild.

[lyceum]

We had no problem raising our wild baby bunny. Of course, we had a doe that was nursing babies at the time. We still have him in a cage in the rabbit barn. Very skittish. mom has dropper fed orphaned domestic rabbits without a lot of success. Just keep trying and don't expect it to live.

Carisa

[Randy Dandy]

Thanks again for the help. Just thought I would update.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y267/Mudball/002-1.jpg
The wife bought some pet milk at WalMart and as you can see in the picture she is feeding him. She still going to buy a special bottle for it.
How many weeks should we wait before we let him go ?
We dont really have any way to keep him when he becomes larger unless we use the pet carrier for it.

[fishhead]

I hate to tell you this but I doubt the rabbit was abandoned. Cottontails hide their young singly in the grass as they go out to feed. You'll find one here and another a short distance away and then another one a short distance from the other two.

Rabbits have a special compartment in their stomach where they keep the bacteria they need to convert grass into food they can absorb. They produce "night pellets" and re-ingest them to maintain bacteria in their gut.

[Janis Sauncy]

Fishhead:

Just a question about the bacteria thing. I have two pet rabbits, so knowing about the "night pellets" is good future info for me. My question is for those without access to those lovely little things: would something like yogurt or the tube stuff you get in feed stores for animals under stress or finishing up with antibiotics be of any use(I can't believe the name escapes me; I used to work in a feed store and have fed it many times myself to goats but my brain went into a brain freeze)?

The baby rabbits I've fostered have always been "gifts" from my cats.

Janis

[pcwerk]

[QUOTE=fishhead]I hate to tell you this but I doubt the rabbit was abandoned. Cottontails hide their young singly in the grass as they go out to feed. You'll find one here and another a short distance away and then another one a short distance from the other two."


This is true. I know its too late since ya'll have probably handled it a lot,
but the same thing happened to me a couple of years ago (found one in
our garden) and a lady from the wildlife rescue group told me to go put it
back where I found it. Did so and never saw the little scamp again.
pc

[Jenn]

after dog found nest we raised a few with syringe and diluted evap milk. Copuldn't rreturn to nest- dog would kill.

[Horselover]

I saw a picture an acquaintance of mine had of her two wild rabbits. They were stretched out in her recliner chair. So so cute. She had gotten them when babies and raised them. I don't remember how she came by them. I had always thought they would not live if your tried to tame them.
Be careful about feeding too many greens. I hope this little "bun" does really good as it is just so precious looking.

[susieM]

Wipe their butts with a warm damp washcloth as you are feeding them, so they will pee...if not, they hold it til their bladders pop.

[Danaus29]

That one is a bit young to have been out wandering on it's own (as is the case with most "abandonded/ophaned" baby cottontails) so without knowing where the nest is it most likely would not have survived if it was put back where it was found. I have done rabbit rescues and worked for a wildlife center for a while. You don't have to massage it's tummy to make it go to the bathroom, rabbits go on their own. Since the eyes are not open it should still be on an all milk diet. Feed 2 times a day, morning and evening, as much as the bunny will eat. The tummy should look round and full. Kitten milk replacer is best (unless you want to spend big $$$ on wildlife milk replacer). I have done well with whole cows milk with a bit of Karo added. Still, chances are not good. Most cottontails don't survive past 3 months anyway. Once the eyes open you need to add greens to it's diet. Grass, dandelions, plantain (buckhorn), etc. It will eat them on it's own once it's eyes have opened. Normally that is the time most people find baby bunnies because at that age they do go exploring. The bunny will still need bottle feeding for another 2 weeks. A pet carrier will be fine but be prepared for the bunny to be very afraid of you and go ballistic wheneveer you open that carrier door. About 2 to 3 weeks after the eyes are open you can release the bunny into a safe area in your yard. We still have our wild foundling cottontail. It is free in our yard and every once in a while we'll see it outside, near the rabbit/duck shed.

Good luck with your baby. I hope it survives.

[popscott]

Try these links for some more indepth info about Runny Babbits

http://www.orphanedwildlifecare.com/rabbitandhare.htm

http://www.2ndchance.info/bunnies.htm

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html

http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/s...cle.cfm?id=416

http://www.wildliferescueleague.org/...va_rabbit.html

Thanks,
Pam and Scott
http://www.justkiddinfarm.com/