[tmfinley]

My son came home from a friends house tonight with a cottontail itty bitty rabbit. His friend's cousin works at a daycare and they caught the rabbit out in the playground area. I don't believe this little one is weaned and know wild animals should not be brought in to become pets. I want to try and return the baby to the area it came from so it has a chance of finding its mama and a chance of survival, but since they caught the rabbit in the middle of a playground I'm not sure about the best way to go about this since I don't know a safe place to leave it. Any thoughts??

Also, since we have it for at least the night what can we try to do to keep it as healthy as possible? I have fresh goat milk, should we try to feed it a little out of a eye dropper or just let her be?

Thank ;you,
Tiffany

 

[MaggieJ]

If its eyes are open and its ears up (as opposed to plastered to its head) it is likely pretty much independent. I suggest just returning it to the spot where your son first caught sight of it. If there are bushes, trees etc. for cover, that is the place to put it.

I suppose you can offer it goat's milk, but it should also have water in a shallow dish and some grass, weeds like dandelion, clover or plantain etc. I don't recommend giving it vegetables from the garden etc. The bun may not be fully weaned, but cottontails munch on vegetation as soon as they can find it. This bunny may be tiny, but it may be older than you think it is. Even if not, they grow up very fast.

 

[tmfinley]

Ok, Its ears are up and you are right it is probably older than I think. I will call the daycare in the morning and ask if I can go out there and let it go. I think they have a fence around the play area, I will try to find a covered area outside of the fence.

 

[MaggieJ]

Sounds like a good idea. If you can't do that, releasing it in an area with lots of cover but with access to grazing (edge of a woods, treeline between fields, bushy bank alongside a stream etc.) would likely to give it a good chance.

I know your son is very young and that he likely thought he was "saving" the bunny, but if he's old enough to catch one, then he is old enough for a gentle talk about how the wild things need their own wild lives, free from interference from people. Explain to him that the bunny needs to be free to be happy. Cottontails do not do well in captivity.

 

[Beaniemom]

Unless of course he caught a feral domestic rabbit? :O Is it brown like a normal wild bunny? I'm kinda surprised it was easy to catch, having had some small escapees myself, man can they ever move!

Although, I hear that feral domestic rabbits will revert back to "wild rabbit brown" after so many generations...I know there are a few members with some escapees they can't catch, maybe they'll let us know what happens in about 5 years or so? ;p

 

[tmfinley]

Maggiej, I totally agree with wild things needing their own wild lives. My son wasn't the one who caught the rabbit. He actually felt bad for the rabbit and talked his friends into letting him have it to try and give it the wild life it deserves.

 

[KSALguy]

actually its not too hard to catch cottontails once they are weand out of the nest, they tend to freeze in bad places where they are easy to snag, i have caught and relocated several that way (bad locations for bunny survival and all that) if its active and alert and and a good sized handfull or more it will do just fine on its own where ever you turn it loose, even if you did take it back to the same place it was found chances are the rest of the rabbit family have long sence split anyway,

 

[MaggieJ]

Maggiej, I totally agree with wild things needing their own wild lives. My son wasn't the one who caught the rabbit. He actually felt bad for the rabbit and talked his friends into letting him have it to try and give it the wild life it deserves.

Good for your son! He obviously has an excellent understanding. And good for you in fostering it! :goodjob:

 

[PAcountry]

I hit one last summer with the lawn mower didnt get it with the blade. But it knocked it out cold. I took it inside and when it came around after a couple of hours I let it go. It was tiny palm of your hand tiny.
But poor bunny was never quite right after that would always sort of lean and hop right into the fence it hung around though I knew it was him becuase he had a little white patch on his fur that no other bunnys had.

Then one morning we came out and found him dead in the front yard may have gotten hit by a car. Felt bad for that little guy

Sorry for bring it up not really relevent to your post but just made me think of him