Rabbit Facts

     Rabbits are not rodents but belong to their own order called lagomorphs.  The evolutionary split between rabbits and other living mammals probably occurred about thirty million years ago.

     There are twelve species of rabbits in the United States with the eastern cottontail being the most widely distributed.

     Cottontails vary in color from gray to brown and have large ears and hind feet and fluffy tails.  They average about a foot in length and weigh 2 to 3 pounds.

     Cottontails are generally found in brushy hedgerows and the edges of wooded areas with dense cover, but also do very well in suburbs and urban areas.   Rabbits feed on leafy plants during the growing season and the buds and bark of woody plants in the winter.

     Famous for their reproductive abilities, cottontails breed from February through September.  Gestation is about 28 days.  Three or four litters of four or five young known as kittens are born each year.  Young are born helpless in a shallow depression lined with grass and mother’s fur, but they grow rapidly and are weaned when less than half the size of the adult.

     Mothers nurse their babies for approximately 5 minutes a day.   The milk is very rich and the babies fill up to capacity within minutes.   Mother rabbits do not sit on their babies to keep them warm.  Baby rabbits are often "rescued" by well-meaning humans who think that they have been abandoned.   Fewer than 10% of these babies survive.

     Cottontails may live to two years in the wild, but where predators are numerous, they seldom live more than one.  85% of the rabbit population dies each year.  This includes at least one out of every three babies that are born per year.

     Many mortality factors affect rabbit populations.   Weather is a major factor in nest mortality as ground nests are susceptible to flooding in heavy rains.

 Problems and Solutions

     Cottontail damage is usually caused by the rabbits feeding on flowers and vegetable plants in spring and summer and fruit trees and ornamentals in the fall and winter.  You can tell that rabbits caused the damage by the cleanly cut plant remains and the presence of pea-sized droppings scattered around the area or sometimes left in small piles.

     The most effective permanent protection for gardens subject to rabbit damage is a well-constructed fence.  Chicken wire supported by posts every 6 to 8 feet is strong enough to exclude rabbits.  Such fences normally need to be only about 2 feet high but it is important to make sure that the bottom is either buried 6 to 8 inches or staked securely to the ground to prevent rabbits from pushing their way underneath it.  Some gardeners prefer to construct movable fence panels that can be stored as sections (2 x 8 feet) and set out to protect the garden right after the first planting when damage is likely to be most severe.  Some years the panels might not be needed at all given the ups and downs that occur with the rabbit population.

     When rabbit presence is only sporadic or occasional, new plants can be protected by using 1-gallon plastic milk containers that have the bottom cut out and placed over the seedling or with commercially-available "cloches" which can be purchased in garden supply stores or ordered from the

Gardener’s Supply Company
128 Intervale Road
Burlington, VT 05401
Tel # 800-863-1700

These will also protect new seedlings from late frost.

     Young trees and saplings are most vulnerable to damage by rabbits.  Pruning the trees in the fall will provide a decoy food source for the rabbits if the trimmings are left on the ground for them.  For tree protection, barriers such as commercial tree wraps can be used.  A number of companies offer this type of protection, including

Forestry Supplies, Inc.
P.O. Box 8397
Jackson, MS 39284-8397
Tel # 800-647-5368

     If fencing is impractical, or damage is so slight that it is not cost effective, small plots and individual plants can be protected with a homemade repellent.  To make the repellent you need one whole spanish onion, one jalepeno pepper and one tablespoon of cayenne pepper.  Chop up the onion and pepper. 
Mix together and boil in two quarts of water for about 20 minutes.  Let cool and then strain water through a cheesecloth into a container.  Using a garden sprayer, spray any area outside where rabbits are being a nuisance.  The process may have to be carried out for a period of two weeks to assure success.  The mixture is non-toxic and safe.  It will not harm the animals but will succeed in keeping them away.

     Some claim that empty soda bottles buried up to their necks and placed along a garden perimeter repel rabbits by producing a noise when the wind blows that scares them.  Some have successfully used scare tape or balloons to frighten rabbits from a particular area.  Pinwheels may also do the trick.

     To protect bulbs from rabbits, place l/4 inch hardware cloth around them when planting.  Flowers will grow through the wire.

 IF YOU COME ACROSS A RABBIT NEST:

     Rabbits "hide their nests in plain view" often putting them in the open, for example in the middle of the lawn, as well as in brush piles and long grass.  If you find a nest that has been disturbed, do all you can to restore and protect it rather than bring the babies inside.  If a dog has discovered the nest, you can put a wheelbarrow over it so that the mother can get to it but the dog cannot.  You can also protect the nest with a wicker laundry basket with a hole cut in it for the mother to enter.

     Nests can be moved to a safer place up to 10 feet away from the original site and can be reconstructed if necessary.  To make a new nest, dig a shallow hole about 3" deep and put into it as much of the original material as you can recover, including the mother’s fur.  Add dried grass as needed, and put the young back.  Mother rabbits return to the nest to nurse only one or two times a day, staying away as much as possible so as not to attract predators.  To determine if the mother is returning, create a tic-tac-toe pattern over the nest with twigs.  Wait 24 hours to see if the twigs have been moved.  If they have, then the mother is coming back.

     Very young babies with eyes closed and ears back rarely survive in captivity, so it is very important to determine whether or not the babies really need your help.  See if the babies seem warm and healthy or cold, thin and dehydrated.  To test for dehydration, gently pinch the loose skin at the back of the neck.  If it stays in a "tent," then the baby is dehydrated and needs rehabilitation.  Another test is to stroke the genital area to stimulate elimination.   If the pee is brown and gritty, the mother rabbit has not been there to help the babies urinate.  The brown, gritty urine is toxic and the babies must be cared for.

     Older babies who are found outside of the nest may not be orphaned or in need of assistance.  Babies are born without fur but develop a full coat in a week.  Their eyes open in 6-10 days and in three weeks they are weaned.   At this age they are about as round as a banana and they may leave the nest to explore but return there to sleep.  To determine if a bunny this age needs help, perform the same dehydration and urine tests.  Also look for bleeding, convulsing, fly larvae, broken limbs.

 IF YOU FIND AN INJURED RABBIT:

     The best thing you can do for an injured bunny is to get in touch with a skilled wildlife rehabilitator.  You can call the local humane shelter or animal control for a referral or contact the Department of Environmental Conservation.   You can also visit Rabbit Vets USA for a referral.

HOW CAN YOU HELP RABBITS?

For more information on rabbits, visit
The Rabbit Society