i have two cottontail bunny rabbits, they are about a month or so old. they are getting a little wild and rambuncious and one is not even getting used to hands yet. when will this phase go away? do they get calmer and easer to handle as they grow older? i really want to keep these two as pets but if they are going to be this wild then i may have to let them go. do you have a cottontail rabbit? how does yours act?
Answers:
they are always wild and active when they are young. they will grow out of this phase with time. just handle them alot so they can get used to it, they eventually will. but as long as you let them run and care for them properly, they will be very good pets. and i have a netherland dwarf rabbit, i love him!! (and he's very laid back and likes to run around the house)
it depends if you have them trained.
Try this site: http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rabbits/a.
Rabbits as a whole don't like being held, and this site may help give you some insight.
I saw two yesterday, and they were just outside running loose in the yard. Just like puppies, or something. They were having the best time, and were not afraid or spooky. Maybe yours need to have somewhere to run around and play free. They don't go far.
Personally teryaki and medium coals and slow speed on the rotisserie..calms them down the best Ive found..
Wild cottontail rabbits DO NOT make good pets at all. Continuing to handle them will kill them, by adding more stress to their already stressful personality. They will not get easier to handle, and they will never get used to you. Do them a favor and release them back into the wild where they belong before it is too late. I care for over 100 cottontail rabbits a year.
If they are already a month old, then they are old enough to be on their own. Cottontail rabbits leave the nest early in life and the mother stops caring for them at a very young age (younger than we would expect).
Please do what is in the best interest of the babies, and release them immediately. When you wake up one morning and they are both dead, you will be the only one to blame (and I'm not trying to be mean here). I deal with this all the time from the public, from people that are not educated/trained to handle wild animals. Plus, in many areas of the states, it is illegal to care for wildlife unless you have a special permit.
If you would like a rabbit, get a domestic one and leave the wildlife out where they belong.
I agree with some of the things that ctwitch24 states. There are so many domesticated rabbits available, even in shelters, that no one needs to take them from the wild. Do them a favor and let them go back where they are free. It is illegal to breed them with domesticated ones if you should choose to do so later. Wild rabbits have characteristics that have been bred out of domesticated rabbits and that is why the domestic ones are such great pets. Gotta watch the back claws on all of them though.
i have one.he's name is stew(short for rabbit stew.hehe) .he's gray and small.i don't know what's his breed.he is always curious,running around the room but he gets comfy at my bed sometimes.he's not afraid to be handled..
No they don't get calmer and depending on where you live it may be illegal for you to be keeping them without a wildlife rehab permit. You won't be able to keep them.
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If you want a tame cottontail, keep only ONE and keep the calmer one. That way you can focus all your energy on socializing that one, and it will bond with you more. This is advice coming from someone who right now owns a 1 year old cottontail, and who has dealt with 8 others from 3 different litters.
ReplyDeleteI have a cottontail named Pete and I love him so, but he does not want me.to handle him at all. So only when I'm cleaning his cage do I attempt to pick him up and.place him in the bathroom so he.can excercise.
ReplyDeleteWe also have a one month old cottontail. I think it's a bit silly that everyone says to just release it. Their life expectancy in the wild is 9 months to a year because they get eaten! How is it doing them good to release them when they have a better chance at a better life by keeping them. Our little guy (or girl) lived in our front yard. We are redoing our raised beds and had to rip up its home. I figured it wouldn't make it long in the wild with no home to go back to. It has a better chance with us.
ReplyDeleteI use a small feed bucket to scoop up speedy out of cage and bathroom. Speedy is very nervous. Her claws are very painful. this solution on scooping her up instead of picking her up is good for me in her. just a tip.
DeleteI also wrap her in a small towel when I want to cuddle. Speedy is potty trained. when she is in bathroom she has a cat litterbox with a doggie pad. She uses that when she is loose. do not allow her loose in house. hard to catch and all wires can be damage. took me 10 days to catch her. lots of damage. she did use her cat box. Speedy the cotton tail.
Deleteher cage has 2 triangle boxes with hay. one is her potty box the other is her bed. that is how i trained her. sometimes she switches but she only pees in one. i line it with newspaper then hay. the one with wet paper is the one that needs cleaning every other day. i hope that helps. they will chew wood if loose.
DeleteWe have had a wild cotton tail for nearly a year now. She is spoiled and adorable. We can't hold her, however she will eat candied sunflower seeds out of our hand. We have bunny proofed our home and she has the run of most of it, except for our bedroom. We've raised her since she was about 3 weeks old. She will be a year old in August 2017. We love her dearly and she has made her home with us without any problems. We have her condo cage set up in our living room, however, she sleeps where she pleases, uses her litterbox where our cats have theirs...(she picked out where she wanted it) And we feed her lots of kale, carrots, warm milk, apple, banana, frosted mini wheats (she loves them) and animal crackers. She is spoiled and loves to climb on my husband when he is asleep in his chair and try to steal his pen from his pocket. I wear long mumus, and she loves to hide underneath it when I am working in the kitchen. She is our girl! Oh, and she loves our huge siamese lynx cat. I think she wants to marry him. I think we lucked out when we first got her (abandoned) She fits right in with our family! I don't think we could pay her to leave.
ReplyDeleteAh there just bunny don’t believe in wild bunny every domestic bunny was from wild thousands years ago
ReplyDeleteBefore letting my rehabbed cottontail go, he was NOT wild. If I crossed my legs and sat by him, he would climb all over me and LOVED being petted. Everyone has an opinion, sorry doesn't count for every bunny, they aren't all the same. I ended up bringing him to the woods to let free about 8 weeks or older. I stopped petting him a few weeks before and still on the last day he was calm as can be with me. I believe if you spend a lot of time and have the love to give them, they know it. I do believe he would have been a very calm and happy pet if I had kept him.
ReplyDeleteI hope he wasn't eaten by some critter. He would have had a happy life with you.
DeleteI've had a cottontail for 4 years. He was a month old when I rescued him from my swimming pool. He's fine with being handled, carried, and kissed whenever I feel like it. He answers to his name. This is because I've handled him daily for at least 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day. He lives in my house with 5 dogs and 3 cats and is used to their noises.
ReplyDeletemy dog brought in a baby cottontail in to our house, I would say about 2 weeks old and we put it out side around the spot my dog got it from and left it there over night but in the morning it was still there and it didn't move so now it has been day 2 of trying to care for it and it is very loving and loves to be held and we got it a hamster cage thing and it always tries to climb out of it so i let it sleep in my bed and everything seems fine. its very active and cuddly but everything on the internet is saying this is not normal so im concerned. also how can i check for gender so i dont have to call he/she it
ReplyDelete