Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Center

Cottontail Rabbit
Order lagomorphs

Although commonly thought to be rodents, rabbits actually belong to their own order. These animals are located at the bottom of the food chain and go to great lengths to keep themselves hidden from predators. Few animals sit still for as long as rabbits do. Rabbits are described as being crepuscular, which means they are most active at dusk and at dawn.

Habitat: Rabbits are generally found in bushy hedgerows and at the edges of woods with dense cover. They also do well in suburban and urban areas, where lawns, gardens, and shrubs meet their habitat requirements.

Diet: Rabbits feed on leafy vegetation, buds, and the bark of woody plants. They also enjoy many garden vegetables and fruit trees.

Public Health Issues Associated with Rabbits

• Rabbits can be infected with tularemia, which can be transmitted to people if they eat undercooked meat from an infected animal, if they allow an open cut to come in contact with infected meat, or if they handle a sick animal.

• Rabbits serve as the host for the tick that transmits Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Problems Associated with Rabbit

• Damage by cottontails is usually the result of feeding activities. The presence of rabbits can be detected by their easily recognizable tracks as well as their nearly spherical pea-sized droppings.

Solution

• The most effective permanent protection for gardens is a well-constructed fence. Chicken wire supported by posts every six to eight feet is strong enough.

• Barriers such as commercial tree wraps may be effective in preventing bark damage by rabbits. Cylinders of hardware cloth or poultry wire can also be used.

Additional Note

• Prior to giving birth, a rabbit will dig a hole, pull fur from her belly, and place that fur with dry grass in the hole. She gives birth, feeds her babies, covers them, and leaves. She usually returns to her nest at night, feeding her babies two or three times.

• She leaves her nest because she has an odor that may attract predators. By not being near her babies, she is protecting them.

• By using fur from her belly in the nest, she not only keeps her babies warm but she can follow her own scent back to the nest.

• The only reason that a mother rabbit will not return to her nest is if there is blood in the nest. When a nest is accidentally hit with a lawn mower blade or weedwhacker and one of the babies is cut, the mother will not return. The babies must be brought to a wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible for proper treatment and feeding.

• If you discover a nest but there is no blood in it, place the mother’s fur and grass clippings back over the nest. That evening take unbleached flour and use it to make a large, wide circle around the nest. Then leave the nest alone until the next morning. Check to see if there are rabbit tracks going through the flour to and from the nest. If there are, either the mother is returning to the nest or the babies are old enough to venture from the nest and eat on their own. Leave the nest alone.

• If you do not see any tracks, bring the nest of rabbits to a wildlife rehabilitator.

• This procedure should be done only once - do not repeat it. This will interfere with the mother’s raising of the babies and may attract predators.

• When a rabbit nest is found in an unwanted or unsafe place, such as a dog compound, the nest and babies can be moved. Locate the closest safe place outside the area and dig a small hole. Take the babies out of the original nest, then take the contents of the nest and place them in the new hole. Place the babies in the new nest and cover them with dry grass clippings. That evening place a wide circle of unbleached flour around the nest. Check in the morning to see if there are tracks. If there are, leave the area alone. If no tracks are found, bring the rabbits to a wildlife rehabilitator. Do not attempt to feed or give fluids to the rabbits. Handle them as little as possible.