Wild Rabbits

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

We have a TON of wild rabbits in my area. Matter of fact we had a visitor in our yard the other day who hung out chomping on my dandelion, mint/peppermint plants, and the bark on my Silver Maple tree. I was curious if it's generally ok to feed our domestic rabbits what we see the wild rabbits eating? I know, for sure, what I saw it eating was ok, but I've observed them eating other plants that I'm not sure about. One thing I did notice, though, was that they never seem to eat a lot of any one thing. They seem to literally graze on everything that's available and eat just bits of it all.

 

[MaggieJ]

Watching the wild rabbits and the plants they eat is a good indicator but it is not foolproof. Sometimes wild rabbits will self medicate using plants that are otherwise considered toxic to rabbits. I once saw a young cottontail eat most of a large milkweed leaf. I assume that it needed something in that leaf but I did not assume it was okay to feed it to my rabbits. On the other hand, watching cottontails eat mallow (malva spp.) led me to research and conclude that it is an excellent plant for rabbits, wild or domestic. And that's how we add to our Safe Plants List.