Wild rabbits

[Winterwolf]

About an hour ago, my husband came in from mowing the lawn and he was carrying two baby wild rabbits with him. Apparently, he'd almost run them over with the lawn mower and then assumed that they must be lost from their nest, so he brought them to his "bunny crazy wife" to see what I thought we should do about them. Unfortunately, I have no clue!

They're really small, but they are hopping around and their eyes are open and they act just like a pair of weanlings. They didn't act very fearful of us and the little one was even having fun exploring the kitchen. I was thinking we should just turn them loose since they seem to be quite independent, but I want to make sure they're old enough before just throwing them back into the wild.

The pictures below are after we transferred them outside to one of the show carriers (with a nest box inside to keep them off the wire). I tried to put my hand in for size comparison, but they seemed more nervous after going back outside, so I didn't want to frighten them further.

Opinions? I've heard about the high mortality rate of trying to raise wild kits in captivity, so I was thinking it might be safer for them to just let them take their chances with the feral cat population. :shrug:

 

[MaggieJ]

Young cottontails are independent just about as soon as they leave the nest. If you can let them go near where they were found and/or in an area on the edge of cleared land where there is lots of cover, they will have their best chance of survival. Keep in mind that they are a prey species and part of their role is to feed other species. In the larger scheme of things, they are not all destined to survive to breeding age.

 

[shazza]

cottontails (at least the eastern ones,) generally don't even make burrows like our rabbits do. they just nest in shallow pits in the ground, so it's really common to run over them with a mower since they aren't actually in a hole like many people expect. like maggie j said, the best thing you can do for them is to let them go near where he found them, or at the edge of a wooded area. mom may or may not come back, but if their eyes are open, they can usually fend for themselves.

i've read many accounts of people who attempted to domesticate or tame wild cottontails they found "abandoned" in their yard. none of them ended pretty. they really just do not seem to be able to be comfortable in any kind of confinement.