How/when to release juvenile cottontail?

strantor · Jul 13, 2024

My daughter rescued this critter as a baby from the mouth of our dog and she bottle fed it at it the start. It had only barely grown hair, I know it because the same dog got into the same litter a week prior and brought back dead hairless babies. It was under 3 ounces. Now it's eating rabbit food from the feed store and has been for a few weeks. It is at least 2 months old now.

I told her a cottontail won't make a good pet, it's a wild animal and will need to return to the wild, and I think the time has come but I'm not sure. What say you? Is it big enough? Or let it bake a while longer?

If/when it's time, what is the best way to release it? Just dump it in the brush and hope for the best? I was thinking maybe move the cage outside in the shade and after a few days open the door but leave the cage. Then the rabbit is free to leave but still has access to the safety it's used to, if it wants to return. Then remove the cage if/when the rabbit stops coming back (if it ever does come back). Good plan? Is there a Better plan?

RjCorazza · Jul 13, 2024

No real experience, but I think I would transition it to natural vegetation of the area before release.

bigtiller · Jul 14, 2024

With no mother to teach it the important things a rabbit needs to know to survive, its prospects seam low to me. But hopefully I am wrong.
Wishing you the best.

LS Tractor Owner · Jul 14, 2024

Baby cottontails actually do make good pets. When I was a youngster, 2 of my friends had "rescued" baby bunnies from animal disturbed nests. In each instance, they were bottle fed. They had cages, but were allowed to go in and out on their own in the basement. One actually used an open litter box. When we would go down, they instantly ran over to say "hi".

They will actually live longer in captivity than they do in the wild.

Prospects of a human hand raised rabbit making it in the wild is low, but not impossible. Bad idea just to set the cage out..... ringing the dinner bell for predators and marking where dinner is captive....

If you are going to release it, put it in / near heavy brush, the heaviest cover that can be found.

ning · Jul 14, 2024

I follow someone on another social media (tbn *is* a social media too!) and she's got a house-trained cottontail that she rescued from very young similarly.

I think hers has always been socialized as a pet, and she has no plans to wild it.

If you really don't want to keep it, contact a local wildlife rescue organization and get their advice; they may have an environment for it to live in that's safer than just letting it go.

strantor · Jul 15, 2024

LS Tractor Owner said:
Baby cottontails actually do make good pets. When I was a youngster, 2 of my friends had "rescued" baby bunnies from animal disturbed nests. In each instance, they were bottle fed. They had cages, but were allowed to go in and out on their own in the basement. One actually used an open litter box. When we would go down, they instantly ran over to say "hi".

They will actually live longer in captivity than they do in the wild.

Prospects of a human hand raised rabbit making it in the wild is low, but not impossible. Bad idea just to set the cage out..... ringing the dinner bell for predators and marking where dinner is captive....

If you are going to release it, put it in / near heavy brush, the heaviest cover that can be found.

Everything I read when she found it, said they don't make good pets and are too hard to keep alive. It was injured already and I thought it was going to die. I told her she could care for it until that happened, since it's more compassionate than just leaving it to die alone outside. Well I was wrong and here we are. I did not expect to be here trying to make this decision.

On your prompt I went digging a little deeper and found some sites suggesting the main reason not to take the babies in, is that they learn survival skills from their mother and if you cage raise them and then release them they're pretty much doomed.

So I guess the question I should actually be asking is how big a cage an adult cottontail needs

.

Jstpssng · Jul 15, 2024

strantor said:
Everything I read when she found it, said they don't make good pets and are too hard to keep alive

I think sometimes we are told that to discourage people from just taking babies from the wild.
I was going to mention that some states have laws about keeping wild animals without a permit. Then I saw you're in Texas, so doubt that would be a problem.

MossRoad · Jul 15, 2024

strantor said:
when to release juvenile cottontail? ....

strantor said:
It is at least 2 months old now.

About a month ago.

Wild rabbits don't teach their babies what to eat. The little buggers just get out of the nest and start munching on everything.

Think about it.... have you ever seen a wild rabbit with a bunch of babies outside of the nest? Probably not. I've only seen it once, and that was the day after they left the nest. After that, they scattered. At 2 months old, they'll start fighting with each other and can start having babies.

This was probably one of if not THE last time these babies nursed from their momma.

strantor · Jul 15, 2024

Jstpssng said:
I was going to mention that some states have laws about keeping wild animals without a permit. Then I saw you're in Texas, so doubt that would be a problem.

I would think you're correct but I googled anyway to be sure. Found this:

It is important to note that in Texas, as well as in most states, owning wildlife is illegal. Wildlife is defined as any undomesticated, native animal living in the wild, including those hunted for food, sport or profit. In Texas, these include skunks, raccoons, white-tailed deer, cottontails, jackrabbits and squirrels, among many others. Since these animals are found in the wild and are native to the environment, they are not allowed to be owned. There are some exceptions to the rule, but these animals require appropriate permits from the U.S. Department of Fish and Game. Without proper permitting, they are illegal to have in your possession. Keep this in mind before you decide you want to hand raise a baby rabbit or squirrel

You can't trust everything on the internet especially lately where vast amounts of info are generated by AI and not fact checked by humans, but if it's true, I don't care. I'm allowed to kill it but not rescue it? I think we have a duty to break laws as stupid as that one. I could understand if it was a wolf or a cougar or something but a cottontail? Yeah let the game warden come be the bad guy, take my kid's bunny away to make sure this asinine law is complied with, because I'm not going to do his job for him.