There Is A Rabbit In My Yard

About two months ago a strange rabbit showed up in my driveway, and when I tried to approach it, it fled into my yard through a gap in the fence. When I caught sight of it still in the yard a few days later, I decided to close the gap, but I strongly suspect the rabbit can escape if it really wants to.

A little bit of research revealed that it is definitely an English Spot. The rabbit seems to have become considerably more trusting of me since it first arrived- if I sit down in the yard at night and call to it, it will come to me and eat carrots from my hand, and even let me stroke it. However, the rabbit remains very easy to startle and will not approach any of the house's entryways or let me come near it during the day. My one attempt to pick it up so far ended quickly. I believe the rabbit is spending most of its time in the crawlspace, but it is a large and overgrown yard and it could be in many places.

It is getting cold here and I am worried about it. Most evenings the rabbit will come to the front of the house, and usually he spends this time foraging among the freshly fallen oak leaves for something, which I at first thought was small acorns but I now think he may be eating the leaves themselves, which makes me worry about whether he is finding enough food since dead leaves strike me as a rather desperate source of nutrition. Some nights he doesn't forage and just sits by the fence and watches the front door, and he has even done this in the rain which really bothered me.

I live in an older suburban neighborhood in the southeastern United States, with a major road next door to me and plenty of dogs and cats both in other yards and wandering about. My yard is completely fenced and little used and I think it is the best deal this rabbit is going to find anywhere around here. I don't have the energy or money to take on a pet seriously, but I would like to do something to make the rabbit more comfortable- I wish I could at least get it to come into the house where it would be warm and dry on some of the worse nights. Can anyone give me suggestions on how to help this rabbit?

The best was you can substitute its diet is to provide hay, you can get it from a pet store or probably cheaper from a horse feed supplier. You'll probably need to set up somewhere dry to put the hay so it doesn't get soaked by the rain.

Try seeing if there is a dedicated rabbit rescue or house rabbit society near you they might be able to help better than a general shelter.

If you are willing to set up an area inside for it then a cat trap might be the way forward. You put food in one end the cat/rabbit walks in and the door closes. A local humane soc or vet might lend you one. Rabbits are often nervous in a big open area but if he'll feed from your hand he sounds quite tame.

Rather than lifting, which most rabbits hate anyway, could you push him into a side opening box/carrier?

hello! How great that you've found this forum, and how lovely of you to want to help this rabbit!

It seems that this is perhaps a lost or abandoned rabbit that was previously owned by someone as a pet. This means that it will not be used to living wild, and you have already explained that it has tame tendencies (eating carrots from you and letting you stroke it.) This means that it cannot carry on living outside without being looked after and what you must try to do is catch it (will make a few suggestions on how after this) and find a rabbit rescue who will adopt it and then rehome it (there will be people checking this post in 8 hours or so who can perhaps give you details of rabbit rescues in the USA.)

In terms of catching it, try these things.

- If you can find a big, heavy blanket to throw over the rabbit from a distance while it is forraging, eating carrots or near by you, then there is more of a chance you can catch it. If you get the blanket completely over the rabbit, there is more of a chance that it will freeze than run away. Rabbits are also much more easily picked up whe in towels/blankets rather than when a human just tries to hold them with their hands.

- If that doesn't work, get some more people (perhaps a family member or a friend to help you?) who will help you back it into a corner. With a person in each escape route, it is more likely one of you will be able to quickly grab it in a towel and pick it up to bring it inside. (once you do grab it, hold it tightly and close to you, supporting its bottom and holding its top half to your chest.) It would also be helpful to have a box close by which is easily closeable as you can put the rabbit straight in when you grab it, so that there is no kicking around.

- Is there anyway by feeding it that you could quickly grab it? Or put some food in a box that it could be tempted in to? And then quickly lift the box off the floor, shut it and take it inside?

- Again, hopefully people will be looking at this thread in a few hours and might be able to suggest a rescue local to you where there are people who will be able to come and actually help you catch it.

Keep us updated on what happens, I'll keep bumping this thread to make sure people read it.

All the best

If you send me a private message saying exactly where you live, I'll try and look up a rescue local to you. :wave:

Catching the rabbit would probably be very easy on a not-too-cold night; it will come up to me and hang around as long as I feed it. However, I really can't find it when it doesn't want to be found, so I would have to wait for it to show itself.

I could put the rabbit in a box or something but right now I'd rather let it run loose as it seems to have found adequate food so far and I don't have anything but grocer's vegetables to feed it and I have already read that an all "treat" diet is bad for rabbits. Also, the inside of the house is extremely cluttered and the only place suitable for a rabbit is the kitchen. Like I said, I was just hoping to get it in out of the rain and cold, and I am afraid that if I start stuffing it in a box all night for its own good I am going to lose what little trust I have got from it so far.

Part of the reason I am indecisive about what to do is that I cannot get a clear picture from what I am reading of how much involvement keeping a rabbit actually entails. I have kept cats before that were little more than boarders, and I think I could do that with this rabbit if only it would stop running away and hiding every time it hears a noise.

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/index.html

Here's the website of the different House Rabbit Chapters. Maybe there's one in your area? If so, they could take the bunny in or help you if you decide to keep him/her.

Good luck!

Keeping a rabbit does take up time, but it's not onerous. If you would like to adopt the rabbit when you would have to chose either to keep him indoors or to keep him outdoors, you can't have a rabbit that is outdoors sometimes and indoors sometimes as the temperature difference can cause shock and he won't grow a proper winter coat if he is sleeping indoors. To keep him indoors you would need to prepare some sort of cage, lots of people use dog cages as these are nice and big, you then need to secure an exercise area around that cage, some people use a whole room, some people use metal fences and gates to fence off part of a room. Some people allow them to have pretty much free range around the house. Rabbits do make very good house pets, they adapt easily to living indoors as long as they get space. If he is neutered then they can also be house trained, they will have a litter try much like cats do and you clean that out once per day. As has already been said you need to provide lots of hay to eat, as well as some fresh vegetables and some pellets too.

If you would like to keep him outdoors then you need to build a nice hutch and run, the normal recommonded size is a 6ft x 2ft hutch and a 6ft x 6ft run. You would have to check on your rabbit twice a day, provide fresh food at least once a day, make sure he has fresh water all the time and clean out the litter tray once per day. If kept outside though a rabbit definately needs a companion rabbit, which means making sure they are both neutered. Living like this they can be very happy, will enjoy the space and the company. I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but if it drops a lot below zero then this might not be suitable.

Awwwhh! The poor little thing I'm a sucker for a homeless bunny!

Firstly, I'd say that you need to get him inside or in a hutch ASAP! You said your neighbours have cats and dogs - all it could take is for a cat to hop over the fence and Mr Bunny could be in serious trouble if he's loose in the garden.

If it were me, from the situation you've described I would set up a box of some sort (maybe you could ask one of your neighbours with the cats if they have a pet carrier you could borrow?) by the fence, where you said he often sits watching you. Put a load of hay and some veggies at the back and hopefully he'll hop in, then you need to be REALLY QUIET AND MOVE SLOW and sneak across your yard and shut the door behind him. Carry a towel with you so if he does hear or see you coming, you'll have a back up plan to grab him.

Once he's in the box, he'll be safe. Give him some water too. It sounds to me like you aren't too sure about taking him on as a pet so I'd suggest looking around for a rescue centre. A rabbit specialist would be ideal but if it's an 'all animal' shelter, that's ok too. Also, have you thought about putting up posters locally saying you've found him? It could be that he's escaped and his owners are looking for him.

Whatever happens, I hope it all turns out well!

Poor little mite, can ou tell if it has a winter coat? If it has it will be ok as an outdoor rabbit if you can give it somewhere dry and cosy to call home. Someone has already advised that it needs hay in his diet, this will ensure that his teeth dont over grow. I am sure that over the last few days you have been reading everhthing you can get your hands on about rabbits and their needs. They do need quite a bit of looking after but its so worth it. I hope that you fall in love with him and if no one claims him, you decide to keep him.

Please keep up with your thread and let us know how you get on. We will all help you if decide to keep him