Neighbour's loose rabbit

Hello :wave: my first post so I hope I'm posting in the right section.

I have a bit of a dilemma. Neighbours bought a rabbit for their child. Makeshift run, no real bad weather protection for the animal (ie, no hutch) and unsurprisingly Rabbit escaped. He escaped into our field and into our veggie patch. Which was a bit annoying but we told the owners where he was and expected them to catch and re-house him.

Only they haven't. He's been loose since June and I've been getting a bit fond of him. He used to bolt at the first sign of us - which is probably why the owners haven't bothered to retrieve him: he was never particularly tame anyway - but I've persevered with treats over the past month and s/he is now sufficiently confident to come up and take food out of my hand. I don't mind him being loose - yes, he may be predated by a fox but he's been enjoying life as a free bunny and better a short life as a free bunny than a longer life in a tiny run with no hutch or bedding.

Only the weather is obviously getting colder, he's usually to be found morning and evening (I take him a treat when I feed the sheep in the same field) in pretty much the same place (hunkered down under some bracken) and in the torrential downpours we've had recently he's been soaked. I don't know enough about rabbits to know whether a non-wild rabbit is likely to dig burrows etc. If not, he's got a chilly winter ahead of him. He's always on the surface during the day so I'm guessing he doesn't have a burrow.

He's now sufficiently accustomed to me that I know I could scoop him up and pop him into a cat carrier. But am I worrying unnecessarily? Will he develop a thick enough fur coat to get him through a cold winter? I'm kind of thinking I could home him in a hutch and run for the winter and release him again next spring. This would be after I've fenced the veggie patch!

I can't bring him home (the field is about 10 minutes walk away) because I have 5 cats and I think life would be a bit stressful here! Or do you find that cats and rabbits can coexist safely eventually? The cats have adjusted to chickens so they can be taught that some things are part of the family and not mobile fresh meat!

Anyway, your views would be appreciated.

dont really know the answers but tame rabbits wont survive in the wild. :?
he needs shelter and yes cats can get along with rabbits.
hopefully someone else will answer soon who knows more than me. :?

:wave: Welcome to Ru

Sounds like you've grown a soft spot for the bun, and if the owners don't care as to his health and welfare, then I would be incined to take him and offer him a forever home, he/she is a domestic bun and won't be use to the wild or be safe. I'd be concerned for the bun.
If the only reason is the cats I wouldn't worry about them, they can mix quite happily they don't have to be out at same time, there are many members with both cats and dogs who are fine together with their buns.
That can be worked on later, I do think the bun would have a wonderful home with you, I'm sure he/she would be happier in a warm, secure hutch, lots of hay and readily available veggies .

did you know that buns can be kept as houserabbits? That way you won't feel guitly about him being in a hutch! Though he will need to be neutered first!

Otherwise you can now get bigger hutches than you may think (6-8ft ones) and attached runs - or many people adapt sheds with a cat flap to an enclosed area.

He will not survive the winter on his own and wet is very dangerous for buns.

I've got eight bunnies, two of whom live indoors, and nine cats and they all get on fine. My newest kitten actually thinks she is a bunny and uses their tray (which I am trying to stop), eats their treats, drinks their water and sleeps on top of their crate.

The poor little bun you describe must be quite lonely and it would be lovely if you could give him a safe home - and maybe a friend in the future.

Ooh I hope you take him in?

The idea of total free range bunnies scares me tbh - I worry for them!
Many years ago my neighbour left their bunny out overnight and a fox took him - the noise was not nice and bothers me still

I think he'll have more difficulty over winter. Foxes etc. will be getting hungrier and with no burrow he has no protection from them or the weather.

He'll be used to having a lot of space now so he might be unhappy in a hutch unless you can provide a lot of run space. A room, shed, outbuilding etc. would be okay, or do you have a greenhouse not in use over winter? It would be too hot in summer but should be okay in winter if you add a box for snuggling in.

Might be easier to build him a pen rather than fence all your veggies :lol:

Thank you for your comments - they're appreciated.

I have developed a soft spot for him - or her. Anything that will run up to me and take food while resting front paws on my leg is going to endear itself to me.

There are wild rabbits in the same field and I think they have burrows in an area of very overgrown field near an ancient hedge. I have seen Rabbit with them. There's a lot of running backwards and forwards and I can't tell whether or not they're playing or whether Rabbit is being territorial. There's a degree of thumping of back legs on the ground - him - but the other rabbits have sort of mobbed him. As I don't know anything about wild rabbit behaviour, I'm not sure what I'm watching. What I hope I've not watched is some sort of mating ritual and to find out that Rabbit is a female and has found herself a fit wild boy to mate with. :shock:

I don't want him to be predated by a fox (though, touching vast quantities of wood as I say this) there aren't many foxes around here as local farmers tend to trap and kill them. Still, I do believe in a balance of nature and foxes predate rabbits to survive so one has to be practical about it.

However, while I'd be regretful but practical about him being killed by a fox I would be very reluctant to let a lack of action on my part lead to him being killed by cold or wet. I don't want him picked off by local hunters either - I live in northern France and we have hunters in the fields every weekend through winter.

After reading your comments here, I am concluding I'd better house him (but not let the neighbours see I've done so!)

Yes, we have a greenhouse but it would be easy for him to dig out and anyway, the greenhouse is packed with plants over-wintering and also with salad plants which continue to grow and provide us with pickings through winter. Rabbit would no doubt love his own pick'n'mix, though. :-D

House rabbit... not really practical with 5 cats and a dog. And I run a B&B so a rabbit in the kitchen may not be ideal! However, we don't have many guests through winter...

Thanks again.

ps: this is Rabbit
http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/cranbournechase/rabbit.jpg

pps: has anyone ever trained a rabbit to use a cat flap?

Yeah!! I just know you're gonna love that ikkle wunny babbit
:lol:

Buns can use cat flaps.
Many people have then on here between their bunny shed & run setups.
I don't think you would regret taking on this bun as a pet as it sounds like a real character.
He/she has done well to survive this long in the wild.
Do keep us posted with what you do & rest assured you have come to the right place for support, info & reassurance on all aspects of keeping buns as companion animals.

My cats are fine with my bunnies. And, yes, rabbits can use cat flaps - as I found out to my cost when mine were free-ranging and came in through the flap - havoc.

I think any guests at your B&B would be enchanted by this Rabbit, I would be!!! I'd love to be on holiday and come down to see a bunny at breakfast time. You sound such a nice caring person, good luck bringing in the bunny.

yeah go for it - you really seem to be an ideal bun mum

Unless you can provide him with ALOT of space (not a hutch) I would leave him where he is, he's used to his freedom now.

Anyway you can invest in a small kennel type enclosure with run attached, or a wendy house, you could attach a run to that, anywhere wher the bun is safe. (Ebay sell them, also large hutches 6ft) you could attach a run
Re wildies it could be them marking their territory and not allowing adopted bun in as he's not a wildie, he's a domestic bun.
I dread to think of him being loose all winter, it's not the way I would want a domesticated pet to live.

btw he's stunning

Mandy said:

Unless you can provide him with ALOT of space (not a hutch) I would leave him where he is, he's used to his freedom now.

Click to expand...

I think i would tend to agree with this. I think it would b a shame for him to be caged now hes used to so much space. You could however put out or make him some sort of warm cosy shelter so he does have somewhere nice to go - perhaps put it where he tends to sleep. That way he will have the choice to go in it and keep snug.

Mandy and Minimarrow, your thinking is more in line with what I'd originally assumed but there's a problem with providing a simple shelter in the field like a doorless cat box (which, stuffed with finest hay) is precisely what I'm taking round to him in a minute. The problem is that as it has a wide entrance and no exit, he'll be a sitting duck... er, rabbit... for any passing fox or weasel / marten - should there be any. And I do see stone martens occasionally.

If I make him a shelter, it has to have two exits in case something unpleasant comes through one of them and he needs to bolt. It also has to be sheep-proof otherwise the sheep will push it over while looking for food. I already have to stand guard over Rabbit while he eats his carrot treats because the sheep stand a few metres away hoping to muscle in before he's finished. :roll: Nothing is ever simple!

Realistically, from a time point of view, I can't provide him with a good sized run for another couple of months. At that time, we'll be building a fox-proof run for the chickens because sooner or later they're going to come to the attention of a fox. If we're out for the day, I want them to have somewhere fox-proof. What is fox-proof (wire extending into the ground a ways) is also rabbit proof so I'm wondering about running him alongside the chickens (literally but with a separate rabbit nesting box, of course).

Decisions, decisions. Caring is a nuisance sometimes! And on that subject, OH (who hasn't been enthusiastic about interfering with Rabbit) has just arrived home with...


... a small sack of rabbit food. :shock: :lol:


And again, thank you all for talking me through this situation. If anyone had said that rabbits will be fine outside all winter in the open, I'd be leaving him alone, albeit with food treats. But as cold and wet isn't good for rabbits and I'm increasingly sure he doesn't have a burrow...

The thing is you can only do what you can. You are providing him with food and shelter should he need it which is all you can do really - other than keeping him with you , but as you say it would be at least a couple of months before you could sort out some sort of enclosure for him.
If it were me i'd carry on with what you are doing and if in a couple months time he's still around you can maybe reevaluate the situation

So. I put Rabbit's box with lots of fresh hay near "his" patch of bracken. He ran up to me for treats as usual, spotted the box and legged it down the field, treats forgotten. Sheep thrilled with box and a small brave one lay down so that it could get at the hay. One of the others, more adventurous than the rest, jumped on top of the box (these are a small breed of sheep) and knocked it flying scaring the small one with head in box witless. All sheep spooked and ran away spooking Rabbit. :roll:

I had to put a couple of breeze blocks on the cat box to hold it steady if the sheep nudged it while using it as a low-level hay rack. I left Rabbit half way down the hill munching enthusiastically on a small portion of rabbit pellets and a few bits of carrot while uphill the sheep formed a circle around the box and regarded it with intense suspicion.

I'll probably find sheep on top of the box tomorrow with Rabbit up in the sheep shed. :roll:

She's a lovely little rabbit, good luck in what you decide to do.