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If you are going to attempt to raise a wild rabbit, you should know that they only have a 10% chance of survival with you, and even in shelters their chances of survival are 37%. They are the hardest animal babies to rear to adulthood. In my opinion, I think the chances of death are way too high, so you should just leave the baby alone.

If that is not an option, then at least take your rabbit to a shelter so they'll get that extra 27% chance of survival! If you are going to be stubborn and keep the baby, you should keep it warm. The ideal temperature should be around 75 degrees F until the baby grows THICK fur.

Bottle feed the baby once or twice a day (like how the mother would), and you can kill the baby if you overfeed it milk. Milk for the baby should be kitten replacement milk. When the baby is about 3-4 weeks, you can release him into your backyard.

If you want to keep him, you should begin to feed him rabbit pellets. Don't give him any other foods because your baby didn't get the bacteria fighting immunity it would've gotten from it's mother's feces.

Make sure to keep his cage as clean as possible (this is VERY hard to do!!!), or he may get ear mites, which is very painful.

When your rabbit is six months, you can begin feeding him some fruits and veggies. I wouldn't give them any plants from your yard, because even though you have a wild rabbit, it is no longer accustomed to eating wild food and you don't want to cause any diarrhea, which can kill him.

You should begin holding and petting your rabbit from the very beginning, but never force anything, and NEVER chase your rabbit when you're angry with it (though some of my Cottontails loved playing Tag). Try to teach your rabbit to use the potty, and it needs 4 hours at least out of it's cage every day.

Cottontails for the most part are less active than domestic rabbits (most people don't know this). Your rabbit will like to sit around and zone out. Cottontails do get into a ton of mischief. They'll pee/poop EVERYWHERE if not potty-trained (which is extremely hard to!!!) and they'll chew everything up! I suggest you provide him with loads of toys.

Never yell or hit your rabbit, of course. But be especially gentle with Cottontails because they are shyer and more easily frightened than pet rabbits. They are also more prone to keeping grudges and they have very good memories!

Cottontails do best in a low-stress environment, and they HATE strangers. When new people come over (or even family members who don't live with you), your Cottontail will be terrified out of it's skin. In their heads, new people are predators. No joke, they are terrified of people other than the ones in your immediate family!

Your Cottontail can be trained to an extent. They are very independent and will not care to please you. I taught my Cottontail tricks, like "stand" "walk (on hind legs)", "come", but this was when he was still a few months old and after my rabbit reached maturity he became too independent to obey me most of the time.

This means start your training early and be very consistent. They do best with food bribes. After your Cottontail hits maturity he won't obey you much anymore, though.

Cottontails don't like water, so if you want to bathe him do so by wiping a damp towel over his fur and drying him immediately or he may get a cold and die. Never bathe your Cottontail in his first few months of life. That is just asking for death.

Also, your Cottontail is not legal without a permit. You can always tell your vet that he is just an agouti mixed rabbit breed. That's what someone told me to do with my Cottontails! It works!

Good luck! To gain the love and trust of a dog is beautiful, they give it freely. To gain the love and trust of a Cottontail is a miracle and the best gift, they give it to YOU, their chosen person, only.

Cottontails take a lot of time, and my most exhausting days ever were spent with them. In the end, I gained one great friend that I will never regret, but that was one great friend out of nine rabbits I raised.

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13y ago

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