Category: Rabbits Outside

Wild vs. Domestic Rabbits: Where’s the Difference?

If I’m not alone in this, many other people out there in the world can agree that when you want a rabbit, you admire the wild rabbits as well, even though you know you can’t own a wild rabbit. What really is the reasoning to this all? Stick around and I can explain why domestic and wild rabbits are separated as two categories, one is meant and allowed to be a pet, the other isn’t meant to be a pet, and isn’t allowed to be either.

Similarities and Differences:

There are obviously the physical differences between wild and domestic rabbits. Wild rabbits have more ratty, course, and rough fur, when domestic rabbits have nice, silky, and well kept fur.

                                    Differences:

Domestic Rabbits:                                                    Wild Rabbits:

  • Meant to be house pets                                                    – Aren’t supposed to be a pet
  • Are tame and are legal pets                                            – Can be tamed, but aren’t legal
  • Sustainable/Excellent diet                                               – Poor to Mildly Sustainable diet

                                      Similarities:

Domestic or not, these rabbits are all rabbits. There are many reasons why wild rabbits shouldn’t be kept, and why domestic rabbits are safe to keep as pets.

 

Why Can’t Wild Rabbits Be Pets?

The main factor to why you don’t see people keeping wild rabbits is simply because it isn’t legal in many states, provinces, and countries. Whether your state, province or country is allowed to own a wild rabbit, do NOT do it. Even though there may not be a law specifying that wild rabbits can’t be pets, I can almost assure you that there isn’t one saying that you can or should.

There are many other factors that lead into these predicaments that may be ran into when someone would decide to own a wild rabbit. The different scenarios are explained below:

The Dangers of Keeping Wild Rabbits:

Not only are you putting your entire household in danger of breaking laws, diseases, and parasites, you’re putting that rabbit and it’s “household” in danger.

Broken Laws: I have never experienced any time in jail, or any sort of time with a judge or officer, but from what I know, the process wouldn’t be fun. First of all, the person’s household would be relocated from the rabbit, the household would be without the criminal, but only if the judge doesn’t decide that the other contributors of the household took part in the crime.

So in other words, please don’t try to keep a wild rabbit. By keeping a wild rabbit, you put your household, yourself, and anything on your property at risk of loosing their house, their land, the rabbit, but most of all, family members that may have contributed to the crime.

Diseases & Parasites: One of the most well known factors that contribute to caution with handling, or even being near wild animals would be any disease, parasites, or sicknesses that they may carry that could easily harm you, or your household and anyone within it.

The most difficult section to explain would be about trying to prohibit these sicknesses. The first thing that many domestic rabbit owners would think of would be where to bring their rabbit to give the rabbit a bug and parasite rundown and prevention. With domestic rabbits, it’s a very easy process of bringing the rabbit in, getting the checkup and medications, and paying the bill. This is a very different story with wild rabbits.

With wild rabbits, they aren’t certified as an animal to be checked over and treated like other animals. With the regulations that veterinarians have to follow, a rabbit needs to have its medical record, certificates, and adoption certifications along. Even without these different specifications, the rabbit needs to be domestic to be treated. If you were to bring a wild rabbit in, odds are, the vets won’t allow any service because it isn’t technically a certified patient.

The Rabbit’s Life and Family: As for the overall health and safety of the rabbit itself, when you come into contact of a wild rabbit, the household of the wild rabbit will no longer accept that rabbit, especially if the wild rabbit that is being worked with is a baby.

Not only this, but wild rabbits will be spooked so much easier because they think of you as a predator, because for them, you are a predator. To even get a wild rabbit, you would have to trap the rabbit, which would probably kill it from a heart attack, not to forget that these rabbits don’t deserve this torture.

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Sources:

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this picture)

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I would just like to say thank you for sticking around during this time. If you enjoyed the information from this post, please leave a like and share this post with your family and friends. I post about rabbit care every other day, so please make sure to come back then for those posts. Until next post, continue to spread proper rabbit care!

 

How to Protect a Rabbit From Outdoor Predators

Predators are everywhere, and to have to worry about them can be a real hassle. To take off some of the stress through protecting rabbits, I would like to go over the main details that could easily prohibit predicaments from happening.

Proper Location:

Finding the proper location to keep a rabbit safe outside is very important. The amounts of problems that will be run into without proper location seems endless. Not only can the squirrels from trees get into the pen, since fabric won’t keep them out, the amount of times that I have seen rabbit owners allow their rabbits to just wander wherever is insane.

Even though one spot may seem safe from predators, pests, and parasites, you may not realize the different drawbacks to that section of land. The land should be as close to flat as possible, along with the other precautions. Bringing a rabbit to an unsafe area for playtime could cost money, time, or possibly your rabbit’s life.

The location of your land could also determine whether bringing your rabbit outside is a decent idea. If your land is full of hawks, vultures, wolves, and coyotes, I wouldn’t recommend allowing any playtime outside for your rabbit, unless you can find a very secure section of land, preferably very close to your house, to keep your rabbit safe and secure. Other predators to look out for are listed in my post called Predators of Rabbits Outside to be Aware of For Playtime, go check it out.

Flooring:

Preventing any burrowing predators could easily save your rabbit’s life. Even house pets like dogs and cats can be an obstacle to anyone looking to bring a rabbit outside for playtime. Flooring is a very simple subject that can become very complex, so being caught up on other posts could help.

The basics to flooring outside with rabbits is very simple. If you choose to give your rabbit access to grass, which must be rabbit safe, I would recommend choosing a very secure place to ensure that your rabbit won’t be injured if a predator was to come along and try to dig under. Setting up underground barriers for predators would be sufficient for protecting your rabbit. This way, your rabbit can still enjoy nice grass without any predators to threaten them.

The other option would be using flooring over all, or most of the grass. The recommended material for flooring would be wood, this is because plastic wouldn’t hold up well, and if the rabbit was to chew, the wood would be safe. To prepare the flooring, you will need to measure out the size of the exercise pen, to ensure that the piece of wood will cover the entire area of the pen, and part of the ground outside of the pen as well.

Roofing:

Providing a roof to a rabbit’s exercise pen is so incredibly important. Not only is the fabric that will be placed over the top going to be protection from hawks, vultures, and eagles, the fabric can prohibit some of the heat from the sun from hitting the rabbit’s coat directly. Rabbits are extremely heat-sensitive and should only be brought outside with the maximum temperature being 78 degrees Fahrenheit, the minimum should be around 58 degrees Fahrenheit.

The best type of “roofs” would be any type of sturdy fabric. Personally, I would use a bed sheet because it’s thin, breathable, and large enough to go over the pen. If you would like to allow some light coming through the fabric, you could pull some of the fabric back, but at least half of the pen should be covered by a fabric material. Please do not cover the sides of the pen. By covering the sides of the pen, you are restricting your rabbit’s access to fresh, cool air.

Area Protection in General:

Protection of the entire area is crucial for the rabbit’s safety and well being. With the entire area where the rabbit will be, and the area around must be protected thoroughly in order to keep your rabbit safe. Even being in the general area of the pen can keep your rabbit safe from predators, which should be done no matter what.

Your Guidance:

As I just explained, existing in the general area of the rabbit’s pen can not only scare off approaching predators, humans are so frightening to so many animals, that the predators won’t even come near.

With your guidance and protection, you could save a rabbit’s life, along with having a great time and making memories to look back on for years.

 

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this photo)

 

As always, I would like to thank you for coming back. If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to leave a like and share this post with family and friends. Please come back every other day for a new post, but until then, continue to spread proper rabbit care and I will talk to you soon, bye!

Predators of Rabbits Outside to Be Aware of For Playtime

A large concern for many rabbit owners when they bring their rabbit outside are the potential predators that could be lurking around your rabbit’s area. Because the awareness of knowing what animals are dangerous is important, knowing what predators are out there to look for is key. For the safety of all of the domestic rabbits being brought out for playtime, I would like to acknowledge and specify the different predators of rabbits to look for.

The Different Predators:

The most common predators of rabbits in my specific area would be:

  • Hawks, eagles, and other large birds
  • Wolves, coyotes, foxes, and cougars
  • Raccoons, badgers, skunks, and weasels
  • Not to forget house pets like dogs and cats too!

Other predators to take note of for other areas of the world would be:

  • Ferrets and Stoats
  • Dingoes and other raptors
  • Lynx and large owls
  • Don’t forget that large snakes can easily kill a rabbit too!

Risks of These Predators:

To make this obvious, these animals that are listed are obviously looking to kill and eat a rabbit. These animals are looking for any easy kill as well. If you have a rabbit in a cage outside that isn’t properly secured, don’t expect to see your rabbit the next day. This, with many other reasons is why you should never keep a rabbit outside, whether you think, or even know the cage is safe, don’t you dare risk an animal’s life just to put them outside and let them sit there with nothing to do because they’re stuck in a tiny cage, without clean water, bedding, and food.

Another large reason behind protecting your rabbit very precisely, is for your rabbit’s well being. With rabbits being a very well known prey choice of so many animals, it is so incredibly important to protect your rabbit’s sight. If rabbits freak out for too long, they can go through a heart attack, and possibly die, just from being frightened of something they saw.

Why Prevention of These Predators is Crucial:

Since it is so obvious that the point of keeping these animals away for the sake of your rabbit’s life, I would like to point out three things with why keeping your rabbit’s enclosure outside is the worst idea ever, whether it has to do with predators or not, not to forget that I already mentioned the easy kill that predators look for.

  1. Rabbits are very sensitive to heat. Any temperature above 80 degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous to your rabbit’s respiratory, and life.
  2. Natural Disasters are so much worse without knowing whether your pet is okay or not, along with the higher chance of death and damage with an outside enclosure.
  3. Bugs! Bugs are very dangerous, even if you happen to be up to date with bug medications, which I explain in my post called Bug Repellent and Medications for Rabbits (For When They Go Outside)

I really wanted to make it clear that I am in no ways promoting outdoor enclosures for rabbits. They are terrible ideas, and shorten rabbit’s lifespans, not to forget that they  ruin your relationship with your rabbit, so please, don’t have a domestic rabbit ever live outside.

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this photo)

 

Thank you so much for coming back again for this post. Please share this post with all of the rabbit lovers in your life. Give this post a like to show that you support indoor rabbits, and I’ll talk to you soon in my next post, bye!

What to Do and Not to Do With a Rabbit Outside to Play

Because bringing rabbits outside can be very risky, I would like to acknowledge the correct and incorrect, do’s and don’ts of bringing rabbits outside. Knowing what is safe and isn’t safe is important in any aspect of life, even for animals.

What to Do:

The following categories are food and forage, protection, handling, and bedding/litter. For this section, I will be going over the correct actions to take in these categories.

Food/Forage:

  • Bring typical treats, hay, and other food for your rabbit. This allows the owner to know whether the rabbit is relaxed enough to eat, or whether it would be best to bring the rabbit back inside. The ears, eyes, and noses, of rabbits are unbelievably strong and can easily sense danger, which is why it’s important to be there with the rabbit in case they feel too threatened to eat and play.
  • Give safe forage to the rabbit if it happens to enjoy the treat. Rabbits are more than happy to try new food, and will love the full experience of being outside with outdoor food. If you would like to know more about safe forage, the link to my safe forage post will be after this category.
  • Supply water as you would always do. Make sure you supply the same water, same bowl, and same setup as you would with the water inside. This gives the rabbit a sense of familiarity and comfort in their surroundings that they recognize.
  • Forage That is Safe For Rabbits

Protection:

  • Always supply at least one hiding house. Without a hiding house, a rabbit could go through loads of stress, and could potentially go into shock. Giving a familiar hiding house can also calm and soothe a stressed out rabbit.
  • Place the pen on flat ground. By placing the pen on flat ground, there isn’t really a chance that your rabbit can get out. If you have something covering the grass/ground, it’s always important to make sure that it’s flat on the ground, and the same goes for the pen. The more secure, the smaller possibilities for predicaments.
  • Cover the top of the pen with some sort of fabric material. This prevents large birds from swooping down to grab your rabbit for lunch. The coverage can also keep the temperature and the sun out of the way.
  • A few posts to look into could be: Where to Bring Your Rabbit Outside to Play
  • What You Need to Bring Your Rabbit Outside

Handling:

  • Continue to handle your rabbit like usual. Extra support while handling your rabbit outside is key. A stressed rabbit will be much more susceptible to being spooked and wary.

Bedding/Litter:

  • Give your rabbit access to the same bedding and litter that they are used to. Even if you decide to have a separate pile of bedding for when you bring your rabbit out to play, you will still want to make sure that your rabbit’s smell is on that bedding, the more familiar, the more relaxed and comfortable the rabbit(s) will be.

What Not to Do:

With the same categories, I would like to acknowledge the improper, or incorrect, actions related to these four categories. Listed below each category will be at least one action NOT to take when bringing a rabbit outside.

Food/Forage:

  • Although your rabbit won’t be outside for too long, don’t avoid supplying hay. Whether you are allowing your rabbit to graze on rabbit safe grass and forage or not, hay must be supplied to keep your rabbit’s digestion track going. Every rabbit has a different taste, and if your rabbit doesn’t like to grass and forage outside, there isn’t much for turning back.

Protection:

  • Do NOT let your rabbit roam free in a yard. This is how you can almost immediately lose your rabbit and never see them again. Even though they may stay by you for the entire time, the moment they sense danger, they’re off, and there’s no stopping that rabbit. Rabbits are extremely fast and don’t get much credit for it, so bringing a domestic rabbit outside without a pen is a terrible idea, considering the entire point of being called a domestic rabbit is the point that they don’t have the skills to live out in the wild.
  • Avoid areas with trees to dodge any possibilities of squirrels trying to get into the pen. Even though squirrels aren’t predators, they could still stir up your rabbit and cause many problems that should have been avoided. The squirrel(s) could also mess up the fabric over the pen as well.

Handling:

  • Avoid over-handling your rabbit. Even though they will be much more submissive since they are in a much smaller area, over-handling the rabbit could cause so much more unnecessary stress that could have been easily avoided.

Bedding/Litter:

  • Don’t avoid bedding because you’re worried about it getting dirty. If you’re worried about anything getting dirty, then don’t even bother bringing your rabbit outside, because dirt is dirt, and you can’t do too much about it.
  • Don’t avoid giving litter boxes when you bring your rabbit outside. Not only are you confusing your rabbit, you’re also attracting predators to come to that area after you leave because of the scent of their stools, and that’s also another thing to clean up afterward, and maybe some urine too.
  • Some posts to look into: Rabbit Bedding
  • What Litter to Use?

 

Thank you for coming back once again. Please continue to come back every other day for a new post. I would really appreciate it if you would leave a like, and share this post with your closest rabbit lovers. Until next time, continue to spread proper rabbit care, and I will talk to you soon in a new post, bye!

Making An Area Outside Safe For Rabbits (For Playtime)

For whatever reason, the location always seems to be the most difficult, but most simplistic part of bringing a rabbit outside. Even though finding a safe area seems pretty easy, sometimes planning for a squirrel to ruin your day isn’t what you expected to go for, but that’s what I’m preparing you for. For location, it’s either make it or break it, but in more relatable terms, you had a nice time outside with your bunny, or you had a squirrel invasion.

Bug Repellent and Medications for Rabbits (For When They Go Outside)

Because the bugs outside are just so pesky, keeping a rabbit comfortable with all of these bugs outside is important, although they will only be outside for a while. Since bugs can play a giant toll on rabbit health, I would like to go over what medications you will want to have on hand before bringing a rabbit outside.

Different Types:

There are many different types of medications for different bugs, but from my knowledge, the most common bug repellents and medications are for ringworms, fleas, ear mites, parasites, and tics.

This is where you would contact someone to figure out different medication options and services, but who would you contact? This answer is simple.

Where to Get Them:

To get any bug medications and repellents for your rabbit, I would go to your vet no matter what. They should know your rabbit’s history and past illnesses to be able to give and/or suggest the appropriate amounts of the drug.

The importance behind asking the rabbit-savvy vet, instead of going with what the internet says is crucial. The dosages and drugs could be much different, not to forget that there is a lot of false information and misinterpretations on the internet, which could cause many predicaments in finding the correct medicine. Whenever in doubt, ask your rabbit-savvy vet.

Don’t forget that vets can explain and present the information in a teaching manner. If you have a question with how to give a pill, or find a medication of some sort, your vet will know, and if you aren’t comfortable in vaccinating or medicating your rabbit, your vet will gladly help you.

Why Are They Important?

Giving medications can be very nerve-wracking and complicated, but in doing so, you could easily save your rabbit’s life. There have been many instances with rabbits becoming seriously ill because of bugs, not to forget parasites, because they weren’t properly medicated. Rabbits are very susceptible to bug problems, so giving a rundown of your rabbit before they go back inside in crucial as well as ensuring that your rabbit is comfortable.

I would like to mention that even though there isn’t really a medication to prevent this problem, flystrike is now in this factor. Flystrike shouldn’t really be a problem inside, because it’s much more complicated for a fly to get to a rabbit inside, but if you bring your rabbit outside, they MUST be properly groomed and on a sustainable diet. An unsustainable diet that is causing sticky stools with an ungroomed rabbit can attract flies, to then cause flystrike.

Flystrike is a condition in which multiple flies will lay their eggs to produce larva, and when the larva hatches, they will literally eat your rabbit’s skin away until they have lost so much that they pass. Flystrike is probably one of the most dangerous and painful conditions and sicknesses out there, so please, feed your rabbit a good diet and groom them properly to avoid flystrike.

Risks That Come Without Bug Prevention:

Like I just mentioned, without proper medications, bugs can cause serious illness and death in rabbits. I can’t stress how important bug medications are to save your rabbit. With the most common problems and rabbits and bugs, I have found that the most common risks without medication are: Hearing loss, head tilt, extreme illness, organ problems and failures, skin irritation, and death.

Know Your Rabbit’s Past Problems Outside:

If your rabbit has had problems before adoption with bugs, please notify your vet. This could change dosages, medications, prescriptions, and awareness.

Before Oliver and Luna were sheltered and properly taken care of, the both of them were found with fleas, and some mites. Ollie, in particular, had ended up with so many fleas that the risk of him getting fleas has increased immensely, which is going to affect different dosages when I pick up his different medications. The past problems can cause many scenarios that are worth taking note of.

 

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Thank you so much for coming back once again. Please continue to come back every other day for a new post. If you found this post helpful, please leave a like and share this post with your family and friends. Until next time, continue to spread proper rabbit care, and I will talk to you soon in my next post, bye!

Where to Bring Your Rabbit Outside to Play

Since summer is here, for at least half the world, I would like to go over where it would and wouldn’t be safe to bring a rabbit outside too. It’s a great idea to plan ahead for anything related to rabbits, so if you are currently in the season of winter, you happen to have more time to plan.

Where Is and Isn’t Safe?

Safe Places:

  • Treeless areas
  • Gas, pesticide, and chemical free grass (without barrier on ground)
  • Flat Area

Unsafe Places:

  • Trees nearby
  • Unsafe, non-foragable grasses and flowers in the area
  • Sloping ground
  • Raccoon and skunk interactive areas

Finding a Location:

There are many concepts to finding locations that would be options for where you can bring your rabbit.

  1. Are there trees?
  2. Are the grasses and flowers safe?
  3. Is the ground flat or not?
  4. Are there any possibilities that skunks or raccoons could have been in this area?

These are the four main questions that you should ask yourself before picking a location.

  • Trees should be avoided because of any squirrels that may try to get into the pen and harm or annoy your rabbit.
  • Grass and flowers should be rabbit safe if you are going to allow the ground to be open to your rabbit. That means that the area of the lawn that you will be placing the little area for your rabbit can’t be mowed.
  • If the ground of the area isn’t flat, the pen may not lay flat and could cause your rabbit to try getting out of the pen.
  • If skunks or raccoons have been in the area, the potential for diseases are very serious, not to forget that skunks and raccoons are both predators of rabbits.

 

Spectating?

When bringing a rabbit outside for playtime, spectating is vital for a rabbit. Not only are you preventing any predators from coming towards the pen, you are also there in case your rabbit freaks out, feels uncomfortable, or if your rabbit is trying to get out.

Spectating is much more fun when you have friends, family, and entertainment around. Bringing rabbits outside doesn’t have to be super stressful and forceful. If your rabbit gets along with your friends, or if they are bonded with another rabbit, allowing that friend or rabbit to interact with your rabbit could help your rabbit tremendously.

Scenarios:

  1. There happens to be a tree nearby:  Make sure to cover the pen that the rabbit(s) will be staying in. This way you won’t end up with a squirrel friend to take care of later.
  2. A raccoon was in the area where your rabbit is:  Cover the ground with a solid material. Raccoons can carry diseases that are fatal to rabbits through grass contact. Whether the raccoon was there recently or not, cover the ground. Better safe than sorry if you are unsure.
  3. You forgot something inside: If you were to leave something inside that you felt you needed, or you do need, do NOT go inside with your rabbit unsupervised. Even though you have the ground covered, and the pen is covered with a material over the top, you never know what may happen. Rabbits freak out easily, and if a rabbit is scared for whatever reason, a heart attack can occur and kill the rabbit, believe it or not.

 

Thank you for all of the support through this journey. I feel that this is a very important topic, and that many rabbit owners really do want to bring their rabbit outside, but they don’t know what to look for. Please share this post with your family, friends, and rabbit lovers. As always, I will post every other day, but until then, continue to spread proper rabbit care, and I will talk to you soon, bye!

 

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this photo)