Feed Wild Rabbits

If you love wild rabbits, you may be tempted to feed them when they enter your yard. You might also encounter baby rabbits who were orphaned or abandoned that need food. Providing food for wild rabbits can be fun, but you should follow certain protocol in regards to a rabbit's diet and safety to assure the rabbits in your yard are healthy and happy.

Steps

Selecting Food

1. Select food types based on season. The eating habits of wild rabbits vary based on season. Choose different types of food for fall/winter months than you would for the spring/summer.
   • From early spring to the beginning of fall, wild rabbits feed primarily on grass, clover, wildflowers, weeds, and the kinds of crops that grow in gardens. Making a rabbit friendly area of your yard or garden where you grow these types of plants might be a good idea during these months. You can also leave a box or trough out containing grass, clover, etc., in an area where you've seen wild rabbits congregating.
   • In late fall until spring, a rabbit's diet shifts. They eat buds, twigs, bark, needles, and any fresh plants they can find. You should leave such foliage out over the winter if you want to feed wild rabbits during this month.
2. Place grass and hay in rabbit friendly areas. Rabbits love grass and hay. Providing these snacks in a rabbit friendly area will draw wild rabbits to your yard.
   • You can try letting the grass grow tall in a certain portion of your yard. You can sprinkle bits of hay or leave barrels of hay in this area as well.
   • If you're an avid gardener, you could leave a certain area of your garden exposed without fencing or other barriers. In this area, you can plant tall grass, clovers, weeds, and the kinds of wildflowers rabbits love and also leaves troughs of hay out. This will attract wild rabbits to your garden to eat.
3. Offer vegetables in moderation. Wild rabbits enjoy vegetables such as fresh carrots, lettuce, and spinach. However, you should not overfeed wild rabbits fresh veggies as they're not digesting these kinds of plants.
   • Do not introduce fresh veggies all of a sudden. Mix in a small amount of leafy greens or carrots in with hay or grass. If you see young rabbits in your garden, it might be a good idea to avoid vegetables as rabbits under the age of 6 months should not ingest them.
   • Always wash any vegetables you leave out for wild rabbits. If you buy vegetables from a supermarket, they're likely sprayed with pesticides before being packaged and sold. You want to make sure any chemicals that may be harmful to wild rabbits are washed off before feeding them fruits and veggies.
4. Try commercial rabbit pellets. Commercial rabbit pellets, the kind you would buy for a domestic rabbit, can be an excellent addition to a wild rabbit's diet.
   • Make sure you select pellets with seeds. This type of pellet is optimal for the health of wild rabbits.
   • Feed pellets at a minimum and mix them in with things like hay, grass, and veggies. Pellets are a concentrated food source and wild rabbits may not be used to digesting them. As they do not rely solely on pellets for sustenance, as do domestic rabbits, they do not need to be fed pellets in as great amounts.

Feeding Orphaned Rabbits

1. Make sure the rabbit is truly orphaned. Oftentimes, people discover a rabbit nest or a group of baby rabbits and mistakenly assume they are orphaned. As most baby rabbits taken in from the wild do not survive, it is important you not bring in baby rabbits unless you're certain they've been abandoned.
   • Baby rabbits often appear alone as their mothers sometimes leave the nest at day and return at night. If you stumble upon a litter of baby rabbits huddling together, chances are they are not orphaned and their mother will return in the evening. You should leave the rabbits alone.
   • In general, you should only assume litters are orphaned if you know the mom is dead. Your dog or cat may have disturbed the nest or killed the mother. You may also have found the mother dead nearby. In cases like this, you can assume the babies are orphaned and intervene.
   • If you find a baby under 10 days old far away from the nest, chances are he was somehow separated from his mother. He may have ran away if frightened from something or a crow may have carried him and dropped him. Chances are, he is injured in some way and will probably not survive. You should take him to a vet or humane society as this is his best chance for survival.
2. Contact a rescue. As soon as you find orphaned babies, immediately contact an animal rescue. Baby rabbits need care from experienced rescue workers to increase the chance of survival. Only 10% of orphaned rabbits survive their first week. Unless you have extensive experience in rescue and rehabilitation and supplies on hand, you should not attempt to rehabilitate baby rabbits on your own.
3. Choose a formula. If you cannot get baby rabbits to a rescue for a few days, you should begin feeding them on your own. This will increase the likelihood they will survive.
   • Feed the baby a combination of KMR kitten formula, which can be found in many pet stores, and goat's milk. Make sure it is regular goat's milk and not low fat. You should add a pinch of a probiotic known as acidophilus to the formula.
   • Feed healthy babies about twice a day. Use a syringe and feed the bunnies upright, with the tip of the syringe pointing downward.
   • Do not surprised if the rabbit only takes a few drops of formula at first. It may take him awhile to get used to the syringe.
4. Figure out how much to feed your rabbits. The amount of formula a baby rabbit needs depends on his age.
   • If the rabbits are only 1 to 2 weeks old, they'll need 5 to 7 cc/ml each feeding and should be fed twice daily.
   • At 2 to 3 weeks, they'll need 7 to 13 cc/ml each feeding and should still be fed once a day.
   • At 3 to 6 weeks, they should be fed 13 to 15 cc/ml twice a day. They can also be introduced to solid foods like oats and hay at this age.

Taking Precautions

1. Put up barriers for flowers and vegetables. If you have wild rabbits in your yard that you want to feed, you need to make sure they understand where they can and cannot eat. Designate a rabbit friendly area of your garden, where you keep food they will like, and use some form of a barrier for other areas.
   • A good fence is the best option to form a barrier for your garden. Two foot high chicken wire is generally good enough to keep rabbits at bay. Make sure the bottom of the fence is staked securely to the ground so rabbits will not try to push underneath it.
   • Scare devices, like a scare crow, scare tape, or a balloon may frighten rabbits and keep them out of areas of the garden where they're not welcome. Pinwheels sold primarily to repel moles may work on rabbits as well.
   • Avoid the use of commercial pesticides, especially if you leave rabbit food out near your garden. Wind can blow traces of pesticide into nearby areas and, if ingested, the rabbits could get sick leaving them susceptible to predators.
2. Try to restore a rabbit nest if a dog or cat destroys it. If you're feeding wild rabbits in your yard, they might end up building nests for litters nearby. A cat or a dog could easily disturb and destroy a nest. If this happens, try your best to restore it.
   • Return the grass, straw, and hay the rabbit used for the next to its original location. If the hole has been destroyed as well, dig a shallow hole, about 3 feet deep, and put the materials in there.
   • If you find any of the mother's fur, put that back in the nest. This will help the mother find her babies if the nest has been moved or tampered with.
3. Take rabbits to the vet or humane society if they are injured. Oftentimes, rabbits may become injured near your property. One of your pets may attack a wild rabbit or they could become injured by another predator. Try to secure the rabbit in a cage or crate. Wild animal traps can be purchased at some pet stores and online. Take the rabbit to a vet or rescue where it can get proper care and be re-released into the wild.

Tips

• Leave an area of your lawn or garden in its natural condition with native plants to provide local wildlife with cover and food.
• If you have pets, do not let them loose alone in your yard if you're feeding wild rabbits. Most domestic dogs and cats will become predatory and aggressive when they encounter strange animals.
• You could also put out a salt lick and spread a section of your rabbit friendly area with diatomaceous earth which is a very fine soil substrate that fitters through fur and prevents flea larva from hatching.

Related Articles

• Care for a Baby Wild Rabbit
• Catch a Wild Rabbit
• Feed Greens to Your Rabbit
• Care for Newborn Rabbits

Sources and Citations

See also

• Feed Greens to Your Rabbit
• Feed Baby Rabbits
• Feed a House Rabbit
• Feed Your Rabbit the Right Greens