Eastern Cottontail Rabbit 101: Part 2

Part 1: • Eastern Cottontail Rab...
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Aside from our previous video, there's still some information you need to know about eastern cottontail.
Personality.
The eastern cottontail is solitary in the wild and may resist any human contact. Wild cottontails will perceive any human interaction as a threat and will never be tamed. But captive-bred eastern cottontails are of different personalities. The rabbit will love human contact as long as it is done early on. Some breeders and owners who have had the rare opportunity to take care of a captive-bred cottontail say that their pets have grown to trust them over the years. They have managed to train their pets and can pet or handle them any time they want.
Natural habitats and homes.
The wild eastern cottontail has expertly used its natural environment to its advantage. Because of its skill, it uses local foliage as cover, food, nesting material, and as a place to play and explore. Eastern cottontails usually forage in open places and use brushes, stones, and shrubs around them as cover. They will hide within herbaceous and shrubby plants and will create burrows as escape cover, dens, and shelter. A woody cover is essential in the survival of eastern cottontails.
This breed doesn’t dig their dens but will use the dens or holes of other animal species like woodchucks. During the wintertime, eastern cottontails will use woody covers in areas where cover is provided by vegetation during the summertime. The cottontails know that cover is scarce during this season, and it becomes more cautious than ever. Meanwhile, eastern cottontails native to Florida will use saw palmetto as cover when it is foraging in grassy areas.
Most nesting holes are made from grasslands such as hayfields. Usually, the nest is covered in weeds or grasses to confuse predators. Cottontails may also make their nests in orchards, thickets, and in scrubby woods where there are only a few predators around. The average depth of nesting holes is 5 inches, the average width is 7 inches. The female uses fur or grass to line the nest and make it comfortable and warm for her babies.
Predators of the Eastern Cottontail.
The eastern cottontail has several predators that can be natural or introduced to their natural environment. Because of their large numbers in eastern North America, cottontails create a major component of many predators’ diets. The major predators include common housecats and dogs, coyotes, foxes, weasels, bobcats, raccoons, minks, barred owls, great horned owls, hawks, snakes, and corvids.
Baby eastern cottontails are very vulnerable, and because the mother returns only twice a day to nurse, the nest is open to many types of predators. Wild animals that take baby cottontails include badgers, raccoons, skunks, and opossums. The eastern cottontails in Missouri are a staple in the diets of red-tailed hawks, especially during the nesting phase. This rabbit is a major component in the diet of great-horned owls. In the southwest regions of the US, eastern cottontails are a staple in the diets of northern goshawks.
The mortality of eastern cottontails has increased due to several factors. In Kansas, 43% of radio-tracked eastern cottontails were killed due to predation, 19% were from research mortalities, and 18% were from tularemia. It was noted that a major cause of the death of eastern cottontails is vehicle collision. In Missouri, it was estimated that 10 cottontails are killed yearly for every mile of road. The highest incident of the collision was during spring, which is March to May. This is because roadside vegetation greens in adjacent fields are attractive to cottontails.
Meanwhile, annual survival in adults is around 20%, while the average longevity is 15 months when the specimen is in the wild. The longest-lived specimen in the wild is five years of age. On the other hand, captive specimens can live up to nine years of age. Because of the eastern cottontail’s ability to become host to these pests, you must never take an eastern cottontail in the wild.
Source: herebunny.com/care/eastern-co...
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[@meetontheledge1380]

Thanks! It's getting to that time of year (we don't have much ''Winter'' break anymore) and I know the rabbits are out there. Thought I'd watch a few vids to ''sharpen'' my eyes. I guess, I'll just set the blade up a little higher and hope for the best. I love to practice ''mindfulness'' while doing chores, so I'll be doing ''mindfulness of mowing grass AND looking for aby rabbit nests!''.

[@kellycolangelo1381]

Thanks for these! I have a captive Eastern Cottontail with neurological issues so she's unable to survive in the wild. She is very happy at home with us and has become very easy to handle and interact with. She is very intelligent! We love her very much 🐰🐇💕

[@pitrov]

Actually they make wonderful, loving pets, ask anybody who's had one.

[@zoerolandevanrumt7745]

The sweetest pet I've got!

[@JeanStAubin-nl9uo]

Why is he saying you should take a wild rabbit and make it a pet? Not a good idea.

[@zoerolandevanrumt7745]

That's not what he said!

[@zoerolandevanrumt7745]

I have one he is gonna be a year in februari! My dogs (that i found 9years ago in the garbage bin( i live in portugal!) The dogs found the nest and killed hes 2siblings and i was left with this one about 2/3 weeks old i first made milk 250ml low fat and no sugar condensed milk,the same quantity water 1egg yoke,1 tablespoon of glucose and mix and warm it luke warm,all this kittenmilk story!a cat is a homnifero,goat milk a bit better but the hole 4 captivities of stomach has nothing to do with a rabbit (i have 3goats that i bottle fed....i have 11 animals and i bottle fed 10 of them so i have an idea about different milks....their is no milk as fat as rabbit milk....thats why mum can feed them inly twice per day!goat milk is the second easiest to get fat milk....then i ordered special rabbit milk that is realy good! anyway the rabbit is fantastic...sweet never bit ,only kisses me and cleans me the whole time he wakes up at 22:00....when my ferret goes to bed....and i build a giant cadge in my livingroom that includes my bed in it and i play untill 4/5 in the morning(yes i dont sleep much but the rabbit deserves it!he is smart ,and does so many things....he listens better than my dogs😂 i was going to set him free but he is not scared of the animals,and follows me around he is a happy rabbit,people say they dont like loud noises or you have to be quiet but if people come visit us at night he hides under the cabored as soon as the door closes he knows they are gone!then i sing (loud clap my hands start inventing a song with his name in it,and then he comes running jumping high in the air flicks his head to the sides while he jumps sideways it so funny and he is all up for" lets play!",then after that when he run around in his 5tunnel boxes i make him a whole parcours everynight and always different,then he lays glat on his side tired and then cones and sig in me asking for petting and massage so yes they make a greath pet for a great pet owner! Who will spend time and love and a shit lots of pacients that i have cause i live for them!they are my life!