When raising a baby cottontail rabbit, it is essential to know what to feed it. The mother will typically feed her offspring only once or twice a day, between dusk and dawn. If the mother does not return to the nest, the baby rabbit may be left unattended. Always check the babies’ belly to ensure they are full and fat. If they are not, the rabbits are likely too young and may die.
Initially, the best way to care for a baby cottontail rabbit is to keep it as quiet as possible and in a warm place. You can use a plastic or wooden box and line it with pesticide-free soil and dried hay (not wet grass clippings). The box should have a hole in the top for a heating pad. It is also a good idea to place hay inside the rabbit’s hutch to provide it with fiber.
You can also scatter some treats around your yard. This is because rabbits love to eat fruits and vegetables. You should not worry too much about poisonous plants, as they will not have the instinct to know if something is bad or not. As a result, they may try to eat them if you do not remove them from their habitat. It is essential to feed your rabbit the right kind of food if you want to avoid a rabbit from causing harm.
Once your rabbit is in a stable environment, it will need to be fed formula made up of goat milk or other dairy products. KMR is readily available at most pet stores, as is regular goat milk in cartons at your local grocery store. If you do not have access to goat milk, you can buy a kitten milk replacer and add some heavy cream to the formula. By day 10 to eleven, your baby cottontail rabbit should be growing and thriving, and you can then introduce it to the formula.
At three to four weeks old, cottontails and jackrabbits wean themselves from their mother’s milk and enter the wild. It will not mind if the nest is put back into its habitat, but they will need help until they are able to survive on their own. After this, you can begin to introduce solids. A cottontail can be weaned from its mother’s milk and gradually switch to a dish or cup of apple or banana pieces.
The frequency of feeding can be reduced to once or twice per day when the kittens are three to four weeks old. By the time a kitten reaches twelve days, he or she may need between seven to ten CCs per feeding. However, the more often you feed your rabbit, the more likely it is to grow and mature. With the right care, you can raise a baby cottontail rabbit with milk, despite its wild origins.
Wild rabbits can survive on pellets and hay. In addition to pellets, wild rabbits will eat green vegetables, like dandelion leaves. Apples and dark leafy vegetables are also beneficial for the rabbit’s health. In wintertime, when snow is everywhere, you may be able to feed the wild rabbits a little more than usual. And if you don’t have time to go out to a farm, it’s OK to buy a small bag of rabbit pellets.
