The bunny under our porch

I know this probably belongs in Cats and Other Animals, but want some folks to see this before it is moved.......

A few days ago, I saw a black bunny in our flower bed. I spooked it and it ran under our front porch deck. It appears to have made its home there. It's very cute, and doesn't look like a wild bunny, as every one I've seen in the wild has been brownish. I know nothing about rabbits.

I don't think it will survive out there, as there have already been 2 neighborhood dogs that have seen it and have tried to hunt it (they can't fit under the porch), we have feral cats, and we have a dog ourselves that we've affectionately nicknamed "the bunny whisperer" - he's VERY interested in rabbits.

A couple of questions - first of all, would you think that a black rabbit would be an escaped pet? How do you tell if a rabbit is wild? If it's a tame animal, I will try to trap it and find it a home. If it's a wild bunny, has anyone ever tried to relocate one? And if it stays here, I would like to get it some food - right now it's eating the sedum that is off the front porch.

For trapping, I have a humane (feral) cat trap. Has anyone trapped a rabbit and what did you use?

soo lovely!...
Great questions my friend... I neve got a Rabbit before...
I don´t know.... .....They bite????

Aww, I love him! He's beautiful. Being a black bunny, he must be an escaped or discarded pet. I don't know anything about trapping rabbits, though.

We have a whole extended family of rabbits who live around our house and under the neighbor's deck, but I've never seen a black bunny in the wild, either. Maybe you could call pet stores to find a local rabbit expert?


EDIT: Found this just now...

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Wild-Anim...-rabbits-3.htm

And this...

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/765524

I spoke with my vet while I was up buying food this morning, and also asked around Petsmart while I was there buying more food. The concensus is that it is probably an escapee. I bought some rabbit food for the time being. I'll try to entice it to eat and trap it. I know my neighbor's daughter would take it - she loves small animals and already has a chinchilla.

I did a bit of googling to see what rabbits like best, and hay seems to be the top answer. Timothy hay and alfalfa hay. This would be good as you could set a trap lined with the hay, the bun bun would not suspect it is a trap. Rabbits also like chocolate, they sell chocolate flavored (will not hurt them) small animal treats, put that under the hay, so it gets the smell.
Or do an ET type thing leaving a trail of treats to the trap full of hay. (Not Receses pieces of course)

ETA: I have given those chocolate flavored treats to my former guinea pig, he turned his nose up at them, so, dont know how good they are.

To be honest, the rabbit's body shape looks like a cottontail...I wonder if they come in a melanistic mutation? I don't know how you could be sure, though. My pet bunnies are not very tame and wouldn't come near you any more than a wild rabbit would.

Probably the best test would be to put out a bowl of bunny food. Wild rabbits won't touch the stuff---it seems like they don't even recognize it as food. If he's a former pet, he'll probably eat it.

Although rabbits NEED hay and like it, they probably wouldn't go into a trap for it. Carrots would probably work best.

my rabbits would love clover and dandelion greens. This is a domestic rabbit as rabbits in the wild are not black. Rabbits also like bread. Never trapped one though. I wish you luck as it probably would not survive a rough winter. But, actually heat is more an enemy to rabbits than cold.

Definitely a feral. There may be an entire population of them in your neighbourhood and you just don't know it .

I wouldn't worry about him TOO much, he's obviously found a really good place to hide! Yogurt treats are good (pet store), but carrots or lettuce are probably best (rabbits shouldn't have lettuce on a regular basis because it will cause diarrhoea, but that doesn't mean they don't love it!).

Best of luck to her on taming a feral rabbit :S!

It is possible you have a melanistic form.

Awww, the sweetie! I had a black bunny a few years ago and she was the best! I'm betting she either escaped or is the offspring of an escapee.

As for luring her into the trap, my bunny loved romaine lettuce and shredded carrots. She liked timothy hay, but it was more of something to munch on, not really a treat. She went crazy over the lettuce though.

Good luck!

We found the owner of the rabbit today - it was someone's "pet". A neighbor's son who claimed that he thought their dog killed it and never went to look for it. DH asked him to come over and try to catch it, but he never showed up. It's clear he couldn't care less about this rabbit, so no idea what he's done to socialize the poor thing.

We talked to it for a bit thru the door today. He doesn't run away when we talk to it, but it does run off if we are outside. We're feeding him some romaine lettuce, carrots, hay with dried fruit, and DH picked up some pellet type food today. Also a bowl of water.

*sigh* It's not practical to have a bunny living under our porch - it will become either dog or cat chow. We're going to have to catch it and find it a home. The other neighbor's daughter doesn't want him.

But he is really cute. DH has named him Twinkletoes, as one of his feet has a white tip. Maybe we could rig up a big cage in the basement.......

Since you have a dog, do you have a exercise pen or crate? Either one would work fine as a temporary bunny cage.

Originally Posted by Willowy

Since you have a dog, do you have a exercise pen or crate? Either one would work fine as a temporary bunny cage.

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Our exercise pen is 2 acres of fenced yard. We've donated our large crates to Humane Societies over the years because we have no need to crate them. So unfortunately no, we don't have one, but know that we'll have to pick one up if we catch him and move him into the basement. The critters are not allowed in the basement unless we are with them to supervise - it's the one place in our home where breakables are left in the open.

Hehe, by "exercise pen" I meant something like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...cfm?pcatid=872
not a kennel. My rabbits actually live in one in the winter and bad weather (they have a large outdoor cage for the nice weather).

Hmmm....some people can rig a decent rabbit cage by using wire mesh cubes: http://www.target.com/Whitmor-Set-St...3Acubes&page=1 and zipties.

Or you can check craigslist or freecycle for a used cage.

Someones got a new BUHNNIE!



Good luck catching the little booger, seems like it would be difficult to catch a bunny. Maybe make a drop trap, isn't that what some hunters do?

Well I don't know if you want a little bunny running around your breakables, they have pretty strong back legs! .

Once you have him litter trained I bet you could give him the basement to run around in quite happily .

Well, the neighbor boy did come by tonight to see if he could catch him. He explained that the dog got loose in the house and knocked the cage off the dresser and "Roxie" escaped outside. In the commotion, the dog did get his mouth around the rabbit so the boy thought the rabbit went off to die. I haven't noticed any wounds, and I've been watching him closely for the last week.

Tomorrow night we get out the live trap and try to catch him with carrots. It is his favorite food. If that doesn't work, then I'll just have to make another drop trap - I gave the last one I made to the Humane Society.

Wish me luck trying to trap this little guy. I guess I don't get a bunny after all.

Did you catch Twinkletoes?

Originally Posted by krazy kat2

Did you catch Twinkletoes?

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Not yet - the trap is all set but he hasn't ventured into it yet. We're enticing him with carrots and romaine lettuce.

DH fed him this morning even when I told him to get him good and hungry. But as he put it "but he's so cute and he's warming up to me".

Sending some trapping vibes please!!