# How comeDomestic rabbits can't live in the wild?



## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Just wondering why a Domestic Rabbit can't make it in the wild? I am not planning on releasing mine, but just wondering why, They can handle the weather, They act just like the wild rabbits I see running around my property.


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

It's like taking a city boy and putting him in the middle of the forest without food and water. Doesn't have the skills needed to survive in that environment. However, some domestic rabbits will survive and could even thrive, becoming feral domestic rabbits. Enough to become a real nuisance. 

Rabbits causing headaches at Univ Of Victoria BC Canada
Rabbits causing headaches at UVic - British Columbia - CBC News

There was another story of domestic rabbit colony damaging landscaping in a southern Calif community.

And don't forget the damage done to Australia and New Zealand.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Watching the Animal Planet this morning is what got me thinking more about it, they were talking about Australia and the Rabbits. It seems like other animals are able to adapt, and it seems like rabbits could adapt just fine but I guess it is harder for them.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

they can if they are eased into it, like moveing from a ground colony to the wild after a generation or two, i still have one lone DOMESTIC calico looking rabbit that is liveing wild around our property almost two years after i ended the colony, she had gotten out as a kit and grew up loose, and she has stayed that way, i caught her once and put her back in the colony but she got right back out, some places where the preditor load is not too heavy and domestics have been allowed to reproduce and build up numbers before anyone or anything takes notice then a feral population can develope and survive, there was a feral population that about took over a canadian town not that long ago where the town finally took measures of getting rid of them, 

its POSSIBLE for domestic rabbits to become feral but it takes a little more effort


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Same thing that happens to domestic rabbits running wild happens to the wild rabbits.
Not a high % make it to become adults. In an area where there is plenty of feed and cover they can and wild live just like the wild rabbits. 

I have had rabbits die of old age without ever seeing a cage in their lives. I know one area where the domestic rabbits have replaced the wild rabbits.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

They aer easyer to catch than cotton tails and they taste good to wild animails    .


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

a white rabbit is hard to hide. FWIW


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

The wild Rabbit population has picked up around here this year, I don't see as many Coyotes and foxes around as I did last year, Maybe they moved on and the other animals are able to live again.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

If you release enough of them of the right color in to an area with enough shelter they can survive in the wild. We had a population of blacks at the edge of town for awhile. I knew the person who's rabbits escaped and they couldn't catch them for about 5 years. They must have finally got enough of the females that the litters didn't out pace the predators. 

It's extremely destructive when european rabbits get a stable population like that. They aren't like our cottontails that just live in a little dip in the ground. They can dig 8'+ tunnels and even the bucks love to just dig ruts everywhere. Our colony stalls can have foot deep grooves in the bedding from them piling it up as they try to dig through the mats or plywood. It's a mine field just as much from the bucks as the does.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

Who fed you that nonsense? They most certainly can. I run rabbit tractors on the ground with my rex in the summer. Escape happens. Ive had rex and tan get out of the tractors and occasionally escape from cages. They do just fine.

I had a silver fox doe get out once that was maybe 8 months old. It took me two years to catch her and when I did, she was several litters down and about 12 pounds, on ground forage. She lived over winter on gleanings from the other animals, and winters here are harsh.

Had a doe tan get out, we just found her dead body in the wood shed. She's been here 2 1/2 years. I have two butcher bucks out now, they have been out for months. The ones that escape and die are usually less than 3 months old, because the cats get them. It they are 6 months or better, they do fine.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Cats are rabbits worst enemy, wild or domestic.
Find an area without many housecats and you will have rabbits. 
Fill an area with housecats and rabbits will not last long enough to multiply.


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Its odd that they can't breed with there wild counter parts. Coyotes and dogs can breed.


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

I have only seen one cat since I have been around here ( house cat ), I am not a cat person don't plan to see anymore.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

cotton tail rabbits are not genetically similar to European Wild Rabbits, they are two compleatly differint creatures, dogs and coyots/wolfs, Horses and Donkeys/zebras and even Mallards and Muscovies are close enough genetically to hybredize, but Cotton tails and Rabbits are not, Oryctolagus cuniculus is the European Wild Rabbit, and Lepus sylvaticus is the Cotton tail,


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## sasamone (Jul 12, 2012)

I had two rex loose for quite a while. The one I still can't get back and it's been since February. The female I managed to catch...she was much tamer than the buck and she's in horrible shape. Very skinny and full of worms. Such a shame...she's so pretty and so sweet. It's not that they don't survive, it's just not practical, and obviously some, like my little doe, survive but don't thrive.


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## craftyfarmgirl (Oct 24, 2011)

we had a spotted white and black rex doe get loose years ago. We couldNOT catch her. She was wild for 5 months, we even saw her out with wild brown bunnies (I kid you not) finallya neighbor started feeding her and complained at us about "animal cruelty". We told them she was just fine and we could never catch her (which was the truth). They kept baiting her and finally I assume caught her in a squirrel trap they had out (or they baited her for one of the local fisher cats to kill!). That rabbit seemed to adapt just fine . But like others said hard to hide a colored rabbit


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Are domestic Animals more prone to getting worms then wild?


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## Shayanna (Aug 1, 2012)

I have a cousin who owns about 100 acres, and he buys domestic rabbits and lets them loose. If the rabbits choose to, they go into the open barn at night, but for the most part they live as wild animals who get an occasional corn treat. At this point he has about 200 rabbits running around his property of every color shape and size you can imagine.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

it is genetically impossible for a TRUE CottonTail to breed a domestic rabbit, but there are some rabbits called Cain cutters or Swamp rabbits that are domestic rabbits that have been kept in a feral setting and developed their own wild type by reverting back to the European Wild rabbit type, they are NOT Cotton Tails,


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## Shayanna (Aug 1, 2012)

And KSAL, maybe nobody ever taught you biology, but it would be the same as if somebody bred a horse and a donkey, the product of which is what we call a mule or a hinny and sterile. So maybe you are right and they are not technically compatable, but you are kind of being a jerk on these posts, so I thought I would point that out.


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

Shayanna said:


> And KSAL, maybe nobody ever taught you biology, but it would be the same as if somebody bred a horse and a donkey, the product of which is what we call a mule or a hinny and sterile. So maybe you are right and they are not technically compatable, but you are kind of being a jerk on these posts, so I thought I would point that out.


according to what i researched it is absolutely not possible to cross them AND produce viable offspring. it is my understanding that not a sindle controlled attempt has never produced a kit that lived more than three days. most spontaneously aborted.


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## General Brown (Jan 10, 2008)

Shayanna said:


> And KSAL, maybe nobody ever taught you biology, but it would be the same as if somebody bred a horse and a donkey, the product of which is what we call a mule or a hinny and sterile. So maybe you are right and they are not technically compatable, but you are kind of being a jerk on these posts, so I thought I would point that out.


Actually, he is 100% correct, and I didnt read the jerk syndrome that you are talking about.

Perhaps someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

For some reason people get very defensive about the whole cottontail breeding debate. I never understood why.


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## notasnowballs (Dec 28, 2010)

Grampa had a rabbit operation for a while and when he decided to not do it anymore, he turned them all loose. There were mostly white NZ. Pretty soon we saw other colors, a lot of browns and blacks. Pretty soon we didn't see any more white ones after a few years. After a while, maybe ten years, the coyotes, cats, dogs, seemed to have taken care of the population. He lived out in the country up against the hills. But that colony of rabbits survived a LONG time, probably ten, fifteen years? They had blackberries to hide in and lots of open, tall grass.


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

It's already been pointed out that the European rabbit (our domestic rabbits) and Cottontails (US wild 'rabbits') are not genetically compatible, but I didn't see mention of where because the 2 compete for food, one of them will generally eliminate the other. In most cases that means that fluffy will die an untimely death at the claws and teeth of their wild cousins. In large numbers, yes the European rabbit can out-survive the cottontail, but not generally within city limits because the cottontail is uniquely adapted to city-living. They have shallow nests and tend to live independently of one another. The rabbit on the other hand tends to live in colonies called warrens, survival in numbers, and these generally require a certain amount of space and protection to thrive.

Also, remember that nature in general discourages anything that is outside the norm. Only humans tend to foster and nurture the unusual, allowing them to live when nature would not. A white rabbit would stick out like a sore thumb in the wild and be the first one to get picked off by a predator! So would most of the pretty colors humans have developed over the years. The best surviving rabbit would be lean, small, and agouti in color.


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## Niomi (Apr 29, 2009)

Joe.G said:


> Just wondering why a Domestic Rabbit can't make it in the wild? I am not planning on releasing mine, but just wondering why, They can handle the weather, They act just like the wild rabbits I see running around my property.


My sister lives in Valdeze Alaska, and they have a lot of domestic feral rabbits running around up there.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

Shayanna said:


> And KSAL, maybe nobody ever taught you biology, but it would be the same as if somebody bred a horse and a donkey, the product of which is what we call a mule or a hinny and sterile. So maybe you are right and they are not technically compatable, but you are kind of being a jerk on these posts, so I thought I would point that out.


He is? When? I actually thought he was right.


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