# Question about pet rabbits mixing with wild



## MammaPo (Feb 7, 2007)

We've got 2 pet rabbits that were given to us and my husband has just turned them out. They stay around the house mainly, but we have a grass patch next to our driveway and we see them hangingout there with wild rabbits all the time. My husband says we probably need to get rid of the pet rabbits. He is worried that if they mix with the wild rabbits they won't be good to eat. I don't eat them so have no clue. My question is is that true? Will they even breed with wild rabbits and if so will it be any problems with the babies living in the wild. 
Does that make sense? Haha.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

It's doubtful, but if they live long enough to breed with the wild rabbits, it won't affect the taste of the meat. The babies, should they live, will be eating the same thing the other rabbits are eating. Most likely, being domestic pets, they'll be killed by a predator before much longer.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

why did he turn them out??
domestic rabbits Wont breed with Wild CottonTails they are Two differint spiecies, if by slim chance they did successfully mate and it produced a litter that survived they would be steril, but will tast the same as any other rabbit liveing wild, its what they eat that chainges the flavor 

if your wanting to keep them around and have them produce for you you need to protect them, make an inclosure for them to make their burrows in and so preditors cant get in, domestic rabbits dont often live long when taken directly out of a cage in set loose in the wild,


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

From what I've read, domestic rabbits cannot successfully mate with a wild rabbit and produce live offspring. Some sources say they'll mate and produce embryos that are never born live; other sources say embryos never form. I've done quite a bit of searching and reading and haven't seen one documented instance of a live birth resulting from domestic/wild breeding. 

We had a kit get out and live in the yard and around the house and equipment shed for about two months. He was hard to catch! We have hawks and owls here; also raccoons and possums (don't know if they'd mess with a rabbit); also we have foxes and coyotes which usually stay a little ways from the house but do venture to the edges of where the escapee was hanging out. Somehow it managed to get along just fine.

I have a friend whose two rabbits escaped their hutches. She thought she had two does but she had a surprise litter of kits show up one day and thinks there might already be another litter in a nest. So her domestic rabbits are also surviving and reproducing. They hang around her house (I think she still puts out food for them).


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## rabbitgal (Feb 12, 2005)

If we're talking about domesticated rabbits and cottontails, I'd agree with everyone else who's posted.  Domestic rabbits are actually descended from a wild species native to Spain, and cottontails are distantly related, but it's more like the relationship between domesticated rabbits and hares or pikas. They can breed, but from what I've read, the fertilized egg aborts after just a few cell divisions. :nerd: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagomorph) Excuse the geekspeak. 

Please, please get your rabbits back in a cage...they'll probably get picked off by a predator, but if they do manage to survive and thrive, you could have a real mess on your hands. I think European wild rabbits/domestic rabbits are listed as one of the top ten most invasive animal species in the WORLD. If they get established, they'll dig these *massive warrens* in your yard (think groundhog hole) and eat everything in sight.  They've already wreaked havoc in parts of Australia and several sensitive sub-arctic islands in the region.

http://www.tnpa.asn.au/macquarie/photos/tourism.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1687413.htm


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## Junkmanme (Dec 16, 2006)

I didn't know that cottontails and domesticated rabbits couldn't successfully breed. That is interesting!
Along that line........Does anyone raise HARES (like those BIG European hares)?

just curious,

Bruce in New Mexico
(where there are a lot of wild cottontails and some Jackrabbits, too!)


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

rabbits given a chance to adjust to life on the ground and in burrows with out emediat predation have a better chance compaird to rabbits let out for the first time, also it seams that young rabbits born under ground have it 10times easyer to adapt to being a wild rabbit, 

once they have lived on the ground and done their thing their grand kids will be as wild as anyones buisness and could feasibly establish a feral colony some where and likely survive predation as well as any other wild prey animal. 

and as to the pair of rabbits loose that had a supprise litter turn up she does likely have another litter underground and will keep having litters underground till the heat of summer slows her down a bit.


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