rupertismygod
Well-Known Member
I have a young, independent cottontail rabbit, Rupert, who has been living in my backyard for about a week and a half. It may be longer than that, but that's when I first noticed him, about a week and a half ago.
Firstly, my reasons for wanting to domesticate him are not for my own personal pleasure. We have many predators living around here, such as cats and raccoons. However, fortunately, the raccoon has not been around for a while. He does come around during the fall though. However, there has been a vicious cat, which has chased the young cottontail three times now. Luckily, I was thereto intervene and I "hosed" and chased down the cat. Other times that cat would enter my backyard, clearly, waiting for the cottontail to show up. Once again though, I would chase the cat off.
Ever since the first chase, I was really worried for the young cottontail's safety. Since the past 4 days, I have been spending 14 hours a day, trying to protect it from outside predators. I do this by sitting on my balcony, observing the yard. Fortunately, the rabbit stays only in my yard. The rabbit generally wakes up at 6 am, and goes to bed around 8pm. Fortunately, I've finished my school semester and now I have a free summer to look after the cottontail. However, this is very demanding, and it drains me. It would be much easier to just finally domesticate him.
I know some may think Iâm crazy or that I should âjust let it go, itâs just a wild animalâ, but I donât want too. This rabbit is very special to me.
At first, he was scared when I would go near him. However, as each day passes by, he seems to be less afraid. Perhaps he understands I do not want to hurt him. More and more, I feel as if he acknowledges my presence, as I can now stand just some feet away from him while he eats. However, today I got really close and tried to give him some lettuce, but he just froze. He looked very nervous, so I walked away shortly after.
I've set up a manual humanetrap, where I put lettuce in front of my big basket. However, I failed twice in trying to catch him. I was too late in pulling the cord, he had moved before I gotten a chance. It is safe to say, I need to work on my timing skills. Nonetheless, He is very sharp & brilliant.
Anyways, my plans are this. I'm going to continue in trying to trap him. Once he is trapped, I'm going to keep him in there for a few seconds to see how he reacts. If he is very agitated and angry, then I will have no choice but to let him loose. However, if he is calm, then perhaps I could actually keep him?Obviously, I would bring him to a vet first, to check him out and get him his proper vaccines.
My plans IF I catch him and domesticate himâ¦
Once I keep him, I would continue to let him out in my backyard during the day, but in a very large pen, so that he could not run off. I would obviously feed him the best foods (veggies/fruits).
At night I would bring him in, and put him in a room all by himself with a nest (a big box filled with hay or whatever it requires for this type of rabbit), for him to sleep. I would let him free in that room, with some water and food available. Once again, during the day I would bring him outside, so that he could play in his very large pen for several hours.
This is the best I could come up with, and Iâm very seriously considering in domesticating him. I have a strong feeling that I need to do this. Like I said we have a lot of predators (cats, raccoons), and winters up here are very harsh too. Only about 15% of them survive.
Feedback would be much appreciated, especially facts too. I'm sure there is at least a few of you who have had a wildrabbit as a pet, or maybe some of you have worked with rabbits, perhaps some of you are also vets?
Thanks,
Chris
Firstly, my reasons for wanting to domesticate him are not for my own personal pleasure. We have many predators living around here, such as cats and raccoons. However, fortunately, the raccoon has not been around for a while. He does come around during the fall though. However, there has been a vicious cat, which has chased the young cottontail three times now. Luckily, I was thereto intervene and I "hosed" and chased down the cat. Other times that cat would enter my backyard, clearly, waiting for the cottontail to show up. Once again though, I would chase the cat off.
Ever since the first chase, I was really worried for the young cottontail's safety. Since the past 4 days, I have been spending 14 hours a day, trying to protect it from outside predators. I do this by sitting on my balcony, observing the yard. Fortunately, the rabbit stays only in my yard. The rabbit generally wakes up at 6 am, and goes to bed around 8pm. Fortunately, I've finished my school semester and now I have a free summer to look after the cottontail. However, this is very demanding, and it drains me. It would be much easier to just finally domesticate him.
I know some may think Iâm crazy or that I should âjust let it go, itâs just a wild animalâ, but I donât want too. This rabbit is very special to me.
At first, he was scared when I would go near him. However, as each day passes by, he seems to be less afraid. Perhaps he understands I do not want to hurt him. More and more, I feel as if he acknowledges my presence, as I can now stand just some feet away from him while he eats. However, today I got really close and tried to give him some lettuce, but he just froze. He looked very nervous, so I walked away shortly after.
I've set up a manual humanetrap, where I put lettuce in front of my big basket. However, I failed twice in trying to catch him. I was too late in pulling the cord, he had moved before I gotten a chance. It is safe to say, I need to work on my timing skills. Nonetheless, He is very sharp & brilliant.
Anyways, my plans are this. I'm going to continue in trying to trap him. Once he is trapped, I'm going to keep him in there for a few seconds to see how he reacts. If he is very agitated and angry, then I will have no choice but to let him loose. However, if he is calm, then perhaps I could actually keep him?Obviously, I would bring him to a vet first, to check him out and get him his proper vaccines.
My plans IF I catch him and domesticate himâ¦
Once I keep him, I would continue to let him out in my backyard during the day, but in a very large pen, so that he could not run off. I would obviously feed him the best foods (veggies/fruits).
At night I would bring him in, and put him in a room all by himself with a nest (a big box filled with hay or whatever it requires for this type of rabbit), for him to sleep. I would let him free in that room, with some water and food available. Once again, during the day I would bring him outside, so that he could play in his very large pen for several hours.
This is the best I could come up with, and Iâm very seriously considering in domesticating him. I have a strong feeling that I need to do this. Like I said we have a lot of predators (cats, raccoons), and winters up here are very harsh too. Only about 15% of them survive.
Feedback would be much appreciated, especially facts too. I'm sure there is at least a few of you who have had a wildrabbit as a pet, or maybe some of you have worked with rabbits, perhaps some of you are also vets?
Thanks,
Chris