Tweetysvoice
Member
I would like everyone to meet Booboo.
She's an 8 week old Cottontail we've been raising since she was 3 days old, eyes and ears still closed and just a touch of fur.
Her story starts as many do, whereas my dogs found a rabbit's nest. None of the babies were visibly hurt so we put all five back into the nest. Blocked it off so the dogs could not access it and by the next morning four of the five babies had been moved by the mom. I worried that I interrupted her moving them by checking out the nest, so I left the last kit in the nest and put string over it to determine if the mother had returned. She did not. After about 36 hours I decided to bring her into the home so we could warm her up and get some food in her belly. Hubby and I have rescued and rehabed many different types of creatures. He works from home and I'm home all day too, so she had instant 24/7 parents. I know the difficulty of raising cottontails but had to give her a chance. It worked!
I had a neighbor donate cecotropes from her bunny and after a week I began using BeneBac. I fed her the goats milk, kmr, and heavy cream diet till she began eating greens on her own, at about 4wks old. I know diet is the main reason baby cottontails don't make it, but we pulled through with out a single funky poo.
She's lame on her right side. Front paw more so than the back, but its prob why mama left her. She can run like the wind when she gets into her Zoomies and happy hops, which occur at least 3xs a day. Her rear leg seems to be getting stronger but at this point she's bonded to both of us and is comfortable with cats and dogs smelling her through her cage. She'll not survive a day in our yard. Lots of strays as well as hawks and owls galore.
Interesting note about her name: my hubby named her and it couldn't have been more perfect. Our first houserabbit Boo passed away in 08 and we buried her in our back yard and a beautiful evergreen grew right on top. Called it Boo's tree. We moved years later and here at our new home an evergreen exactly like Boo's tree grew smack in the middle of our koi sitting area. We called it Boo's tree. It seems like all the neighborhood rabbits use it to birth under. We block it off from the dogs in the summer cuz, well... This is where Booboo comes in. They got in. Mana was smart to move them but left our little one behind. Hubby said that mama made a mistake by leaving her. She's gonna be the best Booboo ever! (His meaning: born under Boo's tree, it was a mistake (a booboo) she was left and our Boo's spirit knew we'd be the best chance at her survival). How sweet is that! I had to agree with the name choice.
Anyways. We've not hit any of the behaviors that I was warned about. She loves to cuddle and licks us, love nips, flops on her side and loves belly rubs
Video of her flopped in the crook of my arm wanting belly rubs. Not scared of us at all. She litteraly opened her eyes while I was holding her. We are all she knows. It so helps to keep a quiet and calm environment. She does watch cartoons all day though... Lol! I'm builing her a 5'x2'x3' hutch from an older chicken coop. She's growing fast so I need to quicken my pace.
Sorry for a long post. I've been lurking cuz there really isn't good info about cottontails as a pet. I think we're doing alright!
She's an 8 week old Cottontail we've been raising since she was 3 days old, eyes and ears still closed and just a touch of fur.
Her story starts as many do, whereas my dogs found a rabbit's nest. None of the babies were visibly hurt so we put all five back into the nest. Blocked it off so the dogs could not access it and by the next morning four of the five babies had been moved by the mom. I worried that I interrupted her moving them by checking out the nest, so I left the last kit in the nest and put string over it to determine if the mother had returned. She did not. After about 36 hours I decided to bring her into the home so we could warm her up and get some food in her belly. Hubby and I have rescued and rehabed many different types of creatures. He works from home and I'm home all day too, so she had instant 24/7 parents. I know the difficulty of raising cottontails but had to give her a chance. It worked!
I had a neighbor donate cecotropes from her bunny and after a week I began using BeneBac. I fed her the goats milk, kmr, and heavy cream diet till she began eating greens on her own, at about 4wks old. I know diet is the main reason baby cottontails don't make it, but we pulled through with out a single funky poo.
She's lame on her right side. Front paw more so than the back, but its prob why mama left her. She can run like the wind when she gets into her Zoomies and happy hops, which occur at least 3xs a day. Her rear leg seems to be getting stronger but at this point she's bonded to both of us and is comfortable with cats and dogs smelling her through her cage. She'll not survive a day in our yard. Lots of strays as well as hawks and owls galore.
Interesting note about her name: my hubby named her and it couldn't have been more perfect. Our first houserabbit Boo passed away in 08 and we buried her in our back yard and a beautiful evergreen grew right on top. Called it Boo's tree. We moved years later and here at our new home an evergreen exactly like Boo's tree grew smack in the middle of our koi sitting area. We called it Boo's tree. It seems like all the neighborhood rabbits use it to birth under. We block it off from the dogs in the summer cuz, well... This is where Booboo comes in. They got in. Mana was smart to move them but left our little one behind. Hubby said that mama made a mistake by leaving her. She's gonna be the best Booboo ever! (His meaning: born under Boo's tree, it was a mistake (a booboo) she was left and our Boo's spirit knew we'd be the best chance at her survival). How sweet is that! I had to agree with the name choice.
Anyways. We've not hit any of the behaviors that I was warned about. She loves to cuddle and licks us, love nips, flops on her side and loves belly rubs
Video of her flopped in the crook of my arm wanting belly rubs. Not scared of us at all. She litteraly opened her eyes while I was holding her. We are all she knows. It so helps to keep a quiet and calm environment. She does watch cartoons all day though... Lol! I'm builing her a 5'x2'x3' hutch from an older chicken coop. She's growing fast so I need to quicken my pace.
Sorry for a long post. I've been lurking cuz there really isn't good info about cottontails as a pet. I think we're doing alright!
