A little back story on this first.
About 6 years ago, my neighbor had a few of his hutch rabbits get loose and move in under my feed shed. After about a year, they had babies. I thought I had caught all the males and had them neutered, but apparently, I missed one. Needless to say, we have had many generations of bunnies born under this shed and in the barn. All the bunnies are semi-domesticated. On occasion, I have been able to pick them up when they were juveniles and can get within 2 feet of the adults. They are well fed, watered and seem very happy.
Yesterday, two new babies appeared. They are in the horse stalls and wander about. One was smaller than the other and looked like it's eyes had not opened yet, but he was cruising about and starting to eat hay. On closer inspection (he let me pick him up) it appears he only has one eye. The "missing eye" is not gunky, it just has hair there and does not appear to cause him stress. I also noticed two other things, he doesn't seem to have very good hearing...he's not very reactive to noises and a very loud diesel truck started up right next to the barn and he didn't even flinch (it's the first time he would have heard this sound) and when he moves around, he looks like a wobbly kangaroo, almost like he has balance issues. He does not appear to have head tilt. Strangely, he seems quite content, happy to be held and is foraging for food.
I'm questioning whether I should bring him in and raise him as a pet. If I leave him outside without good eyesight or hearing, he will be picked off by a dog, hawk or owl. The rabbits are generally safe from the dogs as the dogs are kept away from the shed with pig fence, but the rabbits are free to come and go as they choose. I don't mind raising him as a pet and letting him with my other rabbits once I know he doesn't have anything contagious, but I wonder if he has other health issues. Any thoughts?
About 6 years ago, my neighbor had a few of his hutch rabbits get loose and move in under my feed shed. After about a year, they had babies. I thought I had caught all the males and had them neutered, but apparently, I missed one. Needless to say, we have had many generations of bunnies born under this shed and in the barn. All the bunnies are semi-domesticated. On occasion, I have been able to pick them up when they were juveniles and can get within 2 feet of the adults. They are well fed, watered and seem very happy.
Yesterday, two new babies appeared. They are in the horse stalls and wander about. One was smaller than the other and looked like it's eyes had not opened yet, but he was cruising about and starting to eat hay. On closer inspection (he let me pick him up) it appears he only has one eye. The "missing eye" is not gunky, it just has hair there and does not appear to cause him stress. I also noticed two other things, he doesn't seem to have very good hearing...he's not very reactive to noises and a very loud diesel truck started up right next to the barn and he didn't even flinch (it's the first time he would have heard this sound) and when he moves around, he looks like a wobbly kangaroo, almost like he has balance issues. He does not appear to have head tilt. Strangely, he seems quite content, happy to be held and is foraging for food.
I'm questioning whether I should bring him in and raise him as a pet. If I leave him outside without good eyesight or hearing, he will be picked off by a dog, hawk or owl. The rabbits are generally safe from the dogs as the dogs are kept away from the shed with pig fence, but the rabbits are free to come and go as they choose. I don't mind raising him as a pet and letting him with my other rabbits once I know he doesn't have anything contagious, but I wonder if he has other health issues. Any thoughts?