# Wild rabbit with floppy ears?



## xXAshleyXx (Apr 19, 2004)

http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/ashleyzsite/Bugsy.html



Hi everyone. I had posted a few days back about a dog thatgave me a bunny as a little easter present. Well, just to leteveryone know, he's doing great. Eating hay, pellets, anddrinking water. But the last couple of days I've beennoticing that his ears are starting to flop over. They startout straight, and kind of flop in the middle. He also seemsto be getting longer hair, and it's more of a black and orange calicocolor on his back, than the brown you see on his face. Is itsomehow possible that he is crossed with some sort of domesticlop? Or will his ears straighten out again? Notthat it really matters. Just curious. Either wayhe's such a cutie. lol Here's a link to somepictures. I'd post them on here, but I can't size themright. Thanks!


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## pamnock (Apr 19, 2004)

I'm really suspecting that it's a wild cottontail(cottontails and domestic rabbits cannot interbreed). Thecoat is very coarse for any type of domestic rabbit thatyoung. Also, it has the classic little cottontail tiny whitestripe on the face. The color is Agouti (which we also have in thedomestics). Do you have him in the house? I believethe warm, steady temperature is causing the ears to fold down.

As he gets older observe the ears, bone and facial structure.The ears of a cottontail are very thin. The bone is fine andthe face is fine and wedge shaped. The eyes are ratherpronounced and not deeply set like many of our domestics.

Just a final note -- Wild animals can carry disease and I don'trecommend handling them (my son can attest that rabies shots are verypainful). It's also very likely the bunny is infested withworms (yuck). And last, but not least, it's illegal to havegame animals in your possession without a proper permit. 



Pam


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## batbunny (Apr 19, 2004)

wow youre smart! i foundit interesting that warmth could be causing his ears to fold. also-yes,rabies shots HURT. bad. this is totally irrelevant, but i have a funnystory. well it wasnt funny at the time, but looking back on it andpicturing it, its hilarious. i was camping with my dad in oregon when iwas about 7-8 years old. standing by the campfire, an opossum startedcoming towards me. i could already tell that he was rabid-i felt so badfor the critter, he looked like a night-of-the-living-dead possum(foaming at the mouth, gunky eyes, mange, bald spots,skinny...horrible) anyway, i started backing up slowly and yelled formy dad when all of a sudden theres a possum HANGING off of my leg! itwas the most painful thing, they have _alot_ of teeth. so my dadhas a gun. im yelling "dont shoot it! dont shoot it!" but theres arabid possum on my legand he shoots it...off of my leg. itwas quite traumatic &amp; it wasnt untill then that i startedcrying. so we drove almost an hour to the nearest hospital &amp; ihad to get 7 shots in my stomach.(this was a _loong_ time ago-theydont do all 7 anymore &amp; im pretty sure they dont do in in thebelly)...anywho, that was my funny story


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## edwinf8936 (Apr 19, 2004)

I have two wild baby rabbits in myflowers. I saw the mommy feeding them the othernight. They are about the size of the palm of myhand. How big would they get before they areweined? There are a lot of cats in the area and I worry aboutthem getting caught.



Ed


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## pamnock (Apr 21, 2004)

*batbunny wrote: *


> anywho, that was my funny story




How awful! Those 'possums certainly are nasty  Ingeneral, they no longer give rabies shots in the stomach -- they use alarge muscle such as the thigh. The first in the series ishorribly painful, but the rest aren't as bad.

Pam N.


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## pamnock (Apr 21, 2004)

*edwinf8936 wrote: *


> Ihave two wild baby rabbits in my flowers. I saw the mommyfeeding them the other night. They are about the size of thepalm of my hand. How big would they get before they areweaned? There are a lot of cats in the area and I worry aboutthem getting caught.
> 
> 
> 
> Ed




Most wild baby bunnies don't make it to 6 months of age as they usuallyfall victim to predators. The bunnies are normally weanedwithin a month, as the doe often has a litter 31 days after the firstlitter is born. By 2 weeks of age, the babies are wonderingfrom the nest and nibbling on tasty greens. The doe's milkproduction begins to decrease at 21 days.



Pam N.


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