Jack Rabbits all around, but not near my garden!

[897tgigvib]

Here in the Mendocino National Forest we have a lot of Jack Rabbits. Oh heck, when I drive to town, there are some places that one or two will run into the road and then LEAD THE WAY for half a mile or more. Why they like to do that I'll never know.

They are all around, but for some reason are nowhere to be seen within half a mile of my garden. Maybe it's the Bald Eagles? Or maybe it's the denseness of the forest right here?

Jack Rabbits actually are a very beautiful animal. We also have a smaller Rabbit up here that most folks also call Jack Rabbits, just thinking they are small ones, but they really are different. The smaller ones are Cottontails.

I do have a question though. Down in Potter Valley, 20 miles west by southwest, I sometimes see Jack Rabbits that LOOK like they might be part domesticated. One has some nice chocolate brown fur and maybe white on its chest, and dark tipped ears, and I'm pretty sure I saw another one that looked shorter front to back with black ears.

Do Jack Rabbits breed with domesticated Rabbits???

:bun

 

[hoodat]

None of the native American rabbits can interbreed with domestic rabbits that came from Europe. They may try but the genetics are too far apart to get any results.

 

[897tgigvib]

So those I see down in the valley near the little rural town of Potter Valley are probably domesticated rabbits gone feral.

They seem to do pretty good for themselves. I'd think there is plenty of natural food for them, plus they probably can get into the horse and cattle feed down there, plus there are wild berries, lots of kinds, even year round Manzanita and Madrone berries.

These I'd guess are mixed breed ferals? They seem to revert to a kind of camoflage coloring, just guessing, and to behave similar to Jack Rabbits.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i wouldn't be too surprised that they could be 'pet' rabbits someone let loose either by accident or purposely. :/ it happens too often around here with cats and goldfish. thank goodness it doesn't happen much with gators! though i do remember a report about one of our local lakes having sightings of a large gator a few years ago. just last summer this happened http://www.pressherald.com/news/Alligator-found-in-NH-pond-is-second-found-there-.html people keeping them in NH are supposed to have permits if i remember right. now, i'm pretty sure that gators can't be domesticated but i know we don't have any as local and natural fauna!

oh yeah, and once they get to a certain size they ship them down to Florida for release.

 

[digitS']

We aren't very responsible with our animal charges . . . One reason I have come to like native predators. I'm not sure about alligators, tho'!

I can remember the "chase the jack rabbit thing," Marshall. Yeah, I don't know why they do that. I guess because they can. Can outrun most anything, anyway .

Wild rabbits define geographic areas. I'm not sure if their ranges overlap very well. Fights! Peaceful little herbivores . . . fur flies! We have the Mountain Cottontail in the Intermountain region. Your cottontail is probably the Sylvilagus bachmani, Brush Rabbit. He might not be welcome if he ventures very far east .

This is a great resource for finding info and ranges for wildlife. They've got a real good map linked at the bottom of the "Geographic Range" section: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Steve

 

[hoodat]

So those I see down in the valley near the little rural town of Potter Valley are probably domesticated rabbits gone feral.

They seem to do pretty good for themselves. I'd think there is plenty of natural food for them, plus they probably can get into the horse and cattle feed down there, plus there are wild berries, lots of kinds, even year round Manzanita and Madrone berries.

These I'd guess are mixed breed ferals? They seem to revert to a kind of camoflage coloring, just guessing, and to behave similar to Jack Rabbits.

Domestic rabbits gone feral can actually do quite well if they can get by the predators for half a dozen or so generations. A domestic rabbit can breed at 6 months and has quite a few young so it doesn't take long. As you pointed out when they go wild they tend to revert to their natural coloring, which is pretty much the same as jacks and cottontails. The ideal habitat for them would be in brushy borders at the dges of pastures so they can burrow around the roots. That makes it hard for coyotes and such to dig them out. I doubt they would do as well in arid areas.

 

[897tgigvib]

Hoodat, Potter Valley is a splendid agricultural and rural area, interlaced with creeks, forest edge, pastures, and probably best of all for bunnies, where there may have been a fence a hundred years ago, many properties are separated by wild blackberries, (that some folks call Loganberries but most certainly are not...unless these normal thorny semi evergreen black blackberries that are good are what loganberries revert to, and I don't think so...). 20 foot wide swaths of blackberries, 2, 300 foot long, and then another and another, there's a quartermile long one over there...

So yea, I guess I can see how domesticated european bunnies whose ancestors 20 years ago lived in cages, had names like bun bun, and belonged to breeds like, oh i don't know any breed names...

I'll try to get a better look next time I go to town, but their fur may have been silky, the one had a nice bib, good ears I recall perked up than back, i don't recall their eyes as pink, probably brown.

What breeds do you guess may be well suited to going feral? These sure did not look like a pure breed of rabbit, but I don't know...guess I should google it...

Digit, thanks for that link, I'll look at that now...Oh boy, sure glad for open in new tab!

(((dog gone it, spilled a little gas on my pants filling the lawn tractor, brb!)))

 

[hoodat]

It isn't only the color that changes. The body type also does. Domestics are bred mostly for meat so they have short bodies and heavy hindquarters. This tends to make them slower runners than wild rabbits so predators get a lot of them at first but in a few generations they begin to resemble wild rabbits, with longer bodies and legs. It is doubtful that some breeds, such as lops with their dangling ears, would do well unless they can shed those traits but Belgian Hares (not really a hare, just a breed of domestic) already resemble Jack rabbits so they would probably do quite well.
European rabbits dig burrows and often live in communal groups made up of mama and the grown up kids. None of the American rabbits dig burrows although they sometimes adopt abandoned burrows of other animals. Badgers have an odd habit. They will kill and eat most rabbits but many of them have a companion rabbit that lives in the burrow with them and is left alone. No one knows why they do this. Maybe just for the company or they like a rabbit blanket on cold nights.

 

[bj taylor]

we used to have jack rabbits here (no. central Texas). no more. the cotton tails are getting scarce. the drought is taking it's toll.
hoodat, that is fascinating about badgers having one in their hole/den.

I am playing pretty seriously w/getting meat rabbits. the problem is they breed so fast & it's just the two of us. not wanting to be inundated w/baby bunnies.

 

[hoodat]

For two people you don't need an elaborate setup. You only need three cages. One for the buck, a slightly bigger one for the doe with a nesting box attached and a growout cage as big as you can manage. A good doe and buck can produce an average of 8 young per month. Butchered at 5 pounds or so they'll dress out about 24 pounds of rabbit meat per month. If you have any Italian, French or Spanish neighborhoods they will probably be eager to buy your surplus. I charge $4 a dressed pound which puts me slightly ahead of expenses and figure my profit as the meat I consume myself.