if you decide to keep, it's a long-term commitment. also, a LOT of affection will have to be kept up on your part to keep the baby WILD cottontail, "domesticated".
in our case, we weren't exactly planning on keeping any of them, but as i cared for them so carefully over a few weeks with feeding them formula, etc, i became attached. i'll be honest, it's hard not to get attached when you are babying tiny bunnies! as an animal lover my whole life, i knew i couldn't just release them all.
of course, taking in 4 bunnies to keep was also too much!!! so, i was able to find homes for 2 of them, and we still had 2 at our house. one, i became VERY attached to one of them, and soon decided to name him benedict. he's absolutely precious, loves being held and scratched, and sits on my shoulder for hours just hanging out watching tv with me at night. i knew we would be keeping him.
he's such a sweetie. and he never goes to the bathroom while on me! well, so far at least! i love him :) so this left us with one more bunny. this last one was turning a bit wild. he didn't mind being held at first, but that soon changed and he would fear me much more than benedict, constantly chew on the bars of their cage, and didn't enjoy being held anymore. i talked with my husband on what he thought we should do since his natural instincts seemed to be kicking in much more. we decided that we didn't want to put any extra stress on him, and we tested how he would do released back outside. he took to it nicely, investigated around, wasn't scared, so we determined this to be best for him. in the end with everything, that was my goal. to give them what i thought would be best. he was clearly getting stressed out in the cage (where benedict was not), and i think he just needed to be back outdoors. so, after about a month of owning him, he was ready to go back out. i'm sure he will stick around our yard though because we have a nice vegetable garden that i'm betting he will love to munch on hahaha...
so, out of all the other blogs who say to just release them, i'm here to tell you that you CAN keep them, but, please determine whether it would be best for the bunny. in our case, benedict is quite happy indoors, being held, and in a cage. our other remaining bunny, was not. it only seemed to stress him out more, and he probably felt trapped in a cage. so, monitor your bunny to see what would be best.
another thing to consider whether to keep or not: is there a rabbit veterinarian by you? you will need to spay/neuter your bunny. their natural instincts and hormones will kick in at a certain point, and since we're not there yet, i can't exactly say what will happen, but i know a boy rabbit will start spraying, and i can only assume, their instincts to find a mate will become very strong. so, we're planning on neutering benedict when that time comes. it will be best for everyone. keeps him calmer, and way less mess for us!
also, is it illegal to own a wild rabbit in your state? be sure to check that out. where we live, they weren't on the list of "exotic" animals not allowed to be kept, so we're all good there, but be sure to check your own state.
i'm very happy benedict came into our lives. he's very sweet, and i hope he lives for a very long time! i'm estimating his birthday to be april 30th, so he is really only currently about 6 weeks old.
if i remember, i'll keep this blog updated as time goes on with more experiences so i can share them with others. and feel free to comment! it might help remind me to make a new blog post :)
i hope this helps you!
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